tiltrotator
TECHNOLOGY WITH A TILT AT ENGCON BIG DIG DAY It’s Saturday the 19th October and plant operators are piling out of their vehicles at Higher Oakley Farm outside Yeovil in Somerset, for the second day of Engcon’s Big Dig Day event, as Peter Haddock reports for Plant & Civil Engineer. This is an event that anyone can attend, but it has a completely different family and community feel. This is because local contractors and owner operators have brought their equipment to the site, fitted with a variety of Engcon tiltrotator attachments for others to use. The range of equipment included 12 different excavators from 1.5 tonne to 22 tonne, with brands like Yanmar, Sandy, Takeuchi, Kubota, Bobcat, JCB, Kobelco, Hyundai and Hitachi. One such contractor was Kirk Hough, who had loaned his 20 tonne Hyundai Hx220 to the event. His machine had been setup to give operators a little more than just an opportunity to test out the machine and Engcon attachment. In fact, a bit of an interesting operator challenge faced those willing to get into the cab. This
was in the form of digging a complex pond using a combination of an Engcon EC226 attachment with EC Oil and an EPS sensor that allowed it to connect to a Leica 3D machine control solution. As I found out when talking to Leica machine control specialist, Mike James, the pond design had been created by Leica engineers a couple of days before the event. “Working with our distributor One Point Survey Equipment who were supporting the event with their own stand, we surveyed the dig area and sent the data to Gary, one of our engineers. He then created a very challenging 3D model of a pond for the operators to try out. “The key to the design was that it would be almost impossible to achieve using traditional stakes in the ground. This would therefore require the operator to follow the design using the in-cab Leica colour display tablet,” said Mike.
LOCAL CONTRACTORS AND OWNER OPERATORS HAVE BROUGHT THEIR EQUIPMENT TO THE SITE, FITTED WITH A VARIETY OF ENGCON TILTROTATOR ATTACHMENTS FOR OTHERS TO USE.
To enable the 3D model and make the experience just like a normal site, One Point Survey Equipment manager, Lee Knowles setup a GPS enabled base station onsite, so that the progress of the job could be mapped in real-time. This enabled the team to show visitors as built models with the data collected as the project progressed. Having retrofitted the Leica solution to the machine for Kirk Hough, Lee explained how the business will also be using it as a trial after the event. “The team at Kirk Hough had the Leica 3D machine control enabling package retrofitted to the machine. This allows them to plug in the main control panel and other key components to operate the unit with 3D machine control. This means they can now either buy the full kit themselves or hire it in from us when they get a job that needs it. After the event they will be trialling it on a road job, which requires the use of 3D machine control, so they will be able to see how the combination of the Engcon tiltrotator and Leica system can help them progress the project.” For experienced operator, but first time machine control user Darryl Simmons,
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PLANT & CIVIL ENGINEER
