There several different excavation equipment available on the market. Each of these equipment best serves different purposes. Some equipment can be modified to serve a variety of purposes while others are purpose specific in design and function. When looking for excavation equipment hire services, a key factor to consider is usually the type of excavation you intend to carry out. The type of excavation mainly decides the suitable excavator to hire. This information can be useful especially if you decide to undertake excavation equipment hire yourself, instead of tasking a contractor to do so. The following are some of the more common "small mass" excavators and their suitability to different excavation needs.
Backhoe loaders
Backhoe loaders are small excavators made up of a tractor body fitted with a bucket on the front part, and a hoe on the back. They are very versatile and are suitable for many urban construction excavation needs. They are very helpful when moving materials between excavation sites or simply moving the excavator within a site. They are mostly used to dig trenches and small excavations within a site. The bucket on the front can also be used to move material such as sand, gravel or even cement within the site. The loader attachment also serves an important function of loading trucks.
Excavators
Excavators are large machines made up of a cab on a rotating platform attached to a boom, a dipper-stick and a bucket. Excavators can either be tracked or wheeled. The rotating platform enables excavators to move material from one position to another, without having to relocate the entire machine during this transfer. Tracked excavators are popular in mining, forestry, and construction industries. Wheeled excavators, on the other hand, offer the much-needed mobility to excavations for road construction, road maintenance and even ditch cleaning. Several attachments are available for excavators, making their excavation abilities quite extensive.
Trenchers
Trenchers are equipment used for digging trenches and similar excavations. They are useful for quick trench-like excavations such as those carried out when laying cable, pipes or constructing drainages. Trenchers range in size and, therefore, your chosen trencher should be determined by the size and depth of your intended trenches. They also come as either chained trenchers or wheeled trenchers.
Chained trenchers have a boom that resembles a chainsaw. They are also useful when cutting ground that is too hard to excavate using the bucket-type excavators. Chained trenchers can make narrow and deep trenches depending on the set boom angle. Wheeled trenchers use a toothed metallic wheel to cut into the ground. The toothed wheel makes these trenchers able to cut harder ground than chained trenchers. The localized cutting action of these trenchers makes them ideal for gaining access to underground utilities carefully. They are also used to cut pavements during road maintenance. Wheeled trenchers are available in a variety of cutting-wheel sizes as well.
