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A grader followed directly behind the RX-900, establishing lateral profile and shaping the road. A roller was then used to compact the material. Traffic was then allowed to run on the newly compacted surface until the contractor returned later to complete the operation with a 2-inch layer of hot mix.

More work, same machine

Essentially, the RX-900 cold planer was used to accomplish the same process that a rubber-tired reclaimer/stabilizer would have completed. It's a good example of how to use a cold planer like the RX-900 to complete more days of work per year. This allows the contractor to justify his first purchase of a cold planer or ownership of a larger cold planer.

Keep in mind that pulverizing of bituminous or flex base can easily be done with a cold planer, but a cold planer cannot work in wet sticky soil (subbase). The center scrolling design of a typical highway cold planer would cause the cutter drum to plug up. An operation involving subbase would require a rubber-tired soil stabilizer/reclaimer, which has a different style cutter drum that does not collect the material to the center like a cold planer and has self-cleaning teeth that prevent plugging.

Multi-tasking equipment can make a big difference to your bottom line. Considering just cold planers, a bi-directional model allows you to use the machine as a down-cut and up-cut pulverizer, in addition to the traditional milling jobs it usually does.

When looking at the return on your machine investment, you can see the potential if you're able to add several days of pulverizing work to the year's milling projects for the machine. Moreover, a cold planer that can mill forward as an up-cut machine and backward as a down-cut machine can make jobs easier when there are tight working conditions or heavy traffic volume.