SHEAR FORCE

Headquartered in Glastonbury, with satellite sites in WestonSuper-Mare, Yeovil and Taunton, JC Thomas & Sons certainly knows a thing or two about scrap metal. Established in 1924 by Joe Thomas, today the business employs 35 people and is run by the third generation of the family.

Martin Thomas recalled that, back in the day, a Hymac 580C was the scrap metal recycler’s excavator of choice, and at one point they ran half-a-dozen of the Britishbuilt machines. He joked that, by the time you got them all running, the first one had broken down again, but at least they were cheap and easy to repair.

Martin said, “From Hymac we moved on to try a Hitachi UH081, which was our first modern machine, but it didn’t last long with us. We then purchased a Cat 219 back in 1991, which, in our eyes, was the best machine ever. We worked it until it had amassed 36,000 hours on the meter, at which point the meter stopped working, but the machine continued to work for another couple of years. We loved the Cat so much that we then bought our first brand new machine, a 320 materials handler. However, we found that, as the business grew, it wasn’t quite up to the job, so we looked at other options.

“We had never considered Liebherr before, so we tried one on demonstration. We really liked it and have never looked back; we have probably purchased about a dozen new machines from them. We have a long-standing contact within the Liebherr GB business, Matt Jennings, who we like to deal with. He is always very helpful during the sale process, and the after-sales and support back-up we receive from them as a company is second to none, just brilliant.

At this depot alone we are running three LH40 materials handlers, which are fantastic machines for our application.”

New Shear

At their Glastonbury premises, JC Thomas & Sons operates a large 1250 Lefort Amazon static metal processing shear, which is due to be replaced with a new machine in a few months time. Surprisingly, the business has never run an excavatormounted shear at this site, where any over-sized material is manually reduced before being fed into the huge static shear.

Keen to improve the overall efficiency of the operation and to mechanise the downsizing process, the decision was recently made to invest in a 10-tonne rotating shear attachment, together with a suitably-sized excavator to host it.

After much research, the American-built Fortress range of shears from Shearcore seemed to best suit their requirements, as Martin was particularly impressed with their build quality. Ordered through dealer Blue Machinery, the second largest shear in the Fortress range was chosen, the 9.8-tonne FS-95R model, which offers a jaw opening of 991mm and a jaw depth of 1067mm.

The upper and lower jaws of this impressive attachment are fabricated from 6in-thick, high-yield structural steel plate, which significantly reduces the need for laminations, and an over-sized pivot group further improves durability. At the business end, high alloy BladeCore blades are used, for extended edge life and for dealing with non-ferrous metals. From the brick outhouse school of industrial design, the Shearcore Fortress shear is designed to achieve unrivalled power at its cutting tip, with the strength and rigidity to perform these duties reliably over the long term.

Regarding the host machine for this monster of an attachment, Martin continued, “I spoke to another chap we know at Liebherr, John Diggens, who is the used equipment manager. Another great guy, who looks after us if we buy a secondhand machine, and who you can have faith in to deliver a good quality product.

“He sourced us this 2018 model 56-tonne

R956, with only a few thousand hours on it, which they prepared for us. The attention to detail from the team at Liebherr says it all, as they had spotted the sump gasket had a small weep on it. You cannot replace the sump gasket without taking the engine out, so they just whipped the power pack out, replaced the gasket and put it all back together again.”

Site Visit

The 56-tonne Liebherr excavator hosting a 9.8-tonne Fortress FS-95R shear had been set up the day before our visit. Having worked in the yard since he was a teenager, company director Martin is very much a hands-on boss, taking change of this combination to see if it would live up to expectations.

He said, “I was totally blown away by it to be honest. It’s been chopping through stuff here in ten minutes that would normally take us half a day with gas cutting gear. It’s a bit of a baptism of fire learning how to use the Fortress, as we have never run an excavator-mounted shear here before. I’m sure there is a knack to cutting things most effectively, and we will soon pick it up.

“It’s going to have a massive impact in time saving and storage space around the yard. Oversize material takes up so much space, so having the ability to downsize it straight away, as it comes in, helps to keep the yard much tidier.

“We do like to keep a tidy yard. We put concrete down throughout the yard in the 1990s, but as we are on soft peat ground, we often have to replace areas. As you probably noticed when I was running the machine, the ground shakes and moves under the weight!”

Martin concluded, “Nicky and Jack at Blue Machinery have been spot on. I ordered the shear and, luckily for me, it was one they already had coming in for stock. I ordered it in December and it had only just then been put on the boat. Now towards the end of January, it’s here and working on the machine, so I can’t complain. I am very impressed with it already. I was prepared to be a bit disappointed, so it’s been the most pleasant surprise for me and our business.”

I have to say it was one of the tidiest metal recycling yards I have visited over the years, a real credit to the team. Last year they processed in the region of 80,000 tonnes of various metals. Although no longer directly involved in the export business, about half their output goes to the docks, and the other half is despatched to steelworks in Britain.

From what I witnessed, their stunning shear combination is going to be yet another game changer for this longestablished family firm, which next year celebrates the incredible milestone of 100 years in business.