CMME looks at what’s new in attachments.
Swapping the old adage about a workman and his tools, a good operator can always thank the right attachment for getting the work done. And when it comes to using attachments like buckets and breakers selecting the right tool can be essential.
Unfortunately as the market for construction machinery fell in 2007/08 the attachments sector was unable to escape the collapse in demand. Demand fell by 40% over the next three years but the sector has since managed to prove itself to be as flexible as it is varied.
After a period where the message was always about power, the manufacturers have learned to focus on what attachments do best, namely make construction much more efficient and targeted.
Scan the pages of the manufacturer’s brochures and web stores, and you’ll not most are promoting their use as an aid to boosting productivity and site efficiency.
They have also become popular for turning excavators into green recycling machines with the most popular tool being the hydraulic breaker.
Hydraulic breakers are powerful, productive machines used to break a variety of materials. Depending upon the job to be done, the breaker chosen may be light, medium or heavy. For use, these breakers are to be mounted on some equipment such as backhoes, excavators etc.
Despite the increasing prevalence of Chinese-made breakers the Middle East is dominated by the traditional power houses of Europe and North America, Japan and Korea.
Outside of the OEM brand names, Sandvik is perhaps still the name most related to the sector.
The mining and construction equipment manufacturer and leading manufacturer of hydraulic breakers, has been setting the standards for breaking for over three decades. Sandvik, through its former Rammer brand, was the first manufacturer to offer large and heavy-duty hydraulic rock breaking hammers for tough conditions.
The company enjoyed a successful 2011 seeing its Middle East business increase by 32% in its last quarterly results, with its mining business making up for falls in its construction side.
The company has been taking great strides since it integrated Rammer into its portfolio in 2007. At the end of the year Q-Fab in Qatar supplied its first Sandvik DX700 top-hammer crawler drill rig and array of attachments to Qatar National Cement Company for Qatar’s largest limestone quarry, near to Doha.
QNCC are using Sandvik drill bits, rods and shank adapters to bore to depths of 75ft (22m). The DX700 is using Sandvik 89 mm RT300 Uniface Retrac drill bits – a newly launched range of threaded button bits that use one super grade of cemented carbide throughout and a universal face design. According to Sandvik, the user needs only to select the best button shape – spherical or ballistic – and open skirt design – regular or retrac – to obtain the best bit for the rock formation; keep blastholes clean during drilling, minimising re-crushing and ensuring longer service life.
Major rival to Sandvik in the sector Atlas Copco was similarly left bemused by the drop in the construction sector but has again been more positive about the mining sector in the region, citing a 19% in sales.
The company brought its attachment and tools business together with its other construction equipment businesses in July last year but has continued to release product into the market.
Most recently it launched its new Hydraulic Breaker HB 4100, which it claims, scores points in comparison with its predecessor model with less weight, better performance and higher efficiency.
“Both in terms of performance and efficiency,the improvement in comparison to the predecessor model is considerable”, explains Gordon Hambach, product line manager for Hydraulic Breakers, “here we were able to achieve increases in the double-digit percentage range.”
The theory behind the HB4100 is that reduced weight and better performance means that the size of hydraulic breakers can be reduced. A lighter breaker also means that a smaller excavator can also be selected. That saves investment and operating costs.
Hambach added: “The follow-up costs of an investment in a hydraulic breaker are many times greater than the pure acquisition costs. The reduction of these total cost of ownership involves the conserving of resources, such as energy and work time, as well as durability and simple maintenance concepts.”
Against this background, the guide system of the hydraulic breaker was also changed in order to make it even more stable and resilient. “Hydraulic breakers are ultimately subjected to use under the most extreme conditions,” Hambach adds. “A new covering for the retaining bar offers more protection, especially in the lower part of the hydraulic breaker which has to take a lot of wear and tear. There is also circumferential wear protection, which has proven its worth with all heavy hydraulic breakers from Atlas Copco.”
Doosan has perhaps been the most prolific launcher of new attachments on the OEM side of the sector recently launched the three new DXB100H, DXB170H and DXB260H hydraulic breakers for use on Doosan wheeled and crawler excavators from 14 to 38 tonne. The Doosan DXB100H breaker is suitable for the Doosan excavators up to 18 tonne, namely the DX140LC, DX140LCR, DX160LC crawler excavators and the DX140W, DX160W and DX170W wheeled excavators. The DXB100H has an operating weight of 900 kg and a blow energy of 2350 J.
Designed for use on Doosan excavators from 20 to 28 tonne, the DXB170H breaker has an operating weight of 1620 kg and blow energy of 3400 J. It is approved for use on the DX210W wheeled excavator and all the medium Doosan crawler excavators from the DX225LC to the DX255LC.
The Doosan DXB260H breaker is suitable for the Doosan excavators from 30 to 34 tonne, namely the DX300LC and DX340LC models. The DXB260H has an operating weight of 2450 kg and a blow energy of 5000 J.
Staying with excavators its new Geith ripper has been designed to give an excavator a powerful ripping ability in hard ground conditions as well as in the most demanding demolition applications. The ripper is engineered to reduce excessive stress on the excavator. The ripper is available for machines from 2 tonne to over 80 tonne in weight and offers a work depth of up to 1550 mm (62 inch).
Under Doosan Geith remains a world leader in the design and manufacture of couplers and attachment products for excavators and is launching new safety-focused, automatic quick couplers for a range of excavator sizes at Intermat 2012 as well as new ranges of heavy duty excavator buckets, tilt buckets and ripper attachments.