Excavator attachments come in various forms, each created to perform specific tasks precisely and efficiently. The range of attachments available, from buckets and hammers to grapples and thumbs, ensures contractors can easily tackle various projects. Understanding the importance of using these accessories is vital to unlocking their full potential and optimizing performance.
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Overview of Excavator Attachments
Excavator attachments serve as extensions of the machine, enabling operators to accomplish tasks that would otherwise be impractical or impossible. Whether digging trenches with a bucket, breaking concrete, lifting heavy loads, or clearing debris, there&#;s an attachment suited to the task. By harnessing the power of this equipment, excavators can become multi-functional tools capable of efficiently handling various tasks.
Importance of Using Attachments for Excavators
Attachments significantly enhance excavators&#; versatility and capacity, allowing operators to perform various tasks without requiring multiple machines. This saves time and labor costs and minimizes the environmental impact by reducing the number of machines required on-site.
Types of Excavator Attachments
Excavator attachments can be broadly categorized by specific type, each serving a distinct purpose. These include buckets, hammers, thumbs, grapples, augers, and compactors. The choice of attachment depends on the project&#;s specific requirements, such as the type of material being handled, the depth and width of excavation, and the desired level of precision.
The hydraulic excavator has been a real game-changer for the construction, earthmoving, mining and quarrying industries since its introduction in the s, not least due to its ability to tackle a wide variety of tasks with a simple change of attachment.
This ability is not always exploited, as many people still think of an excavator simply as a machine with a bucket used to dig and move earth. So we asked a few industry stalwarts &#; Queensland Rock Breakers (QRB) general manager, Fred Carlsson; Digga Australia marketing manager, Lionel Smitka; and Delecca&#;s sales manager, Jason Delecca &#; to name their top recommended excavator attachments.
RELATED READ: 5 main types of earthmoving equipment and when to use them
We&#;ll crown the digging bucket as champion because it&#;s both ubiquitous and indispensable. Then all three of our experts had rock breakers and hydraulic grabs on their lists, with vibrating compaction plates, flail mowers and sieve buckets appearing on two lists.
&#;As you get into the specialist fields, the must-have attachments depend on your application,&#; Carlsson pointed out.
&#;There are a number of attachments such as pile drivers and rock saws that probably don't make the list because of their limited overall applications but, as you can see, there is no shortage of attachments, which is one reason why excavators account for roughly half the machinery market in Australia.&#;
We take a look at each expert&#;s must-have list, then examine eight attachments in more detail:
Frederik Carlsson &#; Queensland Rock Breakers (QRB)
Lionel Smitka &#; Digga Australia
Jason Delecca &#; Delecca&#;s
A Bobcat flail mower in action
Perhaps a flail mower isn&#;t the first thing that comes to mind when talking about excavator attachments, but Delecca&#;s sales manager, Jason Delecca, places it at number one on his list.
&#;The flail mower is generally forgotten about, but it&#;s amazing what it is capable of doing,&#; Delecca said.
&#;We sell these to suit 1.5-tonne to 8-tonne excavators. It means that people can start clearing scrubs on sides of roads and also for small land-clearing jobs.
&#;We have had contractors go from clearing large highway roadsides to farm clearing and then into creaks and channels. It works the hydraulics but the rest of the machine generally works very easy when operating.&#;
Delecca said his Bendigo (VIC) business has used a few brands previously, but these days they recommend the Bobcat unit.
&#;It has a feature that shuts down the flails quicker and also side chains &#; not rubber &#; to stop debris going into unwanted directions,&#; he said. &#;Also, the body is strong and will withstand damage.&#;
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An excavator&#;s hydraulic pressure makes it perfect for mounting auger drives with post hole borers to prepare the ground for fence posts, plants or signposts.
&#;You&#;ve just got to look around,&#; said Digga Australia marketing manager, Lionel Smitka.
&#;We drill holes for everything from planting trees and erecting playground equipment, to building foundations and fencing.&#;
&#;From domestic to commercial projects, there wouldn&#;t be many projects which wouldn&#;t require holes to be drilled,&#; he said.
&#;We&#;ve been selling hundreds of auger drives every month for over 30 years. The demand for holes is endless.&#;
According to Smitka, buying an auger drive is simple, but buying the correct one is not so straightforward.
&#;It&#;s almost a science where one must consider the size and depth of the hole to be drilled, ground conditions and host machine&#;s hydraulic system,&#; he said.
&#;Use a reputable company with a wide range of drives to ensure you are fitted into a drive which will give you the ideal drilling speed and torque for the expected ground conditions. Too fast in hard ground and the auger will skate over the ground without biting in. Too slow in good conditions and you&#;re wasting time and money.
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&#;Talk to someone who knows what they are talking about,&#; Smitka emphasised. &#;If your machine&#;s hydraulic flow is the only question you&#;re asked, move on. Auger size, ground conditions and RPM are equally as important.&#;
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Since the first rock breaker, or hydraulic hammer, was invented by Atlas Copco forebear Krupp (or possibly by Montalbert, depending on who you ask) in the late s, this excavator attachment has gone on to transform the construction, mining and quarrying industries.
QRB general manager, Fred Carlsson, put the rock breaker at number one on his list &#;as it is the highest value attachment required for most excavators in order to be able to compete on most jobs&#;.
&#;As it is a big investment for most owners, the key factors to consider are that it is a well-known brand supported by an established business that carries all parts to keep you going,&#; he said.
&#;Ensure you are getting value for money by comparing the energy impact, flow rates, etc, as some suppliers will sell a breaker that is too small for the application in order to bring down their price, which means you won't be getting the most out of your machine and attachment investment.&#;
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Adding a hydraulic grab or grapple to an excavator turns it into a versatile machine capable of handling rocks, logs, scrap materials and more&#; if you can grab it, you can move it.
The attachment&#;s versatility is proven by the number of names given to it &#; they&#;re also known as rock grabs, log grabs, static grabs, demolition grabs, stiff arm grabs and box tyne grapples.
&#;A hydraulic grab fits perfectly with a flair mower,&#; Jason Delecca said.
&#;It allows you to clear anything around you. We generally fit a lot of these to our regional contractors&#; excavators, and they are always very surprised at how much they use them once they are on the machine.&#;
Carlsson said you should pick your tool for your application, but make sure you buy the right one!
&#;Log grabs, finger grabs, orange peel grabs for scrap, magnetic grabs, or rotating grabs &#; all have specific designs for defined picking purposes,&#; he said.
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&#;You may be somewhat surprised that I placed trenchers as my number two,&#; Digga&#;s Lionel Smitka said. &#;After all, excavators are sold with a bucket which is used for digging trenches &#; so why would anyone spend $ on a dedicated trencher?
&#;Well, a trencher will cut a trench faster than a bucket &#; furthermore the spoil extracted from the trench is finer and able to be returned to the trench with little sinkage.
&#;For any operator trenching serious meters, a dedicated trencher attachment will be more efficient, saving time and money,&#; Smitka said. &#;It is the most underrated excavator attachment on the market.&#;
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Also known as twin-header rock grinders, rotary cutters, hydraulic cutters or simply as twin-headers, this attachment is designed for a variety of applications. This includes trench work in hard and compacted ground, concrete and rock wall profiling, dredging, demolition and quarry work &#; really in circumstances where conventional digging systems and percussion tools have little effect.
&#;Whether cutting out basements for high rise developments, or being a cost effective extraction tool for mining/quarry applications, twin head cutters chip in handy profits in cost-effectively extracting materials in hard-to-get-at-locations,&#; Fred Carlsson said.
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Also known as hydraulic compactors or compactor plates, vibrating compaction plates are designed for compacting soil, trenches and embankments as well as driving in and pulling out piles, posts and formwork.
The vibration forces of the plates drive soil particles close together for solid, stable compaction in applications from narrow trenches to large backfill operations.
It&#;s generally simple to connect a compactor plate to your machine's existing hydraulics, and is even easier if you have existing hydraulic hammer piping.
Excavator-mounted vibrating plates have a number of benefits over manually operated compactors: they&#;re safer as no one needs to actually stand in the workspace; they generally create less noise; they can be used anywhere the boom can place them; and much of the excavator load is partially transferred to the plate, thus accelerating the compaction process.
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These buckets are used to sort a wide variety of materials from rock, gravel, soil, bricks and rubble to hot materials such as steel slag. Their applications are equally diverse, from recycling and demolition to feeding crusher units and the remediation of contaminated soil.
Also known as riddle buckets, sorting buckets, shaker buckets or skeleton buckets, they are filled with material and then shaken to allow finer pieces to fall through the grill while retaining larger objects, such as bricks and rubble. It goes without saying that you need to choose an aperture that suits the materials being sorted.
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