We got a project over here where we are mowing a BIG amount of sand/stone/gravel with 385/365/988 and 775/771/A40's. Daily production is realy huge. So, we got rock buckets for our EC700's, but no gravel/sand bucket for them. After some planning and construction we are now building our own bucket. None of the producers over here had any experience with something like this. They make rock buckets all over... Our homemade one is apr 7,5 feet wide and apr 6 feet tall at the opening. Length is apr 8 feet. Volume is 5,1m3 struck, and apr 6m3 with a top.(ISO) HB450 all over... Try rolling that 20mm bottom plate...:cool2 Any of you guys got any experience with something this big on a EC700C? We got the long boom and a 3,55 stick on the machines...
Awsome work
That fab work is excellent. Do you have any more photos... like cutting, and expecially the bending?
Seems a little big. That is almost 8 yd3 heaped. If what you're digging is 3300lbs/yd3 (bank gravel) that would be almost 26,000lbs plus the weight of the bucket. That seem like an awful lot to hang off the end of a 70 ton hoe. I could be way off somewhere, so let me know if i am.
Don't know, this one seems to have a similar sized bucket and works OK, except for not loading the truck properly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfFg3zSa0vE
nice work the bucket looks awesome, however the guy in that video is a pretty green operator lol maybe why its not loading the truck so good with that volvo lol
Errol: the cutting is done in our computer cutting table. Rolling was a bit difficult. We tried a local workshop with a 3000t roller, but it had a to big upper roll. The plate is feathering so much, it wasn't possible to get it right. The roll was small enough in teory..We then had to try a couple other places before we succeded. Sorry no pics of that. They talked about minimum 950t of rolling pressure for that plate. Regarding size, our hoes got Verachtert(Cat) CW70 couplers and a 4m3 rockbucket. Coupler and bucket is 6400 kg. 4m3 with rock is apr 7600 thats 14000kg(apr 28'Lbs) This bucket is 4200kg, plus 6m3 sand/gravel that is 4200+10800. 15000kg(30'Lbs) In theory we are 2000Lbs extra compared to the rock bucket with coupler. We got no problem handling the rockbucket filled. Of course all this depends on the material weight, but still we got rid of 2200 kg by taking of the coupler and making the bucket lighter. My calculation converter says 1m is 0,9144yd means 6m3 is apr 5,5 yd3. Is that correct??
i think you will be just fine it will handle that weight easy i had an liebherr 954 with mass excavating boom and stick and equipped with a 5 cubicmeters sand bucket and used it for everything from sand to heavy clay we weighed a full bucket in medium clayfilled dirt and the content of the bucket was 15000 kg and it handled it fine
1 cubic meter = 1.30795062 cubic yards x 6.3 m3 : 8.24 yards
Compared to this I don't think you'll have any problems. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCf2h5zTQas Serameko/cerapid bucket.
Per, i don't think it will be any problem at all. I'm just searching for experience from our US users. They have buckets like this one all over. Our goal is to load our A40's with 4 passes. Next project i'm working on is a rock bucket. Lighter, smaler teeth/front and bigger volume. Added some pics: 1- from the cutting of the thick sideplate. 2- from the welding of the sides to the bottom. 3- the last bracket and the bolts and reinforcements in the background. Design of the bottom and side is choosen to get the weld protected behind the "banana". Our welder tacket u shaped iron to the side, and used wedges to get the bottom right against the sideplates. A big sledgehammer and wedges gives alot of force.(Pic 2) The inside reinforcements is also aligned with the outside brackets. Pics is from our new welding area, all is not in place yet.
I love your idea of ''home made''. Vakker!
Hmm - only thing concerning me is the profile...
Looks good. I havent had any time on a EC700C, but did have the second one on the West coast for the first 1,000 hrs of its life. Had a smaller bucket than that, but not by much. I think it was 4.5M3, and it loaded A-35's in 3 passes. The machine handled it fine, and would have handled more. Just dont count on taking a full bucket to max reach over the side. You don't load trucks that way anyhow, so it is no problem. On another note, I swing a 9CY with my 375 Cat, and it is a good 3 pass load on A-40's.
Nice job there MKTEF , did we leave the army????
Stock: Yes, i applied for a job as a production manager on a highway project. The offer was so good i couldn't turn it down...Is now on the machinery departement who "owns" the equipment and rents it out to our projects. ** got apr 2200 employees and is the 3. biggest construction firm in Norway. We are nr 2 in heavy equipment. A realy serious and good firm. Regarding profile, we wanted the forces in the machine, so the tipradius is as recomended by Volvo. We also didn't want to go so far over the recomended width, so then it had to be long in the bottom. We could have redused the bottom and increased the radius, but it didn't give us enough volume. And its not longer in the back than the tipp radius.(we don't scratch the back when courling it in.) We also needed a supporting profile at the top, as you see. Thats the reason for our choice of profile. And thanks for your input.. JDOFMEMI: Thats nice to hear, we are a bit curious on how it will go. I'll post pics when we mount it...
Progress: Our welder has done the reinforcements on top. Its been going slow, thin welding thread... many passes.. We had som problem getting hand of the thickest welding thread. Waited the whole week for it. Its a rather big weld up top under that hammer... And u got to be very carefully, so the brackets dont bend when welding. We'll see on monday how it goes, mounting later next week. She needs som paint too.. I mentioned "homemade"... Our repair shop is very far away from home made. They are rather pro.... All types of craftsmen who can make anything from rockbolting riggs to trailers. We produse stuff from constructing it, to manufacture and documentation. Plus of course the normal repair of anything from trucks to 4 boom drillig riggs.
i know i am off topic, but when you have time please post a few pics of the rock buckets you guys run on the excavators this sand bucket you can have built in the garage is amazing!!
Put the biggest bucket on that thing you can. If you can't fill it up all the time, then just put as much in as it will handle. Nice fab work also.
Congratulations on the move and let me wish you the very best with your new career, but with that quality of work you do well in civvy street (civilian)
The Bucket looks real good! Any idea what the cost is going to be that you have in it? It looks well engineered....did you have drawings or plans?
Pics of rock bucket, her you go: We managed to sell one coupler and a bucket to our demolition departement. They need the bucket in between the other stuff, but mostly use other tools.. As you can see, there was some measuring before construction.. I am ironman: Budgetary cost is 33% lower than the cheapest offerred one. But this one is 100% Hb450, no producer will build it that way. We got the stick dimentions book from Volvo. And offer drawings of rock buckets. Our workshop foreman draw the whole bucket, after a discussion about the dimentions and quality. And i've done som schetches in Autocad too.
thanks i find the use if a quik coupler with a couple different buckets very interesting. we use hydraulic thumbs, bit with those long lipped buckets i am sure moving rock is much easier than a conventional bucket. the scale of your work is much larger than ours. the tandem dump trucks do not much like being loaded with shot rock, hard rock, granite or c and d unless you have a thumb to set them in the box. i think you guys are a step ahead of us with the use of different types of work tools thanks for sharing. regards, cd :usa:usa
That Gjerstad coupler sure add height.....An SMP style coupler works much better on the bigger stuff.
Great looking buckets, I really like the double row of teeth. Looks like it would help fill the bucket and cut the wear down on the lip to about nothing. Thanks for sharing, sure enjoy the pictures and details.
Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzYU77X3Ir0 Sorry about the recording speed, i've got to to many thumbs. A little bit bether than the rock bucket. 5 buckets on the 775E, same as our 385C. And 1:15 in loading time, 385C 1:25...:cool2 And thats on truck number 6 after mounting it! Operator says 3 buckets on a A40.(Heaped buckets) Was a bit surprised myself, more stable than i expected. Handled it realy well. Not to big, but right for a job like this. Even stronger on the curl, compared to the rock bucket. This 700 will compete with our 385C. I'll monitor the fuel consumption after a while too.
Looks good Sir. I'm pretty sure I read it before, but I can't find it now. Is this EC700 in a quarry or on a jobsite?
The 700 handled the bucket really well. The fact that you're a bit surprised at how well it does makes me feel a little less silly. Is the squeaking from the bucket cylinder guard?
Does it have GPS on it??
Well, the bolt reinforcements on the main bucket bolt is a bit too tight. There is som squik from it. And the grease haven't goten out there too. After a couple of rounds on the greasing system and some wear it will be fine. This job is on a project where JR/** prepares the ground for a logistics/warehouse building. The antenna at the back of the cab shows it got GPS....It got one on the right side too, post #22.(its two different machines, but they are equall) The last pic show the tipping point sideways. Our goal was 4 buckets on a A40, so we are bether out than planned. 5 on a 775 means we are in the 385 division..And that was not planned. Still, our 385 uses 4 when his bucket is not so weared down, as it is right now... We are streatching the 700, but a machine as big as this is for loading trucks. Then u don't use it with a filled bucket fully streatched out.
The finished product looks very good! It looks right at home on the 700. You said no producer would make an entire bucket out of hb 450. I´m 99% sure that VG ( www.hardoxbuckets.com ) will build you anything you ask for (although, from the looks of this thread, you don´t need anyone to build you anything). Their 5.5m3 bucket is listed in their 55-65 ton machine section. After that, their next size up is ''custom''.
Your are very close to the truth there Joispoi I checked VG out, end price would be nearly twice the cost of ours. Of course i didn't find them, when i did my research. But i'll have to check out their side dump bucket. Then this is a test bucket, we have to watch and see how it goes. (some guys(boss?) was so excited he had problems working, when we where mounting it. He couldn't attend the fun...) I already see that the brackets should have been extended more forward, from the edge. It cracks some rock between the stick and the top.:cool2 Our plan now is to use it on this project, and then demount it and take it back to our shop. Then check for wear and weld on the nessesary strips. And of course give it a blast and some ** paint. Some more pics: Cat385C JR in yellow jacket to the left in first pic.(Foreman now..) The bolt of course turned when mounting, so the locking bolt didn't fit. I realy like the logo plate But it needs some paint to show good.
MKTEF That is a very nice arrangement. The 700 seems to handle it well. That bucket is similar in size to the one on my 375, but the 700 is a much faster machine. For 5 passes I am about 1:45, so not nearly as fast. We do 3 passes in a 40 tonner in about 1:10 or so with average digging, much like in your video. The 700 really seems like a bigger machine, and very fast for the size. I like your arrangement of the standard boom with the short stick, but not the mass excavation one. Gives you enough reach to have some flexibility in spotting trucks while handeling the bucket as long as you remember not to try to stretch out with a full bucket. If the truck is too far away, you can put some in close, then fill the farther away part with the rest of it. I had people tell me mine was too much bucket, and it would ruin the machine. I now have over 15,000 hrs on it, and about 75% of them with the large bucket, and no more trouble than usual for the hours.
Thank you Jerry! I realy apreciate the feedback from you guy's in here. Over here many have the yellow fever, and imediately starts a argument about anything.. Regarding wear i don't think its any problem. You load the machine as much with a smaler bucket fully stretched, as with a big one close. But i have to admit the bucket is bigger and the result bether than expected We are in high power mode, and the load is so heavy it wount lift it when the stick is more than vertical.(apr) But thats as expected when u push the limits. Fuel consumption is the one to keep the eyes on now. I think we can live with some seconds more pr truck, if we turn off the high power mode. It handles the bucket with power off and one notch down on the gas...
You guys did a real professional job on that bucket, looks very nice. How come the Volvo is working in the pics and the Cat is sitting?
I've inspected both Volvos and Cats in **. We are both the biggest Volvo customer, and the biggest Cat customer in Norway. There is no difference in the two, they are equaly good both. The 385C sits because of broken exaustmanifold bolts, worn out bucket and a big service. Its realy funny, we inspected two L350F and a 988H the same week, with nearly excact same hours on the meter. They had the same problems all of them. That Volvo had a realy bad rockbucket, now it got a new big sand bucket. Its there as a spare machine, for use when the others are down. We'll see if the 365c will be spare now...
MKTEF Thanks for the kind words. If you can, let us in on your fuel consumption numbers. My 375 Cat runs about 16.5 to 17 gallons per hour. When I had the rented EC700, it ran 12 to 13 gallons per hour. 4 to 5 gallons per hour savings add up in a hurry. All the running was on high power setting, and the consumption numbers were while 100% truck loading application. I see no use in trying to ease up when doing production loading. I do like to run a lower setting for general utility work.
Nice pics and video,I like the bucket´s cylinder protection.
Thats a nice job , how come you didn't put a bolt on cutting edge on it . What do you do when the edge wears down ?
we used to run some modified 930E CAT loader buckets on our PC400-6's they moved some dirt with those and were pretty balanced we had the same issue of tipping with our 365C when sideloading off a bench, we werent happy they supplied the machine as it was unstable so the CAT dealer ended up supplying wider grouzer pads and a shorter dipper to fix the issue your bucket looks good but maybe you should sell some designs as the bucket that CAT supplied to us for the 365C the profile was pretty bad and strugged in hard ground are you going to run a straight bolt on edge or fit some teeth when it goes back into the shop?
Are you a quarry related segment customer? I'll be in Sweden for Volvo days in June, we are taking in some trips to Quarries in Norway as part of our trip.
hlcrkfrm: That would add more resistance in the masses, bolts and nuts that will wear down.. We cut out the old edge and weld in a new one when needed. Our cutting board will make a custom one if needed... rarress: We will add som strips and paint in the shop. Have already noted the wear areas. This bucket is made for loose material, so it will never get teeth. It will be used in projects with such material, and a big amount to be moved. This bucket is realy good in the material, strength in the curl is like any other bucket. But then its very long in the bottom... ooosq: We don't do any quarry work. Afgruppen is in sivil engineering, mass excavation, construction, roadbuilding, harbour, demolition++ www.afgruppen.no I don't know if i will attend Volvo days, you will not for shure visit us then But you will for shure see some of our projects on your travel...
Awesome work..
Welcome to the ** family MKTEF! Are you in the JR division as site manager? Are we really the 2.biggest machinery contractor? I would reckon TS, Risa, Skanska/Vassbakk & Stol were bigger than we? But if include ** Decom aswell we have a lot of power
Thanks! That was 1. of june last year No, CAT385 JR is. I am at the machinery section.(temporarely some say, E18 KKII before that, you know the last one with frost bumps) We where the 2. biggest for some months before Veidekke "bought" Haehre. I include Jr+Decom and all our equipment then... We just have to wait and see, there is some big projects comming up and ** is to grow every year...