Does anyone have experience using a smooth drum roller for gravel compaction? I'm looking at an Ingersoll Rand DX700E. I'd be using it mostly for compacting driveways after grading them, maybe occasionally other things where my plate compactor would be too small/slow. I realize it won't be good on steep driveways with smooth drums, and won't work as well as a padfoot for some things. Any thoughts?
We have the Multiquip MR800 Gas. Works great! Nice compacted finish and very fast compared to our reversible Mikasa Plate compactor. We use it when we add some more residential gravel parking area, often for a boat, RV, or to an out building, or for an out building/shed gravel base. Not really big enough in the PSI compaction rate for a major re-gravel for a long fancy gravel driveway though. Climbs up the tilt trailer easily when not raining and will go up or down hills, can also be moved around with 6 ton min excavator etc. The Honda GX390 engiine works well. Our's is electric start, but we just pull it. A bit hard to find, but rental companies sell them off, and look for auctions.
We run remote control trench rollers that are a little heavier and they do a great job compacting. Imagine the smooth drum walk behinds should perform just as well. Might have to do thin lifts to achieve compaction though. Finished up a footing undercut and replace with stone for a tool rental addition at a big box store. 6' cut, 4' of crushed rock back to the bearing grade of the footing which was 2' below grade. Used one of the trench rollers to set the rock. Geotechs were happy.
Thanks for the input. Peter, how difficult is it to steer? CM, how thick of lifts can you do with the padfoot type drums? Remote control must be pretty slick!
Crushed stone like that which as 3/4 size down to 1/4 can be 8"-1' thick. Typical clay soils need to be kept in the 6-8" loose thickness range to achieve compaction. They are great machines but they shake themselves to death which causes all sorts of issues.
The rollers don't turn sideways to steer. You got to slowly move or yank on the steering handle like a sailboat tiller. A bit hard to make a 90 degree turn, but just going back and forth and moving slightly over is very easy. I find it compacts four to six inches well especially with wetting down the gravel a bit. Remember, this isn't a huge ride on major vibrator roller. Images below is for a small job we did for some street parking. Final image is the gravel compacted. The MR800 has the same compaction as the small narrow ride on ones. I would like to have a bigger vibrator roller, but then the sq ft area I need to compact isn't that big, I don't want to haul another huge machine around, and I don't want to spend $40,000 or something.
Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering if one of the rollers turned a little like a wagon axle. Do you lift it into the back of the dump truck for transportation or does it fit on the trailer with the excavator?
It normally goes on the tilt trailer. On the small trailer, I back up the Takeuchi TB240 as far as it will go before it tilts. Then drive the roller up as far as it will go, then back up the TB240 until it tilts down, then move the roller forward and sideways, and then swing the bucket over in front of the roller. So the roller end up sideways between the blade and the bucket. On the big trailer I have a longer deck, and will load up my Takeuchi TB153fr and then lift up and swing the roller on. The nice thing about the roller, is it's not to heavy to lift around, and it sneaks onto the trailer in different ways. I also sometimes load the mini skidsteer Dingo first, then load the roller. Note, the roller handle lifts up out of the way as seen in image below.
Neat setup. Unfortunately the listing for the one I was looking at is gone so I assume it sold. It was listed for $850
I found a Wacker RD7H-ES for $2500. Any idea what year it would be? The seller's picture of the info plate is pretty blurry, but maybe the 07 at the bottom right is year?
It is likely a 2007 model. What's the engine in it? Running well?
He didn't know anything about the engine except it's diesel. He said it runs well. I'm hoping to look at it this weekend.
I have learned on the roller operation that for a fine smooth looking finish I do the following steps. Spread the gravel out as perfectly as possible and then wet it. Run the roller back and forth over the gravel without the vibrator on for a semi compacted look. When that is done, run the roller with the vibrator on for all the compaction you are doing, then turn the vibrator off and roll over any imperfections. We do residential parking areas, so it ends up being visible. If the compaction is just for base, just vibrate and go. Start near the middle and work your way to the outer edges.
Thanks for the tips!
Well I guess I'm just too busy, this one sold before I could go look at it also.