I haven't found the proper name for this device, but please bear and help me. Occasionally, I see buckets (typically small or trenching digging buckets) with some sort of metal plate welded onto 1, 2, or 3 sets of bucket teeth. What is the purpose of this device? The only theory I can come up for this thing as an amateur is it can allow me to dig a clean floor or bottom for my hole/trench as- I'm pretty sure you've all noticed this by now when digging, but- I won't say this sounds crazy, so I'll just say it. But bucket teeth leave dirt behind whenever they gouge into dirt. So with this plate thing on it's bucket teeth, it minimizes material lost in digging. And very very rarely, I see big cleanup buckets converted with/to have 7-9 bucket teeth with that plate thing also.
We have removable plates for almost all of our buckets.... I guess we might be considered amateurs by some the boss has been digging since the 60's maybe before!!! I been digging since I could hold a shovel... heh heh A bucket with teeth does not necessarily have to leave tooth marks in the bottom of the trench... I dig utility trenches all the time without leaving tooth marks on the bottom It's all in how you dig The main reason we have plates is we do a lot of repair work... and that involves digging around/under/between/etc... existing utilities and if you are using a toothed bucket you have a way bigger chance of *hitting* and breaking something compared to using a plate.
I think it's also a cheap way to make a clean up style bucket without having to buy another bucket.
That is correct but not why we do it, I made this removable plate for our cx60c it's a 24 or 26 inch bucket and the only time the plate isn't on it is when we are just doing bulk digging with no chance of hitting anything, takes about 5 minutes to change the plate out with the two outer teeth using the new 1/4 twist pins for the teeth... pop the two outer pins out - knock the plate off - put the two outer teeth and pins on and bingo!!! you're ready to go
Heres one i did for a customer. He seemed fine with the plate on the bottom of the teeth. I like how yours is on top ,looks good for material flow into the bucket.
If can find them either used or NOS surplus, bolt on cutting edges work well for this, pre beveled and already heat treated for abrasive work. Who cares if have bolt holes, do not affect working with them. I got lucky a guy had bought surplus bolt on edges from MODOT at a sale, I got what he had left 1" thick 10" wide and over seven feet long.
You got to be pretty careful pulling that trailer down the highway.
, you caught ME!! That is a cart I use around the shed, engine driven welder sits on it most days and is already back on it!!
The boss always wants them on the top, we do a *lot* of demo work and he's used a few in the past that were on the bottom that flew off I told him my welds wouldn't do that but he still want them on the top... the plates between the teeth on that are just welded to the edge of my plate and are 3/16... just keep the dirt from falling through like a lot of the rental machines we use with plates. Also do a lot of this kind of thing pinching heavy things so plate on the face is kind of a failsafe Pic from this morning.
I usually burn mine out of QT 400 material. The old track cutter and torch does pretty good .You have watch those buckets that have the corner teeth splayed out on them. The plate wont just slip off if you weld it on them.
Yeah, I've done a few buckets like that...our cx36b had a couple buckets with outer teeth angled a bit but I still made them work... had to do a little internal grinding on the plate teeth
I think these were originally designed to dig and clean grade beams for pouring concrete where it is specified. Then everybody figured out they do clean up real nice as well. We build buckets with chamfered plates up higher on the bucket for making chamfers on the top of grade beams also.
As luck would have it we had to rip some asphalt today and the plate just wasn't cutting it fast enough so..... off with the plate and on with the teeth!!! Here it is removed top and bottom I used some grader blade that's why you see the holes I had to fill. And rip away!!! Notice the smooth passes Cartoondude... just depends on how you dig with it.
Do you ever use one of those pavement cutting wheels that clamps on your cutting edge . They are about 12" dia. and work with down pressure from the excavator. We made one years ago, cut the blade out of a disc of 3/4" 500 brinnel plate on the lathe .
Have seen a few of them in action look like they work pretty good but would depend on the material being cut...always meant to make one up most guys around here made them from flywheels, this stuff is very alligatored and patched up there really isn't a need to 'cut' places. we're just ripping out the really bad sections that might need a subgrade fix before the grinder gets on it. Most of this farmland has between a foot or two of cement treat done to the base but there are usually utility trenches through that where someone didn't do a proper job of backfill
Here is another pic of the 2 footer, just took it off to do some tree work
There was a guy on here looking for something like this. I tried to explain it, if I had seen this I could have sent him here. Now I can't find the original post. Really need to lose the flip phone and get something with a camera
Cat sells a K series tooth that doesn't need to rotate to install, specifically for those who need to weld a plate across their teeth. We utilize a welded on to the teeth edge when digging near, or locating gas lines.
yeah we used to do that all the time. most of our 25 ton and smaller machines have quick attach and carry both a tooth and a ditching bucket with them all the time. Someone had posted in another section wanting an idea for a removable plate and I was trying to describe it to them.
I bought a asphalt cutter on an auction, it works pretty good, it the asphalt is still solid and a few inches thick. Make a couple passes and it's through especially when it is warm out.
We have one for a loader or excavator bucket, and one for the grader blade. We have found that it is more convenient to use a saw with a diamond blade
I've always wanted one for a digging bucket for refilling ditches. We sometimes replace the direct buried underground services done on the cheap a decade ago. We dig across a lawn. As the spoils are placed on the lawn. removing them with less damage to the lawn would be desirable. I use a backhoe, and don't have a cleanup bucket.
Cut ~75 feet of 3-4" this morning with the little saw, I didn't time it but probably took 20 minutes maybe a bit more... and the warehouse owner specify no overcuts so I always plunge the blade in all the way at the corners.
Whatcha digging out now!
Just a soft spot turning into rolling hills for the truckers as usual the dirt around structures never gets good compaction plus they didn't have any cement treat or good fill under the base the whole site is just farmers clay with about 6inches of slightly fractured 1-1/4 minus for the asphalt base it would have probably held up just fine IF someone would have used their brains and did a bit of preventive maintenance to seal the cracks running along the ditch lines and a few other places So I dug down a bit and threw some recycled concrete in and packed it. All set to pave it.
Always fun digging up sponges.
There are 3 guys on my crew. Me, the operator. Mostly grader, sometimes excavator. The truck driver. Floats the gear to and from the site, hauls the extra material or waste away, then hauls the crushed material back in. The white hat, or laborer as he calls himself. Takes all the crap from everyone, drives the crew cab, does the paperwork. Among the tools on his truck, a hand held cutoff saw, plate tamper, and a jump jack. We always make sure to compact along buildings, and around structures. It often surprises people how much a jump jack will drive material down. One thing I hate is a 4 year old driveway with asphalt sunk in front of the garage. Leaf blower comes in handy for cleaning up the joints. Nice looking job. 2 and a half inches of asphalt? Now that I look at the manhole, 4 inches?
Yep... 4-5 actually it varies a bit as the crap I had to work with wasn't exactly 5/8th minus The whole job was left to me that day as we are kinda swamped right now so I had to cut, demo, excavate, truck, place, compact, grade, etc... and it needed to get done that day to get scheduled for asphalt ASAP. Sometimes we'll do our own paving too... but I don't think I could keep up with other jobs if I had to go there
Used the cx60c today with that same bucket plate on it... gave it a real test too I thought about pulling the plate but I was jumping back-n-forth on the job between digging stumps, moving eco blocks, digging to find a water line... not marked and digging carefully to miss the phone lines!!! so I opted to leave it on... the soil was rocks and sandy stuff no real packed clay so the edge worked ok. Twin stumps Single stump Large cedar.
If you need some more cones I can FedEx some out there to Washington in the morning.
LOL, I usually don't put quite that many down on a job like that... but I didn't want to pack em' back in the truck... and I had a bunch around my temporary piles while working to 'try' and keep the truckers off em
You didn't have near enough to keep the truck drivers off of it.
Ok, maybe I worded that wrong but also put em' out so the warehouse workers that drive their little 'whoopties' through the lot at 50+mph can see my work area...hopefully
Now that is an impossible task! Nothing more dangerous than a warehouse worker leaving employee parking after a shift with a freshly charged smart phone - beware..
You like the case machines
I love!!! our little cx36b(made by kobelco) but this cx60C (hyundai)is ..... well..... it's cab is pretty comfortable... other than that.... what can I say???? it's jerky, it's quick, it's tippy as all get out it runs really hot!!! you don't want to be the guy fueling it in the summer time when it's hot out!!! and the control layout is just plain weird on some of the stuff??? We rented a cx210... or thereabouts a while back and I liked it... nice and smooth plenty of power didn't care much for their choice of cameras though... I know there are better imagers out there but the ones they put in these things are just about useless under anything but 'optimal' conditions
OK, we have a 5.5 Kobelco. Nice machine. Was wondering who made the small case. We've been buying a lot of Linkbelt excavators which I know are the same as case
Lucky you have access to more help, just the three of us here and when all hell breaks loose we all(Me Myself and I) skedaddle out of the way!! No matter how I cut that list I wind up as Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.
Well got to dig out a few more stumps today with jiggles... AKA Case CX60C Decided to leave the plate on the two foot bucket... almost took it off just cause it's easier to rip through roots when things get stubborn... but there were a number of unmarked utilities in the area and the homeowner wasn't exactly sure where things were... so safer to leave it on.. well... as safe as anything I guess One down!!! Two down, this was the biggest... had to roll it out as lifting wasn't an option
I would have probably not seen this trench line using the teeth! 2inch water line. Gotta love these pin grabbers One more bites the dust Had to slide it out a fot or so to get clear of the line.
Those fir stumps make you work to get them out.
Yep!!!, these were rooted in very well... I gotta say though flipping the bucket around worked great for that 3rd stump as I couldn't really get at it from the waterline side. Once I got the bulk of dirt out from underneath it went like a lamb
Well... bad news.. got back to the shop today and was told my plate for the 60 24inch bucket broke all the guy was doing was digging some post holes... It's bent up almost an inch too so I'm guessing after it broke he didn't want to pull it off and was doing some good backpushing... so I'll have to cut it off the left tooth as well as bevel and fill the break...
Suggestion - Leave something "fusible" in the assembly when you're done. You know darn well that if you try to make it idiot-proof Darwin will only come along with an improved class of idiot.........
Yep, I know It's just hard to get around my 'programming' to make something harder to break the next time... so then they break the next link in the chain..