Excavating Machines - Construction Machinery

These are one of the major items of builders plant and are used primarily to excavate and load most types of soil. Excavating machines come in a wide variety of designs and sizes but all of them can be placed within one of three categories:

1. Universal Excavators - this category covers most forms of excavators all of which have a common factor the power unit. The universal power unit is a tracked based machine with a slewing capacity of 360 and by altering the boom arrangement and bucket type different excavating functions can be obtained. These machines are selected for high output requirements and are rope controlled.

2. Purpose Designed Excavators - these are machines which have been designed specifically to carry out one mode of excavation and they usually have smaller bucket capacities than universal excavators; they are hydraulically controlled with a shorter cycle time.

3. Multi-purpose Excavators - these machines can perform several excavating functions having both front and rear attachments. They are designed to carry out small excavation operations of low output quickly and efficiently. Multi-purpose excavators can be obtained with a wheeled or tracked base and are ideally suited for a small building firm with low excavation plant utilisation requirements.