First compact concrete crusher sold to local business

The+CR300+Crusher+outside+Dale+Hure+ready+for+hire
Gordon Rogers of Dale Hire taking delivery of the CR300 Crusher from Jeff Haines of Dragon Equipment

The first compact CR300 Concrete Crusher has just rolled off the production line and been hand-delivered to local hire company Dale Hire. Dale Hire’s order marks the first of many for Dragon Equipment.

Jeff Haines, owner and designer at Dragon Equipment, enthused;

“We’re delighted that our first order has come from a local company. Dale Hire have been providing plant and tool hire locally since 1978, so they certainly know their business, and we’re excited for them to start sharing the CR300 Crusher with their customers.”

The CR300 Crusher, which can crush up to 6 tonnes of concrete an hour, is our first product , and at just 700mm wide and under 750kg it is a compact and lightweight machine. Jeff continued;

“We’re really proud of how good it is at doing its job - for such a compact machine it punches well above its weight, one of the reasons the Dale Hire Team couldn’t wait for it to join their fleet! Thank you to Dale Hire for becoming our first customer - we look forward to working with you!”

Gordon Rogers from Dale Hire added;

“We have had very positive early interest since taking delivery of the CR300 Crusher, demonstrating it too our customers with some particularly large and dense blocks and getting some excellent responses which can only be positive for future hires. The communication, attention to detail and professional ‘can-do’ approach from Dragon Equipment made the decision to invest in their well thought out mini crusher an easy choice. We look forward to more innovations from Dragon Equipment to enhance the fleet we can offer to our customers.”

BBQ, beer and concrete crushing!

The prefect way to spend a Friday afternoon!

Our first demonstration lunch took place today, kindly hosted by the team at Tomlinson Groundcare. Guests were first introduced to the CR300 Crusher in the Tomlinson showroom, where the Dragon Team talked through many of the machine’s impressive features. Everyone then ventured into the elements to see the CR300 Crusher in action.

The live demonstration was followed by a BBQ lunch and a few beers (non-alcoholic obviously!) where guests had the opportunity to ask a few more questions.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along today, and to the Tomlinson Team for looking after us and our guests so well.

If you were unable to join us today, don’t fret! We plan to host more demonstration lunches over the coming months, so listen out for when we announce the next date. If you can’t wait that long, the CR300 Crusher is on display in the Tomlinson showroom, or get in touch with the Dragon Team and we’d be happy to arrange a one-on-one demo with you.

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:

Keep in touch with Dragon Equipment

It’s an exciting time for the Dragon Equipment team, with the recent launch of our CR300 Crusher, and several new products in development for 2020 and beyond.

Make sure you’re the first to hear about anything new by keeping in touch! There are so many ways you can do this;

We look forward to hearing from you!

CR300 Crusher – Powered by the new Vanguard® 400

Working closely with the best original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) enables us to bring to market the very best machines possible. One of the most important elements of the CR300 Crusher is its powerful Vanguard 400 14HP engine. We have collaborated with Briggs & Stratton to ensure the engine works perfectly with all the other machine elements, to not only get the best performance from the engine, but the best overall machine performance.

The CR300 Crusher is designed with the hire market in mind, helping to empower end users to take control of reducing, reusing and recycling the waste they produce. Research tell us that one of the main problems hire companies have when hiring out machines is oil/fuel dilution during transport. The Vanguard 400 engine features Vanguard’s patented TransportGuard™ system, which simultaneously shuts-off fuel/ignition to protect the engine from such dilution during transport.

The powerful Vanguard® 400 from Briggs & Stratton

The powerful Vanguard® 400 from Briggs & Stratton

One thing that can’t be avoided when crushing concrete is a certain amount of dust! Thankfully, the Vanguard 400 features a fully cyclonic air filtration with Nano Filter Media and Autoshed Technology which provides a 600-hour replacement interval - double the industry standard. It also features an advanced oil management system which allows the engine to run efficiently for up to 200 hours between oil changes thereby substantially reducing the equipment’s total cost of ownership.

In the hire industry easy maintenance and servicing is critical. A recent research study in the UK hire industry revealed that easy maintenance was ranked 2nd as the most vital characteristic for engines in the hire fleet. The new Vanguard engine offers several new features which make the engine easier to maintain including a high mount oil fill on the rocker cover and an automotive style dipstick as standard. Another standard feature is the built-in oil sensor which protects the engine from low oil level conditions.

High mount oil fill on the Vanguard® 400

High mount oil fill on the Vanguard® 400

The engine also offers several features that will ensure you can continue with the job, no matter the weather, terrain or conditions; the engine is optimised to start in temperatures as low as -29°c.

All these features help to make the CR300 Crusher the powerful concrete crushing machine that it is.

Case study: A mountain of rubble - working farm

What was the project?

Farm-owner Matt had a mountain of rubble that had built up over some time. He needed to crush it down to use as hard core in various places on the farm. Due to the size and spread of the rubble pile he wanted something that was manoeuvrable around the pile of rubble, rather than having to barrow or carry the rubble to a machine. He also needed a machine that could be hand loaded, as he needed to sort the concrete and bricks from the Thermalite blocks that were mixed in with the rubble, and not suitable to use as hard core.

Before - a mountain of rubble

Before - a mountain of rubble

Why use a Dragon machine?

Matt hired a CR300 Crusher for 3 days. At under 725kg, it was delivered in a trailer, made secure by
the multiple tie-down points.

The robust tracking and simple controls on the CR300 Crusher meant it was quick and easy for Matt to move the machine over and around the pile of rubble, covering ground quickly and efficiently.

The 300mm loading mouth made it easy, but also safe to feed by hand, ensuring only the concrete and bricks went through the crusher’s jaws.

Running a farm, Matt’s time is precious, and he needed a machine that was efficient and effective, and able to work as hard as he does – the CR300 Crusher’s no-stress feature eliminates jamming, and the wasted time associated with having to stop, unblock and restart the machine.

During - the CR300 making light-work of the steady stream of concrete

During - the CR300 making light-work of the steady stream of concrete

Project summary

Type:                             Farm

Amount:                       c. 120 tonnes

Material:                      Concrete, house bricks, slabs and general rubble

People:                         Two

Time:                             3 days

Fuel:                               10 litres per day (30 litres total)

Comments

Matt commented “The CR300 didn’t miss a beat! The no-stress took the normal pain of jamming away completely. It is so simple to use, and an extremely productive piece of kit!”

During - a growing pile of crushed concrete

During - a growing pile of crushed concrete

Great first outing for the CR300 Crusher to Saltex 2019

Last week we took the CR300 Crusher on the road to the Saltex show in Birmingham. We were delighted to have been invited by our friends at Briggs and Stratton – who manufacture the Vanguard 400 engine that powers the CR300 – and were given pride of place right at the front of their stand. With such a great location, as soon as the doors opened, we were visited by a steady stream of visitors, all brimming with questions about the crusher.  

Visitors were impressed with the size and weight of the crusher and pleasantly surprised by the performance of such a compact machine. Visitors from the hire industry, building trade and landscaping business could all see how the crusher could enhance their day to day work, and left the show with lots to think about!

Working so closely with the team from Briggs and Stratton was great – we could show their customers first-hand their new engine in situ, and their experts were on-hand to answer questions about the latest engine innovations and power solutions behind the CR300’s impressive performance.

Thank you to Briggs and Stratton for hosting us, and thanks to everyone who came along to see the CR300 crusher – we hope to see you all at Saltex 2020!

We’re going to Saltex

October has been an exciting month for the Dragon Equipment team, and to finish the month in style we’re taking the CR300 Concrete Crusher to its first show - Saltex at the NEC in Birmingham.

Saltex attracts over 9,000 visitors from all over the country, from groundsman to landscapers, and from greenkeepers to estate manager. The two-day show brings together the latest products, trends and innovation from the industry. The CR300 Concrete Crusher, with its innovative crushing mechanism and impressive performance, will help to revolutionise this industry and we can’t wait to show what it can do!

We’re delighted to be joining our friends from Briggs and Stratton on stand L077 to showcase their newest Vanguard 400 engine, which powers the CR300.

We look forward to introducing you to the CR300 at the show from 30 to 31 October.

Case study: Reusing material and time saving - domestic garden path

What was the project?

Jeff had broken out his old garden path (30msq) and was now faced with a mound of rubble that need removing in order to lay a new path. There was a distance of about 50m between where the rubble was, and the closest point a skip could be delivered - a 100m round trip per barrow. The same again to bring in new hardcore for the path base - this would take one man roughly one day to complete.

Before - a mound of broken concrete ready to be crushed

Before - a mound of broken concrete ready to be crushed

Why use a Dragon machine?

For the project, The Dragon Equipment CR300 was the perfect time-saving machine. Working alone, Jeff was able to feed the machine, collect the crushed concrete directly into his barrow to wheel and tip straight into the base of the new path – going from rubble mound to path base in one hour.

The crushed concrete is tipped straight into the path base

The crushed concrete is tipped straight into the path base

The CR300 offers 3 output sizes, for the user to set depending on the project. For his path base, Jeff chose the second size, which was perfect for the base, and the machine ensured it was all consistently crushed to the perfect size.

The machine was not only time and cost effective for this project, it also recycled the old path into the new, dramatically reducing the waste produced.  

Base all ready for the paving slabs

Base all ready for the paving slabs

Project summary

Type:                           Domestic

Size:                            30msq

Material:                    Old concrete

People:                       One

Time:                           1 hours

Fuel                              2 litres

Est. Cost saving:      £150 skip, £150 hard core = Est. £300 saving

Comments

Josh the Landscape Gardener from Green Scene commented “That crushed all that rubble a lot faster than I thought it would – I thought you were going to hold me up!”

 



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

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 machine?

The Dragon Equipment CR300 was perfect for this project because of the restricted and narrow access. The CR300 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!

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.”