I have a Komatsu PC 128 UU-1 excavator that I just use for work around the farm digging drains and pushing over and clearing trees. I feel that I am getting OK at using it, the hands are working pretty well coordinating things and getting the bucket where and at the angle that I want it without having to think too much. However when I go past road works and watch operators in new machines at work they seem to take things to another level. They are very skillfull grading banks and culverts with wide mud buckets and don't seem to leave a grain of dirt out of place. Admittedly they use side tilt buckets. My question is do these new machines have settings that adjust for the variability in the rate that the bucket lifts with the changing angle of the boom to get the same neat grading of a bank with each stroke of the bucket or is this all due to the skill of the operators hands? Thanks Ken
a lot of these guys are in the seat 40+ hours a week and have been there for decades lets just say the bucket is an extension of there own arm give them things like tilt buckets or tilt rotators and the bucket is like there hand absolutely mind blowing what they can do now days they could be use all sorts of grade control, gps and bucket positioning toys but you probably cant tell the difference in the finished product with a true operator i bet some guys could make a sandwich if they wanted to
Like said above, when you spend so much time on a machine and do a lot of fine grading it's seat time and the eye for grade. We use only power-tilts that give more angle to the bucket. They are not cheap to buy but do a nice job. I started on a pull shovel, then to a drott with a cab leveler, then a wrist o twist. Now most are standard machines with the tilt added to the bucket/ stick. Some machines have 3 or 4 setting to aid in different needs, speed, power, fine grading, truck loading. I have one machine that has flow control valves added to fine tune the angle more. It's nice when I have a grade checker, most of the time I have to do it myself. I try to bring and clean up in the same pass on dirt jobs, ditches and row's overgrown with trees are the worst (tree huggers) make the tilt buckets and boom swing a must. Some machine's you have to grab the levers low to control them, get your seat and armrests in the correct spot for your arm length, throw lose material under the tracks to wedge and get the rocking out before pulling your grade.
Thanks guys, I did a couple of open spoon drains when I first got the machine and they worked out OK. I will be getting onto a couple more soon however I have been doing a lot of clearing in the meantime, digging out roots etc and feel that I am getting much more familiar with the machine so it will be interesting to see how much I have improved when I get back onto the drains. Ken