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All About Excavators
August 25, 2022 Marketing Quipp

All About Excavators

EXCAVATORS

Excavators are the most common piece of construction equipment that serves the main function of excavation or digging but they are also used for a variety of tasks including grading, landscaping, demolition, dredging, foundation, hole & trenching, and material handling.

Despite the fact that there are many different types of excavators, the Tracked Excavator is the most common. They are the world’s most popular and powerful machines and these account for nearly 60% of all construction equipment sold in the Philippines back in 2021.

EXCAVATOR TYPES

The following are the most common excavator types on the market:

  • Tracked Excavator
    • The most common type in the Philippines and makes up 60% of machines used in the country. These are tracked machines that run on two rotating tracks. 
    • They are sub-categorized based on their operating weights.
      • Mini / Compact Excavators - less than 8.5 tons
      • Small Excavators - between 8.6 to 20 tons
      • Medium Excavator - between 25 to 35 tons
      • Large Excavators - Above 35 tons
    • Here in the Philippines, it is commonly used in trench digging, soil excavation, landscape grading, and even material handling.

  • Wheeled Excavator
    • Serves nearly the same purpose as the tracked excavator. Uses wheels instead of tracks. Wheels give them more mobility; moving quickly and easily, and allows them to drive on roads. Commonly used in concrete/asphalt or hard surfaces. 7% of the excavators used in the Philippines.

  • Long-Reach Excavator 
    • It is a tracked excavator with long extendable arms and boom sections, ideal for working in difficult waterways and demolition sites. The arm has a range of 10 to 30 meters and reaches more than 30 meters horizontally.

  • Dragline Excavator
    • It is the largest excavator used in open-area earthmoving, surface mining, and large-scale civil projects. Crawler cranes use a hoist rope system to lift and lower the bucket and a dragline to drag the bucket toward the driver, which is a similar concept.
    • They have a digging depth of up to 60 meters, even more and weigh between 8,000 to 13,000 tons. Due to its size and weight, they are assembled on-site.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT EXCAVATOR

With so many different types and sizes of excavators on the market, you must select the most suitable one for your productivity and safety. To complete your project effectively and at the lowest possible cost, the appropriate excavator can offer the necessary strength and power.

 

  • Job Site
    • Size
      • Wheeled Excavators are perfect for those needing to move around different work sites and for large sites that require mobility. 
      • Tracked Excavators are perfect for those needing larger outputs and stability.
    • Terrain
      • Tracked Excavators provides excellent traction and stability on steep slopes and soft ground. better option if the site terrain is muddy, sandy, and has steep slopes.
      • Wheeled Excavators perform best on flat and hard terrain.
  • Type of Work

  • Excavators can be used for a variety of tasks, including standard 
    • Grading and Landscaping, 
    • Brush cutting with attachments, 
    • Demolition of building structures, 
    • Mining excavation, 
    • River dredging, 
    • Pile installation in foundations, 
    • Foundation 
    • Hole and Trench digging, 
    • Handling and lifting of heavy materials.
  • Tracked or Wheeled Excavators are a better option for common digging work. In some cases, Dragline Excavators or Long-Reach Excavators are perfect if you need to dig in a lake or a river. A Long-Reach Excavator would be a good choice for demolition thanks to its reach.
  • Excavator Size
    • Mini / Compact Excavators - less than 8.5 tons
      • Most mobile of excavators; they are an excellent choice for small jobs and those that need to maneuver in a building or work in areas with numerous lines running through the ground. They operate on less power which means they cause the least amount of damage to the yard, road, and sidewalk.
    • Small Excavators - between 8.6 to 20 tons
      • They are adaptable excavators and can work in all environments. Their tasks are distributed throughout the site, which is common in jobs with intermittent excavation work. A common application is in tighter road construction sites where space is limited but a 360º swing is required. 
      • The excavator's cost per hour would be measured rather than tons excavated per hour.
    • Medium Excavator - between 25 to 35 tons
      • Commonly considered for excavation projects, quarries, mines, demolition and flood control jobs. It is a bigger excavator where the machine spends the majority of its time excavating or handling large attachments. The excavator's tons per hour would be the primary metric over cost per hour.
    • Large Excavators - Above 35 tons
      • They are big and are industrial behemoths and are used for large-scale mining and earthwork. Machines are assembled on-site rather than being delivered as one complete unit. 
  • Working Ranges
    • Consider an excavator's digging depth, maximum reach, and lifting requirements.
  • Bucket Capacity 
    • Consider the bucket type and capacity. They are either a general-purpose or a heavy-duty bucket. 
    • Heavy duty is best used when digging through hard material and will maximize the excavator's digging force and cycle time. 
    • The bucket’s capacity will impact the number of tons moved per hour.

EXCAVATOR ATTACHMENTS

Excavator attachments enable the machine to adapt to certain job types and play a vital tool in maximizing your work budget.

  • Buckets
    • The most common and standard attachment.
    • Made with hard steel with teeth for digging and scooping.
    • There are also different types of buckets designed for different tasks.

  • Hydraulic Breakers
    • Similar to a Jackhammer, Breakers are perfect for demolition work, construction, quarry, and production breaking needs.
    • Sizes are available until the Medium Excavator-class.

  • Quick Couplers
    • They are usually attached to the excavator using the pins that would otherwise be used to mount the bucket or attachment. 
    • They don’t perform specific tasks, but become part of the overall system as they allow for the quick exchange of attachments and tools.

  • Vibro Hammers
    • Also known as Pile Drivers, is an attachment that drives sheet piles. They also come in different types.
      • Conventional Vibratory Hammers - Have a 90º tilt and 360º hydraulic tilt function. It is more compact and safer with no failure-prone cylinders.
      • Side Grip - Grips the pile from the side allowing for increased pile length on 20-ton excavators. Does not require an extended arm or ground crew to assist the operator. It improves piling speed by 30% and can handle a wider range of piles.

To check out Quipp's latest excavator products and their prices here on Quipp, click the links below!

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