Digger

Nick Drew my life in plant part three

2010-03-11T15:57:53Z

After being made redundant from Wimpeys around 1982-83 I became a bit like a fish out of water for a while as I had like so many people become stuck in a rut with what I thought was the security of a big company. But I set off in earnest to find a new job which I found the very next day for a company called Alan Hunt Equipment who operated out of a portacabin in the Northam docks area of Southampton, I knew very little about this firm but they offered me a start on an O&K RH4 excavator rather ironically on a Wimpey site in Christchurch. The machine was similar to the one in this old scan of an O&K sales brochure . ]]> A few weeks later I was sent to a site in Winchester to cover for another operator on a Hitachi UHO4 excavator, this deployment was to be an eye opener to the fact that you can't please everyone in our game. I turned up on site and introduced myself to the foreman who told me to go and wait in my van, about 15 minutes later he came out and told me to go and ring my boss, after finding a phone box my boss told me that the customer had said I was no good on the machine! now bear in mind I had not even unlocked the door at this point let alone moved a track in anger? The worst case of someone's face not fitting that I have ever experienced. Some weeks later I was on hire to a company called J.M.Smyth Contractors operating a Hitachi UHO2 6 ton machine on a smalll housing site, the company owner was a great Irishman called Joe and we got on like a house on fire. He told me that he had a lot of work coming off in Waterloovile nr Portsmouth and asked me if I would be interested in working for him? Joe made me a financial offer that I simply could not refuse and so a week later I started for Joe on one of his new JCB 805B turbo's on a David Wilson homes site in Cowplain. The groundwork's foreman on Smyth's was a chap called Pat Smart who was affectionately known as "Smarty" he was also a machine operator and we got on well together because he understood the problems we encounter as machine operators from time to time. He had a little trick for catching out groundworkers who were not pulling thier weight. He used to leave his machine running at full revs and sneak around the back of the houses to catch them out which sometimes didn't go down too well with the lads but it used to make me chuckle seeing him up to his antics! I had a good year and half with J.M.Smyth until his workload dropped off and it became clear it was time to move on once more. Next stop for me was Fareham based Brian R Wilson (Porchester) Ltd, where I was employed operating one of their Mitsubishi MS140 machines I worked on various housing sites around Hampshire and when their own workload was slack I was often put out on hire. One memorable job was digging out the approach roads for the Rudmore Flyover next to the ferry terminal entrance in Portsmouth. I thought the MS140 which at the time were sold in the UK by the then Caterpillar dealers H. Leverton was a fantastic machine, smooth hydraulics, and plenty of speed and power too, the machine was similar to this example taken in America. The plant and transport controller at Wilson's was a good lad called Barry Knight who later went on to work for Gracelands civil engineeering and is still there to this day. Barry often put me out on hire to Gracelands and that was to be the start of my good relationship with the successful groundworks company. The next company I was to work for was Swanwick Construction Ltd from Botley nr Southampton where I was to stay for over 9 years but more on that in the next installment..

Caterpillar launch new E2 series backhoe loaders

2010-03-07T10:02:48Z

At a prestigious press event last week Caterpillar launched its latest upgrade to the E-series backhoe loader range with the introduction of the E2 models, the Digger blog was lucky enough to be invited along to take a look and get up close and personal with these new machines. The first new model to be presented to us was the 428E which was impressively displayed in front of the new Caterpillar stand at Leicester Tigers rugby ground of whom Caterpillar are major sponsors after signing up a 5 year deal with the highly successful club. ]]> I don't get to operate many backhoe loaders these days as I generally stick to operating 360 degree excavators for a living but I must say that I found this machine to be very user friendly from the moment I stepped into the very spacious cab. Everything is well placed for ease of operation with big easy to use switches neatly arranged around the tilting steering wheel. These new models also feature a new side console instrument panel which now features its own integrated hour meter which was previously mounted separately on earlier models. And so to the operating experience, I settled into position at the controls of the backhoe and was very impressed with the feel of the machine. The pilot controls using the ISO pattern of operation gave the machine the same feel as operating a 360 degree machine. The machines hydraulics were very smooth to the touch and whilst operating the machine at only 14,000 rpm it cut through the ground effortlessly. Another good feature on the controls was the thumb roller switch on the right hand lever that controls the extending dipper. Visibility can often be a problem for those of us who us who are vertically challenged but I found this new Cat to be excellent in that department, the newly designed boom and dipper now has much better routing of hose pipes to further enhance the view from the controls. In this video we see one of Caterpillars top demonstrators putting a 434E machine to work on the proving ground. Sadly on this occasion I never got the time to go to work with the front bucket but would certainly like to spend some time on one on my own without a demonstrator in the cab and really put the machine through its paces, hopefully I will get a chance to do that at some point. It is going to be a very special year for the Desford factory as later on they will be celebrating 25 years of building backhoes in Leicester, the first machine having been shipped from the factory in 1985, since that time there have now been 5 series of BHL produced at the facility which is now considered as the Cat global BHL centre of excellence. A sign of the companies faith in the Desford faciltiy is the announcement that as of April 2010 production of centre pivot backhoe loaders for the North American market will also move to this UK factory. Check out Colin Sowmans full technical report on the machines at SED356.com. A big thank you must go to the team at Desford for making our visit so enjoyable.

JCB HMEE in action

2010-03-03T13:14:27Z

The JCB HMEE is the world's fastest backhoe loader, traveling at speeds up to 60 mph on both paved road and cross country surfaces, comes complete with full suspension and ABS braking technology, sophisticated computer diagnostics, run-flat tires, roll-over protection and a two-man, air-conditioned cab. The HMEE provides strategicengineering capabilities increasing: mobility - opening up roads, counter-mobility -creating obstacles for the enemy, and, survivability - providing water and supplies, building burms, and laying electrical lines.]]> The JCB (HMEE) is the result of a four-year program of design, development and testing and was built specifically for the U.S. military as a replacement for their smaller emplacement excavator. Weighing approximately 17.55 tons with armor and 15.75 tons without armor, the 4-wheel drive, 4-wheel steer machine with a 6.7-liter diesel engine can lift more than 2.2 tons and dig a depth of almost 13 feet. JCB Construction Equipment has been building military vehicles for 30 years. The HMEE is the newest purpose-built product in the military products portfolio which also includes the Highspeed: High Mobility Variable Reach Truck (HMVRT); High Mobility RoughTerrain Forklift (HMRTF); High Mobility Fastrac (HMF); and the High Mobility Utility Vehicle(HMUV).

Caterpillar to celebrate 25 yrs of backhoe loaders

2010-02-22T14:10:40Z

This year Caterpillar are going to be celebrating 25 years of producing backhoes at its Leicester factory. There are various exciting events planned and Digger blog will be going along to record the action for you. As a preview to this event here are some Caterpillar Backhoe loaders from my photo collection. I spotted this early well looked after Caterpillar 428 whilst on holiday in Fuerteventura in December 2003 and have seen it working on numerous holidays on the island ever since, I believe it is owned and operated by the local authorities. ]]> At the time these shots were taken in February 2004 I was operating a Caterpillar 312B excavator for Matthew who very kindly lent me his backhoe loader to use at home clearing the muck heap created by my partners horses. It had been many years since I last sat in a backhoe loader the last one probably being a JCB 3CIII but as they say it's like riding a bike really and you never forget how to drive one! And here is the same machine on the Persimmon homes site in Okehampton with it's regular operator Mick in the seat. Look out for the report on the Caterpillar backhoe loader celebrations in a forthcoming post here on the Digger blog.

I think I'm bogged in (excavators in trouble)

2010-02-21T11:44:49Z

These ever popular "bogged in" photos have been sent into us by Tom Jones. The first picture shows a 105 ton O&K RH40 excavator in a spot of bother on a washed shale tip. ]]> I get lots of emails from readers telling us they enjoy the bogged in and accident photos so if you would like to see your material here on the Digger blog then just drop me a line and I will try to fit them in on a future post.

Hewden invests in new products for hire

2010-02-19T09:39:53Z

In the last quarter, Hewden has invested in excess of £1.5 million to increase the size and availability of its plant equipment portfolio. This new investment reflects the significant increase in demand for Hewden's products and services, as the company now boasts one of the most reliable fleets in the industry. Included in the new fleet are seven 14m TH414 telehandlers, six 8-tonne compact 308 excavators and four 22-tonne 320 excavators, all from Caterpillar. In addition, Hewden has invested in 10 x 9-tonne dumpers from Thwaites, 20 x 500-gallon fuel bowsers from Western Environmental and nine 17m JCB telehandlers. ]]> "We studied market trends to determine the most popular products in our fleet and in turn, chose to invest in some of the latest plant technology available to ensure we could continue to meet our customers' needs." Gary continued: "This investment reflects our commitment to supplying modern, reliable and safe plant equipment across the UK and to ensure that we can continue to meet market demand at both a local and national level." Many of Hewden's new additions are already on long-term hire, two telehandlers are on a year's hire at a major contractor, whilst other equipment is assisting with major construction and road infrastructure projects.

40 ton ADT gets toasted !

2010-02-18T13:22:43Z

Regular reader of the Digger blog Tom Jones sent in these shocking photos of a new 40 ton ADT that came to an unfortunate end after the driver managed to flip the cab whilst tipping back down a slope which sometimes happens if the driver is inexperienced as the front axle lifts off the ground leaving it free to rotate. ]]> Sadly Tom could not tell us if the machine was ever repaired or if it became another insurance right off.

Rare Madill forestry equipment

2010-02-16T12:21:52Z

Relatively unheard of in the UK Madill forestry equipment was a company that went bankrupt in 2008 after sadly getting caught up in the recession. The company started in 1911 specialized in log loaders, feller bunchers and cable hi lead yarders, at its peak it employed 190 people and produced 15 units per month. Due to the struggling coastal forest industry they were eventually down to 2 units per month. ]]> These pictures show a Madill 1800 with a Waratah processor. "Not many of these models were produced" Said Tim and "I particularly like this unit as it is essentially an excavator" The particular model seen here weighs in at 74000 Lbs and has a 200 HP 5.9 litre Cummins engine, (some newer models had Detroit engines). Most of these models have D6 Cat sized tracks that has 16-foot long, 11-foot, four-inch wide undercarriage that leaves a light 8.4 psi footprint which is often vital in soft ground found in dense forest conditions. Madill rates the tractive effort at 65,400 lbs and swing torque at 70,000 foot-pounds. It is not uncommon to see Madill equipment with more than 20,000 hours on them such is the quality of these Canadian built machines. You can find out more about Madill here from a company that has bought the rights to enable them to sell spares etc.

Jamie O' Hanlon and his Volvo A25D

2010-02-14T09:52:10Z

I guess many of us in the plant industry have met owner operators who run their own excavators and backhoe loaders but one piece of kit that you don't find that many owner operators running are ADT's. One such operator is Jamie O' Hanlon who is based in the Midlands and I was delighted when he recently made contact with us here at the Digger blog. ]]> Following on from that Jamie was offered the start for Taylor Woodrow at Nadins and High Cross open cast coal site near Swadlincote in Derbyshire. Jamie recalled "I started out on a Terex 2366 dumptruck and my job was to load myself with a Cat 988B to take reject stone from the wash plant, I had 3 Terex trucks to choose from and would always be on the third by the end of the shift! It was fantastic experience as I got to jump on many machines including a Cat 992C,Cat 824 dozer, and eventually I got a brand new Volvo A35C which was luxury and I put over 11,000 hours on it" Jamie bought his first truck a Volvo A25C in February 2000, it was 3yrs old and had 6,500 hours on the meter, Jamie said "it was a fantastic truck and I went all over the country on it including 3 months on the Isle Of Wight working on a landslip project" He sold the truck in 2007 to a friend in Barnsley after clocking up 17,500 hours on it with the original engine and transmission, a real credit to Jamie and also the durability of the Volvo product. Jamie bought his current truck a 2002 model Volvo A25D whilst in Southern Ireland from a company called Shannon Transmission Services with 5,000 hrs on the clock and which was in excellent condition. He has since fitted new front work lights, rear fender lights and a new seat, the only problem encountered was the need to change the bogey bushes after a year but so far so good and is as far as Jamie is concerned a far superior truck in every aspect to old one. Being based in the Midlands is great for the motorway network, and Jamie has built up a good client base up since starting up on his own working for such companies as Moulding Contracts, Midland Excavator Hire Ltd, Lynch Plant Hire, Deecon Civils and many more clients. In what is a great summary Jamie says "I am really passionate about my job, my truck, and above all I love what I do" Here at the Digger blog we take our hat off to you Jamie keep up the good work.

10 Cat 785D off highway trucks for Scottish Coal

2010-02-11T18:40:29Z

Scottish Coal has just signed a record breaking deal with UK Caterpillar dealer Finning by adding 10 new Cat 785D trucks to their fleet modernisation program. The CAT 785D off highway truck deal for 10 units and a 7 year/ 36,000 hour equipment support package represents a total deal value of £23 million. This deal takes Scottish Coal's investment with Finning on new equipment alone to over £45 million for over 125 pieces of Caterpillar mining equipment since the beginning of 2008. With the first of the 10 CAT 785D off highway trucks set to be delivered by Finning to the Broken Cross Surface Mine in Ayrshire, Scottish Coal will be the first company in the UK to operate the new D-Series version of the very successful Cat off-highway truck. With a major increase in their current hauling capacity to 136 tonnes per load, Scottish Coal will be able to make significant efficiency gains throughout its operations and thanks to a 7 year support deal with Finning they will be confident of running the equipment for the next 36,000 hours to deliver their required production output. Commenting on the deal with Finning, Andrew Foster, Scottish Coal Managing Director said: "With the introduction of the new CAT 785D's, we are now well on the way to completing what is probably the most comprehensive fleet renewal programme the mining industry in the UK has ever seen."

Ernest Doe Show.. 50 not out

2010-02-07T14:32:37Z

Last week saw the crowds turning out in droves to the Doe Show held at the company's headquarters in Ulting in Essex and which was this year celebrating its 50th anniversary as an annual dealer event. According to our inside man the first two days of the show attracted a record number of visitors and hopes were high that the all time record of 12,000 guests would be beaten this year. Managing director of Ernest Doe, Mr Colin Doe had said that they wanted to make this years event a really special one so as to mark this 50 year milestone in the company's history and they certainly did not disappoint. This restored Fordson Classic tractor was on display at the showground entrance. ]]> As well as modern agricutural and construction products on display, there was also a section for old classic machines from the companys past and as you can see here an old Hymac 580C and a rare Chaseside loader were a couple of star attractions. Ernest Doe are undoubtably one of the top Hyundai dealerships in the country and no show which features Hyundai excavators would be complete without the skills of top demonstrator Doug Potter. Doug is reported to be in his last year of demonstrating but I have a funny feeling he will want to return next year for SED 2011. Doug is sure to be in demand this year with Bauma and Hillhead coming up soon! In the extremely muddy conditions that we are so used to here in the UK, Doug was, this time putting a Hyundai 140LC-7A through its paces much to the delight of the watching crowd. This machine was indeed sold from the showground and was despatched to its new owner on Friday after having some paintwork done by Does' first class professional spraying team. The Doe show is a very family friendly type of show with all ages welcome and Doug had his biggest fan and "best mate" with him at the event, his 5 year old grandson Samuel as seen in this lovely shot of them both. Meanwhile on the Case IH stand a special edition Maxxum 140 tractor which featured a one-off gold paint finish was being sold by a sealed bid process with all proceeds going to charity. Closing date for any bids is February 28th. This special unit has a reserve price of £45,000 plus VAT and any proceeds will go to Myeloma UK, a bone marrow cancer charity. So get your bids in to Gerald Silvey at Ernest Doe now and you could be the proud owner of this fantastic tractor and have the satisfaction of knowing you are helping such a worthwhile cause too. An all round top show with an encouraging amount of interest shown from customers in the construction industry which is hopefully a good sign that the country could well be turning the corner on the road to recovery.

Volvo ECR48C takes on a challenging job

2010-02-04T14:31:31Z

Mike Murphy of Plant & Engineering Services Limited from Beare in Devon have recently sold a good quality used Krupp hydraulic hammer to Mark Richards Plant Hire to run on his Volvo ECR48C mini excavator. Mike told us here at Digger that the machine was breaking and excavating in a very tight spot high on a cliff in Fowey in Cornwall against a backdrop of stunning scenery and invited us to take a look. ]]> . The concrete base of the old summer house and rock formations below were being broken up and removed and piling was placed to secure the backwall. Any surplus and unwanted materials were being placed down a specially constructed chute into two awaiting 10 tonne dumpers in the road below the cliff face as seen in this shot. Mark's Volvo ECR48C was kept very busy on this impressive but tight job site which featured a drop down to a narrow road and then a further drop into the sea. It was a real testament to the skill of Mr Richards and his team that this tough and challenging job with very little room for error was completed in such a safe and profesional manner. Why not contact Mr Mark Richards if you have similar or indeed any type of groundwork requirements. Mark is contactable on 07971 240 929

Cormidi C13.80 Remote controlled tracked dumper

2010-02-02T12:18:01Z

This video has been highlighted to us by Chris Beckingsale who works for Ammann UK and shows one of the latest remote control offerings from Italian compact equipment manufacturer Cormidi. The C13.80 model seen in the video being demonstrated at the factory in Italy has a capacity of 800KG and new 80 models are now powered by the very latest Yanmar 10 HPLN100 electric start diesel engine with axial fan cooled cover. These Italian built machines feature high tip and self loading with its own hydraulic tipping bucket as standard, 850 mm maximum width, very low ground pressure for minimum ground damage, excellent gradability and cross- carriage stability,excellent tipping height of 1350 mm and can easily tip over 1200 mm high sides of standard 8 cu.yd waste skips. These small but powerful machines also feature a fully hydrostatic transmission with maximum speed of .6 Kms/h. We hope to do a field trial and full report on one of these amazing little dumpers over the coming months.

Hitachi excavators tackle underground job

2010-01-31T10:19:48Z

We have seen a massive rise in readers from Finland following the publication of Olli Paivio's excellent article on the Digger blog in the latest edition of Finnish magazine Koneporssi. One such reader is Hannu Rinne-Laturi who works for the family business Rinne-Laturi, a company which was established in 1962 and has a very good reputation in and around the Finnish capital of Helsinki. Hannu has sent in some impressive photos of a major job the company were involved in during 2007-2008 in which their Hitachi excavators were involved. ]]> As well as operating the 225US model Hannu was also involved in operating the company's ZX18 mini excavator which can be seen here being crane lifted in to the job by the ZX225US. The Hitachi ZX225US machines with their short radius compact design were ideal for this type of work and when coupled with the tiltrotator attachment which is so common in Scandanavian countries makes the machine a great all rounder when working in confined spaces. This last shot shows once again how useful the compact radius machines are in these kind of conditions. Thanks to Hannu for sharing these outstanding photos with us here at the Digger blog.

New Cat D9 bogged and recovered

2010-01-28T11:36:45Z

Big dozer fan Bob Rocker from Florida has highlighted this video of a shiny new Caterpillar D9 which had got bogged in and was needing the assistance of a D8 to get out of a sticky situation in a gold mine in Selenge province Mongolia. The boss man wearing a cowboy hat gets suitably upset and soon yanks the D9 out of that boggy hole! Not sure if I would of had a lot of faith in those old looking wire ropes though!