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The feeder is chosen for the material it has to handle and the protection it gives the crusher, not for the tonnage. Sticky feed and clean rock need different
19 Aug 2025
A feeder has three jobs: deliver material at a controlled rate, survive the impact of material being dropped on it, and protect the crusher behind it. Which of the three dominates decides the type. An apron feeder is a chain of overlapping pans, and its strength is handling material that is heavy, lumpy or damp without being damaged by the drop; it also meters well, which matters when the crusher downstream needs a steady load rather than surges. A vibrating feeder with a grizzly section does something different: the bars let material smaller than the setting pass around the crusher, so the crusher is only asked to work on the fraction that actually needs breaking. On a run-of-quarry feed with a high proportion of fines, that bypass is worth more than any other single detail of the installation.
The feed condition decides whether the grizzly works. Sticky, clay-bearing material blinds the bars, and a feeder chosen for its bypass capacity can end up blocking instead. In that case a plain vibrating feeder, or an apron feeder with a separate scalping screen, is the more robust arrangement. A belt feeder is usually reserved for material that is already reduced and dry, where the low cost and the ease of moving the discharge point outweigh the lack of impact resistance.
Sizing follows the crusher rather than the quarry: the feeder must be able to keep the chamber charged at the rate the crusher consumes material, including when the feed surges. A feeder sized to the average will starve the crusher half the time and overload it the rest. The practical checks before buying are the largest lump, the proportion of fines, the moisture and the variability of the blast, because it is the variation rather than the average that decides whether the installation runs smoothly.
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