The Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail have removed 250 of the 695 bumps from the trail in the last year.

We use a 8″ Walk-Behind Crete-Planer® (CPM-8) from EDCO Equipment Development Company to grind and remove trail bumps and trip hazards from the trail. Earlier this year EDCO reached out to us to see if we can help test their new polycrystalline diamond (PCD) drum which is housed inside the CPM-8 machine. When used on resurfacing projects, these drums leave a much smoother finish than a standard flailing carbide cutter drum. The PCD drum can complete projects up to 3-4 times faster and last 15 times longer than a standard carbide drum, not only speeding up bump removal but also reducing the time and cost to replace cutters.

After testing the new PCD drum we can tell the difference. We are now able to remove more trail bumps in less time with a smoother result. EDCO has generously loaned us a PCD drum to help speed up the bump removal process. Over the next year we will be using the new PCD drum and reporting back to EDCO on usage. We are excited for our new partnership with EDCO and the impact the PCD drum will have on removing trail bumps and trip hazards.

A visit to the EDCO factory

EDCO, based in Frederick, Maryland, has a commitment to American manufacturing. They invited us to come to their factory to see machines being made, learn more about their free equipment training website (EDCOed), and to pick up the new PCD drum.

We used the PCD drum for the first time on Saturday, November 11th where we removed a record 57 trail bumps over 6 hours of volunteering.

The CPM-8 Crete-Planer in action