i felt like i needed to share my experience with you on the new excavator bucket called a "trencher fang." i bought a trencher fang to dig eight feet deep and it didn't work. i had the machine mounted on a volvo ec 330 with a short stick. this machine has a lot of snort but it just couldn't make the fang perform. the fang was built so that it was as deep as the trench i was going dig. in my opinion the cutting edge of the fang was so far away from the bucket pins it robbed all the power from the machine. i could put on a regular dig bucket and averaget 1800 feet per day but only about 800 feet per day with the trencher fang. i placed three different operators on the machine and made at least two of those operators stick it out for about forty hours of work and they just could't make it work. i even got in the machine and came to the same result although i am by no means an operator. i feel like we could have made a mile of four foot ditch in a day but for some reason the mechanics of the thing just fell flat on its face when you hit that five or six foot mark and then it was just a huge struggle. so i am trying to provide a word of warning for anyone who is looking at buying one of these. the other problem i had was i couldn't control my spoils very well and i ended up with a lot of chunks falling in the trench and getting under my pipe. if you have questions on if it will work or not please feel free to ask and i will try to do my best.
i just watched a video .. it did make for a sloppy looking work site... One site claimed it would dig as deep as the boom... but it appears from the video that it was limited by the fangs length.. probably great for a sticky clay area.. it looked to be a 4 foot deep ditching tool... Might be hard to sell now
actually i think a shorter fang that is wider than the pins would work better. then you would "submerge" the pins into the trench. it wouldn't be so long and you woudln't get robbed of so much power maybe. i tried it in dry sand, wet sand, sticky clay, hard clay and it didn't work in any of those after about five feet.
did they demo it to you? or did you buy it? it seems as though it does not pull alot of material out of the trench and would be hard to do all the other stuff the excavator is doing during the day. bedding,backfilling, unloading, craning, grading. i know you are set up different and probably use another hoe to backfill. on a 330 i would prefer a 24" SEVERE DUTY all day long. i do not do dedicated pipeline very much so i am out of my specialty area. i just don't see it. what happens when you hit a big rock. it least with a bucket you can dig around it. just my 2 cents.
Colorado Digger--you pretty much hit it all around. it didn't do well in rocks. it didn't pull much material per scoop, but it wasn't supposed to scoop. it was supposed to peel. we switched to a severe duty 36" bucket and had much more success.
sooooooooooooo....what size pins? what's the pin spacing....and what'll you take for that hunk of scrap iron?
Did you ask to have it built to your specs or did the manufacturer recommend this?
Have you looked at Single Point Ripper Buckets sold by Leading Edge Attachments? And No I'm not a salesman for them. I have one for my 120 excavator and it works really well for what I use it for.
Like you said, if it's 8' long, the bucket cylinder is at a disadvantage. Is it on a quick hitch? If you converted it to a pin-on set up and corrected the cylinder connection geometry, you could regain 100% of the power. This will change the range of motion for the bucket curl, but you just have to figure out what you can live with. Since it won't be used for loading operations, I don't forsee any drawbacks.
any piture of this attachment
just watched a video. looks like it works good if you are only digging 3-4' down. and if you are in nice soil. don't see it doing good in gravel or shale. I would hate having to keep cleaning to mess it make along side the trench. I am not impressed at all.
Looks definitely like a purpose built rig to me. Might be good for wacking in cable that doesn't need grade. Tile? Its limited in depth, and you couldn't do a proper job of bedding the tile after you were done, if you care to do that. Some guys don't. And it wouldn't work at all in sand. But in clay it might be good.
8' tall gives you no break out force ! It kinda looks like they wernt engineerd with that concideration. I bet it would work better if u had one 4' long and wide enough to acomodate your boom to get the better depth.
Concrete pouring using an excavator and concrete bucket Hi there: Anybody out there have experience loading or pouring concrete into a 10' high foundation wall using an excavator with a 1 yard round type concrete bucket chained to it. It can be in 1/2 yard at a time. 2 options had been suggested, access from around the sides , although reach on some spots may be a problem(50'by60'). The second option was leave the centre of the basement clear ( no footing for pillars etc till later) and one section of the wall to be formed later (so excavator could could drive in and out). The concrete bucket is already on site. Is my operator crazy or is this possible? Thanks for your opinions
yes it can be used to pour... If reach is a problem then leave the center out.. The only thing is hoe loses capacity quickly the higher they get.. look at the load chart.. chain NOT so good... shackles and choker is better .. chains unhook... also needs to be a rated lift chain.. ONE MORE POST AND YOU CAN START YOUR OWN TOPIC... it would probably get more replies also...
Yes, it could be done. But IMO it would be more cost effective and safer to hire a pump truck.
Or a crane. Crane will have a lot more reach -> faster. They don't cost that much for a minimum 3hr pour.
If you do it with the excavator, take the bucket off for more reach and visibility. Especially if you have a coupler.
the fang was built for my machine. it was trencher fang (world construction solutions) design. i provided them with my pipe diameter and the depth at which the pipe needed to be installed. they chose the length to make it and the width to make it. i have a civil engineering degree and after we found out that this thing did not work i sat down and did a free body diagram and the engineering mechanics on the fang. it is too long. it doesn't matter how narrow it is the fact is that when the cutting edge is to far way from the cylinder. the long fang robs all the machines power. i will post pictures soon.
its set up for a volvo ec 330. make me an offer. i am sure you were making a joke, but your right it is a scrap of iron at this point.
How far apart would you have to spread the cylinder and dipper pins to make it work?
i never really thought of it that way. i considered that to be a constant. wouldn't you have to get rid of the quick coupler or have one custom made? i would have to go back to my notes to give a good mathematical answer, but i really don't think what you are suggesting is an option.
There's no reason that it has to be a constant. The distance from the dipper pin to the cutting edge has been increased dramatically, it would make sense to spread the pins to regain lost leverage. You'd have to get rid of the quick coupler and pin it on directly.
A good idea NOT not a ripper tooth not a bucket, in our ground here I can't see a use for it..................................
more leverage? i think you may have structural problems next with the fang... aswell as the pins on the excavator
Get in touch with the maker and swop it for a tapered bucket, i.e. 6 inch in the bottom and width of the dipper at the top. cause at the end of the day it doesn't do what it says on the tin. Also if you have that much to do then get a trencher.
the manufacturer, World Construction Solution-or-Dig Device-or-Trencher Fang, is non-responsive. they are unwilling to standby there product. they also refuse that the laws of physics apply to them and deny that this long device lacks power at the cutting edge. so far my experience has been very negative. this is why i wanted to start this thread. i wanted to make sure others didn't get taken like i have.
have tried it , excavator becomes to unstable at max extention and the ground crew wears alot of concrete, best bet is a line pumper
huh?