Case study: Restricted and narrow access - domestic garden

What was the project?

Dave had an old patio (4.5msq) he was breaking up so he could lay a new shed base in its position. He also needed a base on the other side of the garden for a summer house.

Before - a mass of concrete, bricks and rubble ready for crushing

The garden had restricted and narrow access round the side, so there was not space to bring a skip round, meaning the old base would need to be broken up, and barrowed round to the front of the house.

Once the old patio was disposed of, he would need to buy new hardcore to lay the new shed and summer house bases. Due to the narrow access the hardcore would be delivered to the front of the house and he would need to barrow this round the back to the two base locations.

Why use a Dragon Equipment machine?

The Dragon Equipment CR300 Crusher was perfect for this project because of the restricted and narrow access. The CR300 Crusher is 700mm in width, around 700kg in weight and when combined with the simple controls and all-terrain tracks could effortlessly maneuver from the back of the trailer (where is was anchored with one of 2 anchor points for transportation), across the drive, through the side gate and across the garden to park directly next to the old patio.

CR300’s 700mm width makes restricted and narrow access easy

Dave and his son-in-law Richard worked together - one broke out the concrete and one fed the concrete straight into the machine. No need for a skip, or multiple barrow trips. The crushed concrete is also perfect to be used as hard core for the new shed and summer house bases.

A job well done - all crushed and ready for a new life as a shed or summer house base!

Project summary

Type:                           Domestic

Size:                            4.5msq

Material:                     House bricks, storage heater bricks, concrete paving slabs and very old concrete

People:                       Two

Time:                           2 hours

Est. Cost saving:      £200 skip, £100 hard core = Est. £300 saving

Comments

Dave commented “The CR300 was simple and effective! I was also impressed with how safe and approachable the machine looked - it wasn’t intimidating at all. We were very impressed by how quick and efficient it was.”

Case study: LF1000 saves hire customer hours of hard graft and manual labour

It’s a familiar story. You’re doing some construction work in your back garden and you order several bags of sand and MOT hardcore for the project. The delivery arrives, and is loving placed out the front of your house…now what!

Historically, this would be when the hard work starts. Unloading the bags into barrows and wheeling them round the side of the house to the back garden. Hours of hard graft and manual labour before you can even start the actual project!

But this is no longer the case, as a recent hire customer learnt to their delight…

On the project in question, several bulk bags of sand and MOT were delivered to the front of the house. Even at this stage space was tight – there was not enough room for the bags to be laid out, so they were stacked 2 high on the driveway.

Using the LF1000 Lifter, on hire from their local tool hire shop, the customer was able to reach and lift the bags, even stacked 2 high. Since the LF1000 is narrower than the actual bag, the customer could safely track each bag round the side of the house, through the narrow garden gate, and position each bag exactly where it was needed – stacking them 2 high again.

The total trip for each bag was around 180 metres. Without the lifter, the job would have been completed by hand, and as the customer commented;

“We would still be doing the job next month if we didn’t have that cracking little machine!” 

CR300H shortlisted for World Demolition Award 2020

Today we’re proud to announce that our CR300H Hybrid Concrete Crusher has been shortlisted for a World Demolition Award in the Plant and Equipment category.

Our powerful hybrid machine beat of stiff competition from all over the world to secure it’s spot among the four shortlisted product innovations for this international award.

These are just some of the reasons we felt this product was the right one for this prestigious award;

• Built entirely in the UK, the CR300H weighs under 780Kgs and has a crushing rate of up to 7 tonnes per hour, higher than the non Hybrid version

• Unique hybrid technology and compact design allow access and safe crushing operation in previously inaccessible areas

• Built-in dust suppression capability reduces risk to the operator when working in confined spaces

• Highly versatile and robust with automatic switching between hybrid and engine modes, allowing rapid charging of the on-board batteries

• Fuel efficient and low emissions offer low environmental impact while also providing on-site recycling, so reducing waste disposal costs

You can read more about the awards here, you can even register to attend the virtual award ceremony on 12 November - we can’t wait!

Case study: Garden makeover - time, money and effort saved

Luke, from local hire company TBS Hire, had our demo CR300 Crusher for a couple of weeks to demo to some interested customers. Rather than it sitting in the workshop over the weekend, the ever-resourceful Luke loaded it onto his truck and took it home with him to help him with his own DIY project! Luke commented;

The CR300 negotiating Luke’s narrow gate

“I’ve been working on my garden makeover since September, and the crusher gave me a great chance to push on with the project!”

One immediate challenge the crusher overcame was the very tight access to Luke’s garden. At just 700mm wide, the CR300 tracked effortlessly through the narrow gate.

The project included pulling down a 40cm high x 17m long retaining wall and uprooting a 12msq slabbed area. The resulting pile of rubble included about 6 tonnes of old concrete slabs, red bricks, blue engineering bricks and broken up concrete.

A mound of rubble ready for crushing

Luke set the CR300 to the smallest jaw setting, meaning the output material was perfect to re-lay a base for his new patio and would compact down nicely. Working alone, it took Luke about an hour and half to get through all 6 tonnes of the rubble, using about ¾ of a tank of fuel. Some of the material he crushed straight back into the ground, some into a wheel barrow, and the remaining in a pile close by the work area.

If Luke didn’t have access to the crusher he would have had to hire a skip and move all the material by wheel barrow to the front of the property, then pay for the removal. He would then pay for the new hardcore to come in and then transport by wheel barrow back into the rear garden.

Luke commented

“I feel that the crusher was perfect for my project, it really did save me time, effort and cost. The material that it produced was perfect for my project and gave me a great base for my patio.”

Case study: CR300 Crusher - loading with mini excavator

Jeff needed to extend his shed base by an area of 3m x 1.5m. He used the CR300 Crusher to crush surplus concrete into hardcore for the new base.

Feeding the machine with a mini excavator made the job even quicker. With help from son Zac, Jeff completed the job in just 25 minutes, using less than 1 litre of fuel for the crushing.

The keen-eyed of you will notice our new Power Barrow in the background – it’s currently in the final stages of testing, so we’ll tell you more about that another day!

Watch this video to see the CR300 Crusher in action on this job: