b'EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCEDONT GET CAUGHTIN THE COLDWinter maintenance tips for screen media By Lars BrunlingI t has been a long productive season, and snow and cold areTraditional screens such as woven wire cloth have been used for well on their way. Whether shutting down for the winteryears with good results, but operations need to make sure they or pressing through, aggregate processing operations mustarent settling for good enough. Newer styles of screen media take steps to maintain productivity and minimize mainte- last longer and can solve many of the inherent problems of woven nance costs: from screen media evaluations and compo- wire. High vibration screens, for example, are made up of highly nent inspection to proper shutdown training. Here are some stepsengineeredwiresheldtogetherwithpolyurethanestrips.This to avoid being left in the cold.eliminates cross wires with high wear spots that are common to woven wire and a few types of self-cleaning media. The result is PROPER SCREEN MEDIA CHOICES optimal open area and a wear life as much as five times longer than wirealone.Thesamefeaturesminimizeblinding,peggingand Scheduled winter downtime provides the perfect opportunity tomaterial contamination to generate more production at a lower evaluate how various components are standing up and decidecost per ton of material produced. whether there are better options before the operation kicks intoHigh vibration wire screens can be especially advantageous in high gear in the spring. First, take a look at how long screen mediathe winter because frozen material tends to plug or overload screen is lasting. A different type may be necessary if wear is higher thandecks. The accelerated screening action of high vibration screens expected or change-outs are too frequent.better handles the material surges or plugging issues. 18 AVENUESWINTER 2022'