Entering the spring season means navigating the impacts that snow melt and spring rain will have on your grinding operations. Working with feedstocks that likely have a much higher moisture content than the end of the year or mid-season feedstocks, require a few additional steps to ensure your grinder is operating as efficiently as possible. Here are a few tips that we recommend this time of the year to ensure success with spring grinding:
- Replace worn or damaged teeth right away. Running your grinder with worn or damaged teeth will not only slow down production but will also affect vibration on the rotor. Utilizing sharper teeth will allow better “cutting” of wetter feedstocks.
- Replace worn or damaged screens. Using inadequate screens when the additional stress of high moisture feedstock is running through your grinder increases the chances that something will fail. Obviously, having your grinder down in the middle of the spring rush would not be ideal. Additionally, a newer screen will be equipped with sharper edges, providing a better cut of wetter or high moisture feedstocks.
- Increase your screen size. This will allow your feedstock material to move more easily through the screens.
- Rotate your baffled screens to help eliminate plugging of the screens in high moisture material. (Baffled screens will fit into the screen cradles in either direction on all Rotochopper machines, with the exceptions of the CP and SB24.)
- Run your grinder on a higher set point #1. This will maintain a steady feed rate of the material entering into the grinding rotor on most machines.
- Mix drier material together with the wetter material to balance out the feedstock moisture and aid in easing the grinding process. This tactic will also assist in maintaining a consistent finished product.
If after following these tips, something is not working properly or your output is not providing the results you need, contact Rotochopper customer service to assist with any questions.