Excavators

[col5555]

Hi,
I have just finished demolishing a house and the site has been cleared of rubble from the surface. I now need to hire an excavator (20Tonne) to rake the site.
Just wondering if there is a recommended size of bucket ie hole size, to grade the site.
What is the max size of old mortar,chipped bricks etc etc that can be left.
A local firm has a bucket that will sift out bits greater than 100mmX100mm.is this the norm or should I be looking for a bucket with a smaller sift size.

[China]

The excavator operater will be able to tell you, I don't know about WA but in SA you can't operate and excavator of that size without a heavy machiery operaters ticket

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Do you mean the tooth spacing?

Toothed buckets are for digging, most ops will have a "smooth" bucket for only levelling out. A good operator can save themselves the headache of swapping 'em around by simply crowding the toothed bucket and using the back for grading.

AFAIK, here in Vic there's no spec for remaining debris size beyond what the site mgr says is acceptable. Or rather, it's not acceptable under any construction on the site, but many a lawn covers a brickies mistakes.

[Bluegum]

Col,

I have sen this type of bucket and its probably not what your after. For this sort of work we tend to use the mud bucket or batter bucket its also known as. This will allow the operator to be able to pick up as mch as practical to load out the truck with. The operator will then be able to clean up and level the area for you without him having to change buckets over and over.

[Outbackrr]

By 'grade' the site, I think Col means sifting the rubble from soil, not levelling.

It would be a case of ringing around plant hire companies to see what's available (screen bucket sizes) within a reasonable distance.

[Tools]

The bucket you are referring to is known as a shaker bucket. The one we used on the project I am just finishing was about 50 or 60 mm, For grading and levelling, you need a mud bucket.All excavators come with a mud bucket, but not all will have a shaker bucket. Speak with a plant hire mob.

Tools

[weisyboy]

gday

in qld you do not need a ticket to operate machinery unless yu are working on a site. if you are working for yourself then you donot need a ticket however some places will not hire out an excavator of the that size to someone with out a ticket it can do to mutch damage.

[journeyman Mick]

gday

in qld you do not need a ticket to operate machinery unless yu are working on a site. if you are working for yourself then you donot need a ticket..............

Unless the Qld WH&S laws have changed remarkably in the last few years this is not true. AFAIK you need a ticket to operate machinery (which requires one) whether you are on site or using your own machine in your own backyard.

Mick

[weisyboy]

mick

my father has been an earthmover for the past 50 years and i mean an earthmover not a toy driver like the bobct drivers. he owns real machines buldozers, excavators, graders, loaders. he used to do a lot of government projects schools, roads, parks etc.

if you work for yourself you do not need a ticket. however if you are going to work for someone than you need a ticket to be coverd by there whs and liability insurance.

[jmaxwell]

Col for a clean up u should be able to do a clean up with a smaller machine just saves float hire to get to job site and the smaller ones will have a tipper as well . A good operater will be able to clean the site with the buckets on board . one thing to watch is that not too much dirt is removed at the same time as it costs more in dump fees .hope you got some good salvage .