Eagle International debuts Punch Cutter III

Eagle International, a manufacturer of tire shears, derimmers, bead removers and sidewall cutters that is based in Lyons, Nebraska, has released the Punch Cutter III for the off-the-road (OTR) tire recycling market. Eagle International’s third installment of the Punch Cutter line cuts away sidewalls from OTR tires up to 70/70-57 in size. The scrap tire is loaded onto the machine and lifted into place, and then a 10-inch blade punches through the thick rubber on the outside edge of the tread.

“Removing the sidewalls from OTR tires presented a particular challenge that we were excited to tackle,” says Joe Brehmer, president of Brehmer Manufacturing Inc., the parent company of Eagle International. “We know that this machine can help recyclers make better use of end-of-life OTR tires and create more sources of revenue.”

According to a news release from Eagle International, recyclers can expand their capabilities with the Punch Cutter III when it is used in conjunction with Eagle’s OTR Downsizing System. The Punch Cutter III removes the sidewalls and gives access to the tread for reuse. Then Eagle’s OTR Debeader pulls the steel bead from the sidewalls for scrap. Finally, the Eagle Titan II or Titan Plus cuts the sidewall into smaller pieces for shredding or pyrolysis.

“There are a lot of materials to extract from an OTR tire,” says John Tejkl, sales representative for Eagle International. “Since the makeup of the rubber is different in OTR sidewalls than in the tread, the tread is much more desirable feedstock for downstream processing. But several different parts of the tire create value once extracted. Now that we’ve developed an easier way to separate the tread from the sidewall, it opens up even more possibilities.”

Eagle International has been building hydraulic-powered tire recycling equipment since 1991.