Excavators and mini excavators come with a wide variety of buckets and attachments—each with its own function and purpose. It’s important to know which attachments work best for which tasks.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most popular attachments and their purposes, so you’re better positioned to choose the right excavator attachments and buckets for your project.
Bucket Attachments
As the name implies, bucket attachments are built to hold and carry loads. They are among the most commonly used excavator attachments, and there are three main types of bucket attachments. Choose only high quality bucket attachments to ensure greater efficiency on the job and to prevent damage to the excavator.
Tilt Buckets
These are the most commonly used buckets and can be seen at virtually every worksite. They have sharp cutting edges that penetrate the earth easily and are used for digging and moving dirt, mud, building rubble and other debris.
Sieve Buckets
Sieve buckets have a screening device built into them that makes them ideal for removing hard materials such as rocks from your construction area, while allowing lighter materials such as sand to stay behind.
Crusher Buckets
These are specifically designed to help get rid of unwanted materials from a construction or demolition site. They are commonly used in excavation, mining, pipe-laying, quarrying and recycling.
Ripper Attachments
Once again, the clue is in the name. These bad boys are great for ripping up the earth around your construction site. They are popular on worksites because of their versatility and quick, quiet operation.
Shaped like a dinosaur tooth, they are capable of tearing up hard surfaces such as frozen ground and paved areas as well as ripping trees out by their roots.
Rock Saw Attachments
When you need to break up a hard surface that’s also thick such as road surfaces, thick layers of rock or concrete, a rock saw makes light work of the job. They are especially useful for jobs such as boundary cutting that need a more precise cut through the surface rather than simply tearing it up haphazardly. Sections of the hard surface can be removed without damage to the rest of the structure.
Rock saws are highly versatile and a variety of sizes and types of blades can be used to get the best possible results for each application.
Rock Grab Attachments
You guessed it, these attachments are designed with massive metal teeth that grab and move large rocks around the site. Good quality rock grabs should be robust and hard-wearing. They must be paired with the appropriate excavator to ensure the whole ensemble is well balanced and will not topple over under the weight of the load.
Rock grabs should be regularly checked and treated against rust and corrosion which weaken the grip and may lead to accidents.
Compaction Plates
Once you’ve ripped up and cleared your site, you may need to flatten and smooth the surface once more. Compaction plate attachments are great for tidying things up whether flattening large surface areas or compacting backfill in narrow trenches.
Compaction Wheels
Not to be confused with compaction plates, compaction wheels are designed to return ground to its original condition once work has been carried out. Look for robust wheels built from high strength steel, the heavier the better. The heavier the compaction wheel, the greater the compaction and lower the load on the excavator, so the job is completed with fewer passes.
There are a number of different designs that are suitable for different soil types. Be sure to select the right compaction wheel for the ground you’re working with. In particular, mud and clay-rich substrates are hard on compaction wheels and require special design considerations such as tapered pads and specialised bushing systems that reduce clogging and wear and tear from wet clay and mud.
Trenchers
Once you have broken ground, you’ll likely be looking at a suitable excavator trencher to dig the trenches you need for your construction site. Quicker, easier to use, more maneuverable and more accurate than buckets, trenchers can easily outperform excavator buckets when it comes to digging trenches in rocky ground. It’s simple to set and control trench depth and the trencher can also be used to deposit backfill into the desired areas.
Hire the Right Excavator Attachments for Your Project
The right excavator attachment will make the job easier, quicker and safer, which is why it’s important to understand the different types of attachments and how they can be paired with different excavators to get the best results.
Never be tempted to use an attachment for a job that it is not designed to do—even if the ideal attachment is not onsite at the time. Instead, give our team a call. We’ll get the right attachment to you as soon as possible so you get the job done safely and done well.