Eastern Power Equipment
285 Route 9 PO Box 97 Barrington, NH 03825
Phone 603/664-7776 | Toll Free 866/664-7776 | Fax 603/664-7420 | email chuck@easternpowerequipment.com
What you should know about mini-excavators
Everybody is looking for a better way to get things done these days. Contractors and homeowners just may find the answer in mini-excavators. These machines are so versatile you can do just about any type of construction work with them – from using a hammer to break up concrete to digging holes for landscape work.
Just what is a mini-excavator?
These user-friendly, versatile machines are becoming an important development tool, particularly in urban areas where tighter quarters demand smaller, lighter equipment.
They do the jobs big excavators do – in smaller steps – and they do some things big excavators don’t do:
- They go on a truck easily
- They don’t mash curbs (thanks to the rubber tracks)
- Most have a built-in dozer blade for back-filling
- Many have zero-tail-swing clearance, meaning they can turn within the stance of the machine instead of swinging wide, beyond the tracks.
- You can park a mini-excavator next to a wall and swing the tail without hitting anything. That’s a plus for convenience and productivity, and for the safety of workers and equipment nearby.
- Loosely defined, mini-excavators range from 1,600 to 17,000 lbs.
- They travel 2 to 3 mph
- The excavator cab swings 360 degrees
- The boom swings 60 degrees to either side
- Ninety percent of mini-excavators are rubber-track machines; the rest are on steel
- Mini-excavators sit on a solid foundation of tracks, giving them stability and a light footprint – plenty of flotation for soft underfoot conditions and low impact
What can it do?
With many bucket sizes and multiple attachment options, the mini-excavator is an extremely versatile tool.
- Attach a hydraulic hammer for demolition and pipe digging work
- Dig out a curb or sidewalk without interrupting traffic at a busy intersection
- Attach an earth auger followed by a thumb to load brush and sort recyclable material
- Use for multiple backyard jobs, including digging up sewage pipes or electrical conduit
- Break up concrete for demolition and recycling with a hammer attachment
- Dig holes for landscape work -- buckets range from 12 to 24 inches
- Work inside strip malls to break concrete, set up plumbing and finish the interior without interrupting other businesses
- Rehabilitate old buildings – light flotation makes them easy to get into elevators for multiple level demolition and remodeling
- Coupled with a skid-steer, the two machines sometimes can be more economical than a bigger backhoe. Moreover, they can work on two different tasks at the same time
- There are buckets for every type of digging and every type of dirt: For example, use a 24-inch bucket to dig footings; 12 and 18 inch for utility lines; and for soppy soil, use a 36-inch drainage bucket for the water and loose soil
What are its advantages?
Small minis still have the feel of full-sized excavators. Big-excavator operators who balk at bouncy backhoes are quite at home on these machines. Mini-excavators provide several advantages – for contractors and homeowners. These machines:
- Get into tight spaces – some are small enough to fit through yard gates
- Are so light they can cut red tape by eliminating the need for special highway-hauling permits and commercial driver’s licenses
- Are set up to run like larger excavators – almost anyone can get in and learn to operate a mini in a matter of minutes
- Feature a quick-coupler attachment for quick exchange of any dipper-mounted attachment
- Are much quieter than big machines when crossing over cement and hard surfaces
- Feature ergonomic controls for easy operation
- Have rubber tracks that won’t scrape and grind the surface like steel
- Have rubber tracks that don’t slip while loading the machine for transport
- Have rubber tracks that can move into narrow places with minimal damage to the ground, thanks to its light footprint
- Are small enough to fit on pull-behind trailers and can be transported with pickup truck horsepower; some even fit in an extended pickup bed
- Use a wide variety of attachments
- Have a 360-degree swing arc that allows other units, such as a dump truck, to be placed wherever necessary – the excavator can spin around to deposit the load where it needs to be. Dumping height usually is not a limiting factor
Larger mini-excavators have considerably greater capacity than the typical backhoe!