Rayner Equipment
Systems
9390 Elder Creek Road
Sacramento, CA 95829
Phone: (916) 381-8033
Fax: (916) 387-0664
or
Toll Free: 1-800-479-9390
For Direct Inquiries:
Larry Mechem
(916) 381-8033 x150
lmechem@cpmamerica.com
Randy Tattershall
(916) 381-8033 x104
rtattershall@cpmamerica.com
Rich Rayner
(916) 381-8033 x355
rrayner@cpmamerica.com
Affiliate Companies
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SLURRY & PENGUINS
AT THE "EDGE OF THE EARTH"
|
When a customer
buys a RoadSaver II slurry machine, if
they need assistance CPM staff goes to
their place of business and gives them
training and instruction on the use and
maintenance of slurry equipment. |
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Last year, when a
customer in South America requested such
guidance for their newly acquired
RoadSaver II, Gordon Rayner was more
than happy to send training and staff to
Chile to give assistance. He
expected the project to be in or near
Santiago, "a beautiful city with ideal
slurry weather." However, their
project turned out to be at the "end of
the earth."
The company,
Navarette Y Diaz Cumsille is located in
Santiago, Chile, but their upcoming
project was to be at Punta Arenas, at
the the bottom of South America, almost
at the South Pole. There were no
roads from Santiago to Punta Arenas and
no way to get there by land from Chile
because because of glaciers.
Gordon was also informed that one of the
main attractions at Punta Arenas is
Penguins. He was further advised
that there were only three weeks of
summer there, with temperatures
sometimes reaching 50 degrees, with a
constant wind of 30 to 40 knots.
The project was beginning to sound like
a real challenge.
Founded in 1848,
Punta Arenas was originally a military
garrison and prison. During the
California Gold Rush it proved
convenient for shipping. Ships
from Boston and San Francisco would meet
at this remote port to trade. When
the Gold Rush ended, the Punta Arenas
economy became more dependent on animal
products, and by the turn of the century
over 2 million animals razed the
territory's natural grasslands.
project turned out
to be at the "end of the earth." |
 |
As the largest
port for thousands of miles, Punta
Arenas attracts ships from a large South
Atlantic fishery as well as Antarctic
research and tourist vessels. But
now, ships began to arrive with a new
cargo - CSS-1H Slurry Seal Emulsion.
The emulsion came to Punta Arenas the
same way the RoadSaver II did, by way of
ships through the Straits of Magelian. |
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The emulsion was
delivered to large square holding tanks
moved in for storage at their stockpile.
The project itself was 40 kilometers of
two-lane road, fairly flat and straight,
outside of Punta Arenas. |
|
The aggregate was
made nearby (about 40 km away) by
Navarette Y Diaz. Making aggregate
in these latitudes was a real challenge.
The wind in that part of the world never
stops and the fines were very hard to
control with the constant wind. To
accomplish the needed gradations,
the aggregate was crushed in various
sizes and |
.PNG) |
then blended in a machine that has an
electronically metered loader bucket
which picks up measured amounts from
each of three piles of aggregate.
The materials were then deposited into a
drum, which blended the material in a
manner similar to a concrete mixer.
The finished aggregate was then
delivered to the stockpile where it was
screened and loaded into the RoadSaver
II.
Water was trucked the 50 kilometers from
the water treatment plant. It
presented some minor challenges as the
pH was from 5.0 to 7.2 during any given
day.
The RoadSaver II was delivered by ship
to Punta Arenas and driven to the work
location. With all the materials
and the RoadSaver II no on hand, the
crew performed a calibration under the
guidance of Angel Arenas, Quality
Control Engineer for Navarette Y Diaz.
The RoadSaver II was set to deliver the
proportions called fro in the mix design
and work began.
The machine operator, Amador Agurto, had
previously worked as an asphalt plant
(hot mix) operator and had never seen
slurry before. He received initial
training from CPM on the RoadSaver II
prior to the machine being shipped from
Santiago. With the natural feel
and intuitiveness of the RoadSaver II
joystick controls, Amador was soon
placing slurry at 4 tons a minute.
This was important as long shuttles (as
much as 20 km each way) and short hours
made production time very limited.
They were fortunate to have a latex
modified cationic emulsion which offered
the stability needed for ocean shipment
and yet allowed reasonable set times.
During the time Francis and Alex were
there, the weather was really difficult
as temperatures seldom got above 5 to 7
Celsius (40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.)
for more than an hour or two. With
a constant hard wind, storms would blow
in suddenly and then disappear just as
quickly Francis and Alex made their
first purchase, new winter jackets for
"summer" use.
Weather conditions restricted the daily
hours of placing slurry and with only
one slurry machine on the job, combined
with the long shuttles, production was
limited to about 130 tons per day.
The slurry was placed over a tack coat
of CSS-1 spread at 600 Grams/Sq. Meter
(0.13 Gallons per Sq. Yard), at 8mm in
thickness., Cement was uses as an
accelerator at 0.8% and with the help of
winds, even with the cold temperatures,
set times of under an hour were
achieved.
Vehicle traffic was not a major problem,
although occasional large herds of sheep
made seeping the road "difficult."
Other livestock obstacles included emus
and llamas (the penguins never became a
roadway problem, since they prefer the
water and build burrows in grass). |
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Teaching a new crew the principles of
slurry seal at the earth's edge added
new challenges. As Francis stated
"The aggregate fines were constantly
under attack by the never ending wind so
we had to cover the stockpile to prevent
fines loss. Each new load of
recycled water had a new pH and we were
constantly keeping an eye on that.
Set times were critical because it would
seem nice one minute and a storm would
move in the next. This is the
first time I ever had to wear a parka
while laying slurry." |
CPM is fortunate to have Francis
Cardoza, who speaks and understand basic
Spanish, and Alex Garcia, who is fluent
in Spanish. With their years of
slurry/micro-surfacing operation and
supervisory experience, Francis and Alex
combined to transfer this knowledge to
this new crew. Francis taught
machine operations and crew techniques.
Alex work with Jorge Leiva, the engineer
in charge of the overall project, and
Angel Arenas, the quality control
engineer, on construction procedures,
material specifications, slurry
chemistry and logistics.
"Logistics, state Alex, "becomes a whole
new subject when your emulsion is being
delivered by ship."
Dependability in equipment became
critical here too. With glaciers,
penguins, logistics, supply problems,
winds, cold and stormy weather, this new
crew faced a lot of obstacles. But
one problem they didn't' have was the
RoadSaver II.
When the training was over and the crew
was performing on their own, Francis and
Alex had only one item left on their
list to accomplish. A visit to the
home of the Magellanic Penguin colony to
have their picture taken with the
penguins. This was for proof after
all, who would believe that they taught
slurry at the end of the earth?
Article as written from
Asphalt Contractor Magazine,
February, 2000 143 |
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