Necessity is the mother of invention. In fact, that’s how Polydeck was born, when Manfred Freissle saw the necessity for something that functions better than wire cloth.

Fast forward to today, when Polydeck has well over 1,000 dies, numerous materials and surface features – and still, when there is a need to perform yet a new and different function, Polydeck will invent all over again. Keep reading to learn all about how our panels go from ideation to production!

1. The Challenge

The challenge shows itself. Quite simply, this is the ‘necessity’ part where an Aggregate, Energy and Industrial or Mining operation needs to do something differently. When Polydeck confirms this challenge requires a new panel as the solution, we get inventing!

2. Information is Gathered

Polydeck collects all sorts of information: What type of material is being processed? How is the material crushed, what are its challenging characteristics? Has a different panel been tried? All this information helps us to create the best possible solution for our screening partners.

3. Design. Design. Design.

Given the information collected in partnership with our customer, we get down to designing the new panel. Considerations like surface features (dams, restricted flow bars), fastening, amongst others, which may not be part of the initial necessity, ensure this new panel will be as modifiable as possible to offer the wonderful traits of modular media. The panel is drawn up and reviewed by multiple parties, which ensures no detail is missed.

4. Test the Panel

The proof is in the testing. The panel is developed and tested, eventually making it to our large offering of dies and corresponding panels. We also assign the new panel a color to make more easily differentiate it from similar panels.

5. Finished!

And then it’s here. While there’s no baby shower for it, we all celebrate the birth of a new panel, since it offers us yet a new set of functions to help our screening partners.

Written by Alex Caruana, Aggregate Territory Manager for Polydeck.

It’s easy to be complacent with screen media solutions that require downtime for cleaning and replacement. Improve your throughput, reduced downtime and increased production with the maximum open area and ease of use of Polydeck's Maxi Panels.

In an industry dating back tens of thousands of years, it’s easy to become complacent when considering success factors and efficiencies in your operation. However, it’s more than possible to design an operation that is efficient and advanced with the right screen media. Polydeck’s Maxi panel screen solutions increase an operation’s throughput and production efficiency in countless ways.

Throughput is, simply put, a production and success measure. In terms of material processing, it means your screen media is doing its job. Efficient screen media meets your machines where they are, allows for ease of cleaning and replacement, and provides maximum screening of material with as little downtime as possible. For many operations, efficiency is critical especially where resources are limited. Stopping to clear plugs and dealing with low open area is simply not an option when efficiency and sustainability are required of the site.

If screen media is not performing as it should, costly stoppages result, requiring workers to spend hours clearing plugging and getting screens to a place where they can begin production again. Polydeck customer Dufferin Aggregates Butler Pit, located in Cambridge, Ontario was experiencing significant downtime from pegging. With a constant focus on their efficiency and production goals, Dufferin did not waste their time seeking a better screen media solution. After the Polydeck team conducted an on-site screen performance analysis and presented their solutions with a guarantee that Dufferin would experience their desired throughput by making the switch, the choice was simple.

Maxi panels’ thin borders are specifically designed with throughput in mind, featuring relief angles to aid in proper screening. Once the panels were put on our customer’s screens, they provided maximum number of openings per square foot. Besides offering leading throughput rates, Maxi panels’ specially formulated polyurethanes combined with engineered panel geometry allowed the panels to flex and retain extended wear life. This innovative design coupled with Polydeck’s injection molding process ensured accurate, consistent open area which resulted in increased overall efficiency at Butler Pit.

Maxi panels also offer an advantage over wire cloth when considering the abrasion resistance of synthetic screen media and ease of use. Operations often default to wire cloth when production requirements are high but Maxi panels offer a significant cost benefit when you factor in downtime needed to change out wire cloth. Maxi panels’ modularity and snap fastenings make changeouts and swaps easy and quick. Less downtime means more productive hours on site. More production means more return from your site. In short, adding Polydeck’s Maxi panels to your operation means you’ll get more from your site than ever before.

The keys to success with screen media lie in today’s technology and the efficiency found in Polydeck’s Maxi panels. As seen at our customer’s site, Polydeck’s Maxi panels reduced downtime and increased production, two very critical elements for success in any operation.

Are you ready to increase the success of your operation?

Vicdom Sand & Gravel knows full well that producing and washing aggregate is tough on equipment. The family-owned, third-generation company has been producing stone, sand, and gravel for more than 40 years in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada, a 30-minute drive northeast of Toronto.

Vicdom’s management also knows that unnecessary downtime comes at a high cost. Until recently, the company had been encountering periodic wear issues with the 5’ x 7’ wire screen media on its two-deck, 5’ x 14’ Dillon wash screens. The screens were being used to produce +5/8" over the top deck, 9/16"-1/4" over the bottom deck, and 1/4" chip through the bottom deck. Although the screens had decent wear life and met production requirements when in operation, once they became damaged, they had to be completely replaced.

“We’d get one hole in the feed zone and have to change the whole screen, even though 75 percent of the screen is still in good shape,” says Victor Giordano, assistant manager at Vicdom, and grandson of late Vicdom co-founder Vic Giordano. “A $500 screen was now garbage.”

The larger cost stemming from the screen replacements was the downtime that came with switching out the 5’ x 7’ screen media, which Giordano says cost his operation between one and three hours of downtime each time they needed to be replaced. So, when Alex Caruana, Polydeck territory manager for Central and Atlantic Canada, explained that the company could save money and reduce downtime in its operation by retrofitting its wash screens with a modular snap-in system, Giordano wanted to learn more.

“Alex brought a diagram and did a good job in explaining what we had before with wire mesh and what we could have with Polydeck,” Giordano says. “The biggest knock on rubber and polyurethane is that it doesn’t have enough open area like wire mesh, but he showed that you didn’t lose any open area.”

Caruana showed Giordano he wouldn’t lose any open area by using a very simple, but effective method.

“What I typically do for a plant when they're considering one or more decks is very simple. I lockout, jump on the screen or take a picture, and just count the openings. I know how big the openings are, because I’ve measured them, and that also allows me to take into account any obstructions like bucker bars, side clamp rails, any diverters, any bolts and other things of this sort. That allows me to show the customer that with their current wire cloth, they have ‘X’ open area, whatever ‘X’ may be”, Caruana explains. “And then, I am able to show them that in their application, using our media, your open area would now be “X+,” and that's their new open area number.”

In many cases, this comparison is a big eye-opener for producers.

“Even with wire cloth, they may not have had all the open area they thought they did,” Caruana explains. “Just imagine a piece of mesh screen in front of you. It's unobstructed, and its cataloged open area, or book value, might be 65%. It looks very attractive. But when you actually put it in place, there are machine parts underneath it. So, you don't really have 65%, it might be 48%. Whereas, synthetic media is not the same. When synthetic media is giving an open area, that is the gross and net number. When installed, it still has that open area. If somebody tells you that you've got 48%, then that's the number in place. So, by me doing that comparison for people like Victor at Vicdom, they have that information available to them and they can make a more educated selection.”

Vicdom decided to change over one of its wash decks with a modular snap system using 1’ x 1’ Polydeck polyurethane panels with 1/2” square openings on the top deck and roughly 1/4” openings on the bottom deck. Giordano was impressed with the results.

“This year we changed two panels, total, on the conversion,” he says. “We would have normally changed five or six entire screens. Instead, we changed two panels that cost $90 Canadian each for $180 in a year. The efficiencies are good, capacity is good, and downtime is amazing,”

Vicdom has now outfitted all four decks on its two wash screens with Polydeck’s modular snap-in system using 1’ x 1’ polyurethane panels. The second wash screen has 5/8” openings on the top deck and roughly 1/4” openings on the bottom deck.

The reduction in downtime with screen media change-outs isn’t the only reason Vicdom enjoys working with Polydeck. Giordano says that Caruana’s level of professionalism has been a big selling point, always making himself available to assist with any issues that occur on-site.

The company had a processing issue last year with the first conversion, so they called Caruana to discuss the issue.

“He asked, ‘Are you sure your eccentrics are running downhill?’” Giordano recalls.

So, Giordano checked with his maintenance crew and it turns out they had done some work previously that day and accidentally re-wired the motor backwards on the screen causing the eccentrics to run uphill.

“We fixed the wiring, popped the stone out and it was working again. With his knowledge we were able to fix that issue right away,” Giordano says, adding that he has a great appreciation for the technical knowledge Caruana brings with him to the job site. “I don’t see a sales guy. I see a guy with a lot of pit experience now in sales, and that helps.”

Thinking about a conversion?

Polydeck has a team of professionals and more than 40 years of experience to help you optimize your screening performance while minimizing downtime.

Polydeck’s new screen media solution maximizes throughput and product mix.

Aggregate Industries (AIUS) became one of the largest construction and building material companies in the US by stressing strategic sustainability, environmental stewardship, and long-term customer relationships. The company’s Morrison Quarry—a 3-million-ton-per-year granite operation located in Jefferson County, Colorado—perfectly illustrates their mission.

Jefferson County is one of three counties in the six-county Denver region within AIUS’ West Central Region that offers available sources of crushed stone. Because many of the potential aggregate resources in the Denver area are not accessible for extraction, the Morrison Quarry plays a key role in meeting the region’s demand for high-quality aggregate materials.

Morrison Plant Manager, Trulane Vanatta operates a “sold-out” plant, meaning everything processed on a given day is sold the next. For him, he bluntly explains, “Throughput is everything.”

As a result, the facility maintains a constant focus on boosting processing efficiency and production capacity. To eliminate bottlenecks at the screening circuits, the Morrison management team engaged with the engineering experts at Polydeck.

Reducing Recirculating Loads and Fines

Vanatta’s team identified a problem in the tertiary circuit of the nine-screen plant. Their belt samples indicated a high bed depth on the middle decks of the circuit’s three screens. Each of the 8-ft. by 20-ft. triple-deck screens are key to the production of Morrison’s #57/#67 (1-in.) material.

“That’s our money maker; and we have to maximize its production volume,” says Vanatta.

His team found a “troubling” 51% carryover, a bottleneck that was causing recirculating loads and producing excessive fines—a common production issue. “The first thing we thought of was replacing the middle decks on two of the tertiary screens with wire cloth to achieve more open area,” recalls Vanatta.

As it turns out, however, Polydeck’s Regional Manager, Sam Durnavich, was the assistant plant manager at the Morrison Quarry more than a decade ago, before joining the Polydeck organization. With his knowledge of the operation, Sam consulted with Morrison’s management and worked closely with Polydeck’s engineering team to create a media solution that would more effectively address their carryover challenge.

After a thorough analysis of Morrison’s operation, Polydeck’s production team designed and installed a brand-new product: DMAX™ screen panels, an ultra-high-open-area synthetic screen media system that significantly boosts throughput, and allows the quarry to increase the production of its highest-value products.

Polydeck’s new DMAX screen panels are intended for use where open area and throughput are the most important considerations. It’s a modular synthetic screen panel solution that matches or even exceeds the open area of wire cloth, while delivering greater wear life and easier installation. The DMAX screen panel system can also be formulated with either rubber or polyurethane depending upon the application.

Exceeding Production Goals

Since installing the first DMAX screen panels on two of the middle decks in October, 2015, the operation has met and frequently exceeds their production goals. They’ve also achieved far greater screening efficiency, according to Vanatta—nearly 54% open area on their middle decks, compared to the 42% open area delivered by their previous screen deck. That’s a dramatic 28.5% increase in open area. Morrison subsequently installed DMAX panels on a third middle deck in mid-2016.

“For us,” says Vanatta, “The increase in open area resulted in an 11% increase in the production of profitable 1-in. rock, and reduced fines by nearly 1%. The only downside to the open area is that the panels wear a little faster—but that’s essentially irrelevant as the profit from the tonnage increase pays for the screen media investment more than ten times over.”

The Morrison quarry also employs Polydeck’s Rubberdex® modular screen panels on the top and bottom decks of their 8-ft. by 20-ft. tertiary screens.

Engineering Expertise

Explains Polydeck’s Sam Durnavich, “We made the DMax panels with bridges that are half the width of those on our standard maxi panel, but much deeper. That’s important, because reducing the bridge width between apertures allows more openings in the screen panel surface, which translates to increased product pass-through.”

“Contributing to additional open area is the fact that DMax panels are designed to fit on existing Polydeck PipeTop II stringer systems,” continues Durnavich. “This framework system features unique half-inch-wide attachment rails instead of the mounting styles on conventional frame systems with up to 3 in. of dead space where fines build up. Furthermore, our in-house tooling capabilities allows us to provide many more options in these frame systems—from varying fastening options, material options, and stringer styles and types.”

“The increase in open area does come with a reduction in screen panel wear life,” Durnavich admits, “But when compared to standard-duty screen panels, the DMax panels are running at only 20–25% less wear life, which still exceeds that of wire cloth.”

“Our use of injection molding is a big factor in the ability to create extreme open-area synthetic panels,” adds Durnavich. “Injection molding ensures that every screen panel has accurate opening sizes and shapes, and is thoroughly cured throughout.”

“Our actual field results in several applications have demonstrated production increases all the way up to 50%, and screening efficiency increases of more than 25%,” says Durnavich with a smile.

Polydeck continues to expand the range of available apertures in the DMax series, with square openings from 12.5mm up to 32mm, as well as slotted openings from 3x20mm up to 25x74mm.

It’s often said: If there’s a bottleneck at a plant, it’s probably at the screening circuit. Throughput is everything at the Morrison Quarry, so continually increasing screening efficiency is essential to their ongoing profitability and product quality. Working together, the Morrison Quarry and Polydeck solved an immediate problem and created a long-term solution.