From time to time, the usual attachments and ideas don't work anymore. Scaling loose rock at the max reach and height of an excavator boom/stick is dangerous and nerve racking work. The possibility of doing damage to the machine, and having a chunk of rock come through you window are fairly high. Here are a few pics of a successful design of a scaling bar attachment that was built for 345/450 sized machines. The thick wall round tube design is much stronger and rigid than any size of I-beam or H-beam designs. I have used I/H-beam scaling bars...and the first thing they do is flex like a wet spaghetti noodle. We had a 12 inch I-beam bar on a 200 Hitachi, and it bent easily with very little torque applied. Building a berm between the machine and the falling, tumbling rock is a really good idea to protect the machine and operator. Something else to consider, is the tendency for the loosened rock to run down the top of the stick and boom...right back to all the shiny and expensive stuff. You'll want to be fully guarded up and use an experienced guy in the seat. There's not too much to be done about the stiff neck that results from leaning forward and looking up for hours at a time.
Quick Change Rock Scaling Bar for Excavators...Part Two Scaling bars on excavators in action.
Quick Change Rock Scaling Bar for Excavators...Part Three And a few more photos of rock scaling bar attachments on excavators. This is Cut 9 on the Sea to Sky job, just a few klicks north of Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. It's almost exactly 100 meters vertical down to the existing highway. The task here was to remove 180,000 cubic meters of rock while the traffic ran unimpeded below us.
I merged the three threads into one to make it all be in one thread. Wow, those are amazing photos of a very tough project. Thanks for sharing!:thumbsup
Thanks...it kept rejecting the upload of all the pics on one post...hence the 3 threads....is there a way around that?
Yes, just upload your first set of pics (how many that are allowed, off hand I don't remember how many ) and make your post or start the thread. After the the thread or reply is posted, reply to that thread with a second post and a second set of pictures.
I like that deere
Awesome, thank-you
Like the idea on using the round....think i have a lil winter project. Trbo
Hi Trbo....that would be a great project. Just so you know...the "working end" of the bar slides into the quick change end...and is held in place with a pin. With a few modifications at the pointy end, it would be a good demolition tool.
Pipe is the best to use for this application second best would be a heavy wall square tube.
The bar is going to have a lot of force applied to it constantly. The leverage alone would bend any average attempts. I know for sure that the heavy wall seamless tube design took everything that the 345 and 450 could toss at it. Our site had a bar around 20 to 22 ft long. The other site had a bar that was over 30 ft long. ( we borrowed it several times ) That might be it in the Cut 9 photos You can save a lot of grief by welding a lift eye on the balance point too...it'll be getting moved around by HIAB truck or carried on the lowboy deck.
Hey DT Tell em about when someone drove into the angry end of that scaling bar
I don't remember someone doing that...was that at Seg 1 or 2? Do you know the scoop on that one ? I've got other stories.. about a brother driving up to a logging site in a 4 door Nova to see one of his other siblings ( his good car is in getting painted ). When Brother #1 gets to the landing, the 2nd brother in the hydraulic log loader swings around a grabs the Nova by the roof and rag dolls it for a joke....with the other guy watching...screaming bloody murder at him. The best part was when he had to drive it home like that. ( folded up roof and no windows left in it ) or.. The owner of a land clearing company ( not a great operator ) is clumsily working on a job, because the usual guy is massively hung-over. As he is bunching up material and tracking backwards, he runs up against something solid, and can't move anymore. ( he just backed into his own new pick-up ) Puzzled at the lack of progress in reverse...he curls the stick in and swings hard right ( blind side ) Somewhat hung over himself and a bit pissy about working on a Saturday...he builds up a good head of steam and swings the 200 Hitachi digging bucket right through the cab of his already munched pick-up. Complete devastation at 8:30 on Saturday morning.
I love the scaling bars. I made one once by welding a larger size pipe to the side of the bucket and having a smaller pipe that would slide into it and pin in place. It was made in a hurry, but did the trick. I like these in the pictures, and the work sites look like a tough project. I like them like that.