# Vibrator on a v-box spreader



## sven1277 (Jan 15, 2008)

Sometimes the salt/sand in my downeaster electric ss vbox will bind even with the reverse v. I have discovered that loading it slowly alleviates much of the problem as it allows the bottom of the spreader to fill instead of just bridging. How well would a vibrator work and where would be a good place to mount it?


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## eshskis (Dec 1, 2008)

Go hear

http://www.spreadervibrator.com/


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## akplowman (Dec 26, 2008)

*Sanding in Alaska and Sander Vibrators*

Let me begin this by describing how things are done in Alaska. Up here we don't spread any salt on our parking lots, there is no point, once winter sets in temps rarely go above freezing so nothing melts until spring.

What we do is sand our parking lots, some use actual coarse sand, some use pea gravel and others like myself, with crushed 3/8 minus rock chips. What I've found is the sand while good for non-slip gets tracked into stores, etc and the stores don't like it, and pea gravel gets displaced too easily by vehicles, which is why we like the chips, its pretty jagged so it digs on an stays in place pretty good.

Now with our temps, sanding can be a real pain without good vibrators. The colder it gets the faster the load has to get put down or u wind up freezing up. I still see guys out with one guy riding on top push a pole down into the sander breaking up the load. Some folks add salt or icemelt to their pile or are lucky enough to have heated storage, but both add to overhead costs and for most small companies are not a viable option.

I run two different v-box sander setups:
1. 06 Chevy K3500 Duramax/Allison/9foot flatbed with a HiWay Super-P Stainless steel, High Capacity, 9ft sander. Holds 4.5 yards leveled, about 5 yards fully mounded. 
2. 03 Chevy K3500 Vortec/9foot flatbed with A Hiway Super-P 8ft sander. Holds 3 yards leveled, almost 3.5 yards fully mounded.

On the 3 yard sander, we have a Vibco Big Bertha mounted to a piece of 1/4" plate steel welded across the middle two ribs. This puts the thumper as I call it, in the middle of one side of the sander . 
On the 4.5 yard sander, we wanted to put a Big Bertha on it but the dealer didn't recommend it because the stainless is thinner gauge. they recommended and we bought the mini vibrators sold by Hiway. They are mounted one on each side. One about 15 inches from the top towards the front and the other about 15 inches from the bottom towards the back. They are bolted directly to the wall of the sander. (these ones are about the same as the Vibco DC-60).

What I have found is that the two small thumpers aren't strong enough to keep the load moving when temps are below 0 degrees, unless you can put the load out with-in about 30 minutes of loading and you keep them on almost constantly. While the Big Bertha will handle it with temps as low as -20. I'm trying to come up with a design for mounting a Big Bertha on my stainless steel unit or add more small ones.

Other things about sanding I have learned/noticed:

1. Cold sand = cold sander. If your sand pile is outside then keep the sander parked outside. and the reverse if you have an indoor heated sand pile keep your sander inside unless you have a heated sander either with vehicle exhaust or propane. The city and state both have propane heated sanders as well as do a few companies.

2. Loading: If material is loaded too fast then it tends to compress more over the upside down V above the conveyor. Material will still fill the bottom of the sander from the beginning but bridging will occur faster than if you load slow. Of course the colder it is the faster things bridge/freeze up.

3. Time and temp. As a general rule I tell my guys to put the load down in an hour or less. The colder it is the faster you should get your sander empty. "No bathroom breaks unless they are empty"

4. Keep the sander covered. If you get snow in the sander and the temps warm enough to melt it, when it refreezes you risk damaging your unit.

5. Don't leave sand in your sander. I had a buddy a couple years back, new to the business, that thought he would thought he get a jump on things by having his sander loaded and ready to go before he went out and plowed his route. His truck was parked outside for over 10 hours and the material froze up solid. He finished his plowing and jumped in his sander ; as soon as he tried to start sanding he broke both shear pins on his conveyor. Thank god for shear pins or he would have had to replace a brand new conveyor chain, gear box or worse. We parked it in my shop for a good 12 hours thawing it out. And he learned how to change shear pins.


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## elite1msmith (Sep 10, 2007)

im not thinking the vib is the correct thing to do... i think it will compact the sand and make ur problem worst,,.kinda liek loading it slowly..


i would play with ur inverted Vee for the correct fix


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## zabMasonry (Oct 13, 2007)

what ever you do watch out for the old lady with vibrator's around


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## xtreem3d (Nov 26, 2005)

did you choose the big bertha because it is made to dislodge wet (damp) material instead of using the biggest sander vibrator? the hiway's allow you to raise the inverted V, have you tryed that? what would happen if you mounted the big bertha directly to the salter ?
TIA,
steve
ps after you load up ,do you run the vibrators nonstop while driving or just when you start spreading gravel. i thought i read that the big bertha is not a continous duty vibrator?


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## akplowman (Dec 26, 2008)

Steve, 
We chose the Big bertha because of the extreme temp conditions we experience. The biggest sander vibes aren't nearly as powerful as the bertha. 
Mounting directly to the wall isn't a good idea because the power of the Bertha would probably damage the sander especially the Stainless, which is why we opted for the smaller vibes on that one. 
You are right the Bertha is not continuous duty, two main reasons, battery drain, and wear an tear on the sander. 
On my SS unit, if the temps are super cold I'm on the button quite a bit more the with the other, but not all the time. 
I have both sanders set up with Momentary On push buttons. 
The HiWay's do have inverted V's which I have adjusted up to their highest height. It still doesn't prevent the bridging that happens. And the bridging is worse the colder it is and the longer the material stays in the unit. Thats why you've gotta have vibes to loosen the material up so it drops to the conveyor.


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## xtreem3d (Nov 26, 2005)

thanks for the info...i am ordering a vibrator to try and will go w/ the big bertha. i know the literature said don't mount it directly but had to ask if it would really matter. what did the Big bertha run you?
steve


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