New Holland unveils new marble star
Marble chain cutter for quarry industry
New Holland has teamed up with an Italian marble-cutting tool specialist to produce a chain cutting solution for the marble quarrying industry.
A New Holland Construction B100C backhoe loader was fitted with a support arm and chain cutter, mounted in the place of the backhoe, offering a simple and fast method for cutting blocks of marble.
The chain cutter was built by Benetti Macchine SpA, based in Carrara and who specialise in supplying marble-cutting machines. Benettie worked in collaboration with the New Holland Construction Engineering division in Lecce, which has the capability to produce bespoke machines, based on requests from its customers, for niche sectors.
Fitting a backhoe loader with a chain cutter is an alternative to diamond wire cutting machines, normally used to cut large blocks of marble (or “bench walls”). However, the New Holland solution offers greater safety and a considerable reduction in working time.
“This machine was created to meet the needs of our customers, who know better than anyone how to improve their business and what machines are required to best achieve it, said Federico Benetti, owner of Bennetti Maccine.
“What they were missing until now, was a machine that could operate autonomously in the quarry, and cut blocks of marble in situ. To accomodate this requirement we explored the idea of combining cutting equipment with a backhoe loader.”
The prototype underwent several months of vigorous testing in the Carrara marble quarries, in which the most expert operators in marble extraction made the machine work at full speed and for long periods. The first sales have been to customers in Portugal.
