The Different Uses for Excavators
Heavy equipment is vital in several industries, ranging from construction to recycling facilities. While there are several pieces of equipment available, few machines are more versatile and instrumental than the excavator. Excavators significantly improve worker productivity and overall efficiency. To learn the different uses for excavators, read on.
Digging holes and trenches
When most people think about an excavator, they’re likely picturing the machine digging a large hole or trench because digging is the most common use for an excavator. It’s most common to find construction and landscaping crews using excavators for digging things like post holes and trenches to lay piping. While digging is the most common application for excavators, it’s certainly not the only one.
Lifting and placing items
Some crews will use an excavator to lift heavy items such as tree stumps, rocks, and boulders. Sometimes the standard bucket isn’t sufficient for lifting materials safely, so crews will consider different types of excavator attachments. In a forestry application, for instance, a bucket may not lift logs securely, so the crew should opt for a grapple instead. Additionally, scrap yards often use excavators with a magnet attachment to maneuver materials like appliances, aluminum cans, sheet metal, and even cars.
Demolition
In some construction applications, the crew is responsible for demolishing an old structure in order to begin their project. Because excavators are powerful, they’re more than capable of tearing down structures. In most demolition scenarios, the standard bucket attachment will easily tear down structures. Alternatively, some scrap yards need to use demolition attachments like shears on their excavator to break down materials before recycling.
As you can see, there are several different uses for excavators regardless of your company’s size. Whether you work in construction, forestry, landscaping, or a scrap yard, you’re probably going to use an excavator at some point. It’s important that you understand how versatile an excavator is, especially when you consider the various attachments available. If you’re the owner of the company, you may wish to invest in various attachments to ensure you can increase your workload and accept more jobs.
