Cold Planers For Sale

About Cold Planers

Cold planers, or as asphalt milling machines, use a rotating drum or rotor studded with cutting tips (picks) to grind the surface of the pavement on a road, bridge, or parking lot. The use of carbide tips designed for mining allowed milling of asphalt with no other preparation, spawning the cold planer product category in the late 1970s.

A vacuum system removes much of the resulting dust, which can impede visibility and be inhaled by workers. A water sprayer system also helps to suppress dust and cools the cutting bits to extend their lifespan, which is typically a few hours. Cold planers range from large, self-propelled, full-lane width or half-lane width machines on tracks or wheels down to milling attachments mountable on loaders, motor graders, or skid steers.

---

Caterpillar PM620 Cold Planer

Cold Planer Benefits

Milling machines can be used to grind down bumps and surface defects, as well as to remove damaged sections for later repair. Larger cold planers can remove more than 12 inches (305 millimeters) of asphalt in one pass, but like smaller units, they can also be used to grind off just enough to roughen the surface or erase painted markings. Control over the milling drum speed and travel speed lets the operator dictate the smoothness or coarseness of the final result, as does the spacing of the cutting bits on the drum. Micro-milling drums, for example, are equipped with many more cutting bits spaced closely to one another to leave a finer surface texture.

Many cold planers are designed to reclaim the milled asphalt material for re-use. Recycled asphalt pavement, when properly processed, makes for a low-cost and environmentally friendlier replacement for virgin asphalt, which is manufactured with oil, new aggregate, binding agents, and large amounts of energy. Milling machines designed for this purpose have conveyors to offload the recyclable asphalt into a dump truck or trailer. Larger models are generally front-loading, meaning that their conveyor belts extend forward over the bed of a haul truck ahead of them. Smaller, partial lane-width milling machines often have rearward conveyors to load a truck behind them.

Some planers can be modified for special applications, such as to create rumble strips. These small, milled trenches across the pavement make tires “buzz,” alerting the driver that the vehicle is approaching an intersection or straying onto the shoulder of the road. Wirtgen also mentions machine configurations optimized for concrete or rock milling, as well as steep gradient milling on applications with sloping banks such as reservoirs and canals.

Modern Features

Today’s cold planers, like other modern roadbuilding machines, feature engines that comply with current emissions standards. Many also use automatic engine speed control to reduce emissions and save fuel.

Visibility is important to milling machine operators, so manufacturers offer camera systems for critical areas. Telemetry systems wirelessly transmit machine status and location data, and can help troubleshoot issues. Many planers now allow operators to save their preferred settings and recall them later.

Cold planers’ grade control systems, which adjust the drum height automatically according to the operator’s settings and the height of the material to be cut, have evolved with sophisticated technologies. These include advanced sensors including ultrasonics, transducers, and lasers. Slope control, which adjusts the machine according to its side-to-side angle, has also benefited from ever-more precise technology. With 3D control systems, asphalt milling can easily be done by a single operator, even on deep cuts.

Other developments have also improved planer operation and results. Diamond cutting bits, though more expensive, can last up to 80 times longer than carbide, according to Cat. They also improve fuel efficiency by reducing drag while cutting. Some milling machines automatically reduce the noise level when the rotor is raised, such as to clear obstacles such as manhole covers. Others use automatic leveling mechanisms to maintain a consistent rotor height when the rear tracks or wheels enter the cut. Finally, hydraulic auto-tension mechanisms can reduce downtime for maintenance of machines with tracks.

Find The Right Cold Planer For Your Operation

Bomag, Caterpillar, Roadtec, and Wirtgen are among the many major manufacturers of milling machines. You’ll find plenty of new and used cold planers for sale at PavingEquipment.com. That includes track cold planers and wheel cold planers.