Do you guys find cab gaurding restricts visibility. A lot of machines where I work have gaurding and so I never really thought about it until I got in a machine with no cage and I thought wow this is so much better. The only risk I guess is your front glass brakeing but can't you replace the glass with plexi? Anyone ever broken their glass?
In demo, without a doubt, all the guarding you can find. Not sure on logging, but i would assume the same. Ive spent a lot of time in a Cat 320 with cab guards. You get used to it real quick. I tend to change my vision, from trying to look through the bars, to the attachment. Broken glass, yes sir. Top glass a couple times, bottom glass once. Every time it was a bolt that i broke off something. Most of my time was spent tearing apart things that came out of a general motors plant. I mainly prepped non ferrous metals. This included copper buss bar. Tearing the outer shell off was no big deal, but one of the ends had a large nut n bolt through the copper. you had to break it off and never really had a good idea on which way the bolt would bounce
Cageing still has big openings between bars that could easily have a bolt fly through whether you have gaurding or not.
Yes for demo and hammering work. Have broke 2 front windshields while hammering with gaurds on and broke a lower side glass on door also wile hammering.
trackhoe cageing I run several machines both with and with out, and it does not take alot with so maney attachments out there to put you in the bulls eye!!!. Their is alot of well trained/ with years on the job operators that have had all sorts of things that have made it to the glass and beyond. When you price a window glass it's cheeper to by the glass then to buy the frame and hardware along with it. I will only put safety glass back, and no plexie, we have patterns of our machines, the cost is when they have to drill it for mounting a wiper. I also like the frame inserts that allows easy removel for finish grading when you don't need it. I alway's install before the flail axe/brush cutter/heavy clearing, begins.
It doesn't take very long and you won't be able to see through the plexi glass.