DAKOTA DUNES, S.D.—Eagle Equipment L.L.C. has designed a piece of equipment to simplify removing the beads of giant off-the-road tires.
The new Eagle OTR Debeader pulls the steel bead bundles cleanly from giant mining, earthmover and other large OTR road tires in less than 10 minutes, according to the Dakota Dunes-based equipment marketer.
The large steel beads and three dimensional material within OTR tires represent a distinct problem for tire recyclers, Eagle Equipment said. While some tire shredding machines are capable of cutting through some of the large beads, the company noted that the process significantly increases the wear and maintenance costs of the equipment.
"By removing the bead bundles prior to shredding, tire recyclers are able to reduce these costs, increase the life of their equipment, simplify downstream shredding and recover hundreds of pounds of recyclable steel—which will add to their revenue stream," Eagle Equipment said.
The firm's new debeader simultaneously pulls both steel beads from tires with a 25-inch rim opening up to and including 51-inch rims, and one bead at a time from OTR tires in sizes 40/00R57 and 59/80R63. The heavy-duty, fully automated Eagle OTR Debeader will pull the steel bead bundles from five to six OTR tires per hour and deposit the recovered steel beads into a storage or shipping container, according to the company. By using a three-step process including the additional Eagle Punch Cutter and Eagle Titan II, downsized tire pieces can then be placed into shredding equipment to be further downsized with much more success, Eagle added.
"This machine is simply going to change the way we downsize OTR tires," said Eagle International President Julie Prochello. "The Eagle team has been working diligently over the last 18 months to solve the processing difficulties associated with the steel beads in OTR tires.
"Our goal was to make it an easier process and we have now accomplished and met this need."
A video of the Eagle OTR Debeader in action can be viewed on the company's website.