Select Your Plate Compactor MVP
BY John Ball
You can’t complete handwork on the paving job without a plate compactor and a willing worker to run it. This person is sometimes easy to overlook when you’re rounding out your paving crew, but he—or she—is essential to completing a top quality residential or commercial project.
The roller operator has already rolled the speed bump, but Barrett is manipulating the material into the structure they’ve built for final compaction and to remove lines.
It’s not only the starter pad that needs to be compacted with this tool, but any part of the mat where the mix has been agitated by the crew. Any area that’s been dumped into place by the wheelbarrow, skid steer bucket or shovels is an area the plate compactor needs to address. Any spot that’s been touched with the rake or shovel has been irritated and the material needs to be soothed back into place with the plate compactor’s vibration. The savvy laborer is always on the lookout for those blemishes to fix them and seal them. He’s looking to tighten up the mat and make it beautiful. He’s taking out the cut marks or imperfections.
Perfect Example
For the crew at Superior Surfacing Systems Ltd., Middletown, New York, Justin Barrett is the crewmember who is assigned to run the plate compactor. That’s been his job for the past three to four years. Over the past few years, he has not only learned his craft, but he’s also come to exemplify the type of dedicated laborer you want for the position.
The wheels on the compactor are typically in the locked position. You can release them, tilt it back and push to another portion of the job quickly. The u-shaped handle on top of the compactor is strong enough to support the weight of the tool when loaded onto a truck or lowboy with a lift.
Keith Reardon, the president of Superior Surfacing, spoke of Barrett’s talent and dedication to his craft. “He’s responsible for plate compaction and hand tamping of all applicable and critical areas of the job. It’s a somewhat tedious job that requires constant movement and attention to all the little details. It’s often the final touches that make a difference between some other contractors and our high expectations of a truly quality job. Justin has been with us for approximately three to four years, is reliable and enjoys his work and interaction with the crew. I wish I could clone him and spread him around. He truly enjoys what he does and takes pride in the finished product at the end of the day.”
I don’t know of any other crews that have one person dedicated to running the plate compactor. Barrett is the silent member of the paving squad, but, in this example, he’s the guy who’s making the job noteworthy. This position is so exciting that if you’re doing it right, you’re taking it seriously and you’re sweating bullets out there. You’re hopping from one end of the project to the other to keep up with all the different sections of the mat and all that those sections need.
The roller operator has already rolled the speed bump, but Barrett is manipulating the material into the structure they’ve built for final compaction and to remove lines.
Because he’s moving around the project so often and so quickly, Barrett strategically places 5-gallon buckets of water around the project site for refilling the compactor. The specific plate compactor that he uses is the Husqvarna LF 100 LAT, which has a tube bolted down at the front of the plate. The holes in the tube let water out and the vibrations let the water spatter and splatter to lubricate the plate.
If a crew has the luxury of paving a straight line for the day’s project, a plate compactor can often follow the rolling train, which means a water truck can be following along or a water tank can be situated on a roller deck. For a parking lot project like we see in the pictures here, having water buckets scattered strategically around the job site is a smart idea.
All good roller operators know to put boards down to protect the joint when “climbing” onto a mat. Here, the Superior Surfacing Systems crew demonstrates using the boards to protect the speed bump’s integrity as it is built. Barrett fine-tunes the bump and removes lines with the plate compactor after it’s been rolled. Notice how smooth and clean the finished mat is on the left side of the photo. The crew leaves no lines; you see no joints in the pavement.
When the rolling train is compacting, the pattern depends on time and temperature. The same is true for the lone plate compactor operator. He has to think about time and temperature but also how well the crew raked out the material he’s about to manipulate. He has to jump on it quickly and seal it quickly because the minute someone interrupts the mix with raking, they have changed the characteristics of the mat. He has to be alert and get on the sections in a timely manner.
If the crew is paving at 25 feet per minute, and he needs three or four minutes to seal the starter pad at one end of the pull, the paver is 75 to 100 feet down the lane by the time he’s ready to move to the next area. He’s looking for the extra places that need his attention all the time and he’s answering to multiple members of the crew.
The people who call for this laborer’s help throughout the paving day are the roller operator, the raker/lute artist, and the screed operator who’s matching the joint. The fellow running the plate compactor is at their beck and call throughout the shift and he’ll keep an eye on all three of them for when they need him.
In the case of Superior Surfacing Systems’ Barrett, the young man is a natural. As you can see by the pictures here, he puts his whole body into the job. He uses his strength to move, turn and steer the compactor. The Husqvarna LF 100 LAT weighs 236 pounds. It has a 4.8-horsepower Honda engine and is rated with 17 Newtons of centrifugal force. The plate width is 19.69 inches, and its edges curve up like the ski of an endgate to prevent cutting and digging the mat as you work.
It has a corrosion-resistant, removable water tank, and I want to point out the large cap that makes it easier to refill than other models I’ve operated. Also notice the uniqueness of the knob to control the water system being located on top of the water tank as well. It makes it easy to access a visible, sizable knob to adjust the water flow. You can see Barrett adjusting the knob on the fly—and the water spatter action—in the video uploaded with this article at TheAsphaltPro.com website.
John Ball is the proprietor of Top Quality Paving & Training, Manchester, New Hampshire. For more information, contact him at (603) 493-1458.