Idig

[Brendan]

What's everyone's thoughts on this system? Any better alternatives?
For those who have it, do you use it often enough to still justify the purchase?

 

[Furniss]

Don't know about the alternatives to idig but its really dependent on your setup and whether your on your own on jobs.
I don't use mine all the time by any means and probably not as much as I'd expected to, but when you're on your own on a job that needs grade it's a nice luxury to have and saves a lot of in and out of the cab , I remember @Gunners saying that he would give up his tilty before his idig which was a bit suprising,especially as idig don't give out invitations to lapland but for me it's not on the same level as a tilty.

 

[Brendan]

My facebook has been full of adds for unicontrol.
Can see the appeal but expensive for what it is and unsure if would be a good way to go

 

[TiltyShaun]

I use it but recently my work has been more free hand!!
Very very useful when on your own!!

 

[JerryRtilt]

I’ve had Idig for quite a few years now and it suits my business perfectly, working on my own a lot of the time, very easy to transfer from one machine to another in a few minutes and it seems to be one of those bits of technology that just works without any problems.
NascoDigtec Neil has always been on the end of the phone on the few occasions I’ve needed any help which is worth a lot in my view.
I don’t use it on every job but certain jobs like footings and drainage it definitely saves time and effort particularly as I don’t mind admitting my eyes are not as new as they once were and keeping the bottom of a trench level is not as easy as it once was

 

[CPS]

To give you a bit of insight, the uncontrol 2D system is basically a dumbed down version of the 3D system.... meaning its expensive.
I believe it is around 10k and this is on one machine. To fit out a second machine is approx 7k.
To fit out a second machine with idig is as little as £350 for plates, or about £800 for full second machine kit.

Idig recently brought out the 2D lite version, and is definitely worth a look.
The only features its missing are tiltrotator rotation, auger, height alarm and reach.

It will suit 90% of owner operators etc

Its £6k.... definitely worth a look.

 

[Gunners]

I remember Gunners saying that he would give up his tilty before his idig which was a bit surprising, especially as idig don't give out invitations to Lapland but for me it's not on the same level as a tilty.

@Furniss No, but they do pay for trips to Bauma it turns out

I think I've covered all my views on Idig with the videos I have done on YouTube, which if you are interested in the system I hope are worth a watch.
I use it all the time, for the cost of it, its been the single best thing I've ever bought. A tiltrotator is great and makes life so easy, but at twice the price of Idig. And I can use it on two of my machines. I miss it on my 3cx and will get my head around how to make it work on that beast at some point. Oddly enough I don't miss the tiltrotator in the same way. But then I don't use my backhoe for finishing work - its my prime earth mover and the 3 tonner does all the tricky bits.

 

[6feetdown]

I need to get mine on @CPS time I did it

 

[CPS]

I need to get mine on @CPS time I did it

Give us a shout when your ready

 

[DaveDCB]

Maybe I’m old skool but I see more value in a decent dual grade laser and a machine mounted receiver.
I do a lot of my work by eye, it’s only drains and foundations which I really dig to a level with, even then with drains its short drags which I can dig by eye.

 

[Smiffy]

Maybe I’m old skool but I see more value in a decent dual grade laser and a machine mounted receiver.
I do a lot of my work by eye, it’s only drains and foundations which I really dig to a level with, even then with drains its short drags which I can dig by eye.

Economies of scale I suppose. If trimming road formation for example every 1m2 that is 10mm to low on sub base costs about £4 in extra tarmac.
Works out less for concrete. I think about £1.50.
But can soon add up.

 

[DaveDCB]

Oh for sure, I hate nothing more than spending on overdig! Twin laser receiver on grading beam sorts that issue out for me

 

[Smiffy]

Oh for sure, I hate nothing more than spending on overdig! Twin laser receiver on grading beam sorts that issue out for me

If you string it out to everything though. And then deduct the second man's wages. Then I can see it very quickly paying back.

 

[Brendan]

Anyone know of any ex demo/hire units coming up for sale at any point?
I still struggle to get past the cost side of it and a good split of my work it's probably no good for
Although got a few digs where would be handy to have it on screen to see exactly where the bucket is as it's all small holes and blind digging plus relying on the new lad to give clear instructions on digging them or the old boy not being able to read the laser receiver display properly is equally as frustrating, as hearing "it needs to go down a bit" rather than saying the measurement it's high by or having to keep asking them to check multiple points along the length gets old real quick.

 

[Brendan]

@Furniss No, but they do pay for trips to Bauma it turns out

I think I've covered all my views on Idig with the videos I have done on YouTube, which if you are interested in the system I hope are worth a watch.
I use it all the time, for the cost of it, its been the single best thing I've ever bought. A tiltrotator is great and makes life so easy, but at twice the price of Idig. And I can use it on two of my machines. I miss it on my 3cx and will get my head around how to make it work on that beast at some point. Oddly enough I don't miss the tiltrotator in the same way. But then I don't use my backhoe for finishing work - its my prime earth mover and the 3 tonner does all the tricky bits.

Where is your internal sensor mounted on your 8026?

 

[Gunners]

Where is your internal sensor mounted on your 8026?

Under the RH lever pod on the seat base

 

[Brendan]

So managed to get a chance to roughly fit it this evening. Everything seems to be working just need to do some fine adjustments and finalise the wiring runs and remount the quick hitch button elsewhere.
Was raining a bit so didn't get the laser out so just randomly picked the 6 points 2 times then entered the physical measurements for the boom and dipper pin centres and have currently only set one bucket up so far but it's currently out by 30mm or so in different locations or height.
I've not done any more bucket setup bar vertical from center of pin to leading edge of bucket and entering the width of the bucket, also need to set the combo laser position as didn't come up in the original install

 

[Brendan]

So been using the idig for a couple of days, bit of a learning curve but just can't seem to dial the settings in.
It was out using the actual pin measurements, A fresh machine install has helped but its still out using a laser and the setup had the dipper at around 20mm longer which seemed to help accuracy up close but using a laser for known depth from laser was out by a good 50mm. So was a case of either adding 50mm to the staff measurement or having to get down then rebench at the correct depth.
This evening I've put the actual pin measurements back in and re calibrated the laser catch, with the laser at a higher height and will see if there is any improvement tomorrow.

How do you go about updating the firmware, as can't seem to find anything online and the last firmware is from 2021

 

[CPS]

So been using the idig for a couple of days, bit of a learning curve but just can't seem to dial the settings in.
It was out using the actual pin measurements, A fresh machine install has helped but its still out using a laser and the setup had the dipper at around 20mm longer which seemed to help accuracy up close but using a laser for known depth from laser was out by a good 50mm. So was a case of either adding 50mm to the staff measurement or having to get down then rebench at the correct depth.
This evening I've put the actual pin measurements back in and re calibrated the laser catch, with the laser at a higher height and will see if there is any improvement tomorrow.

How do you go about updating the firmware, as can't seem to find anything online and the last firmware is from 2021

Your well out on the software, how did you do the laser calibration?
They have got a lot easier to calibrate since that.
Il send you the latest swoftware and you just upload it.

 

[Brendan]

Your well out on the software, how did you do the laser calibration?
They have got a lot easier to calibrate since that.
Il send you the latest swoftware and you just upload it.

Ace that would be great
Laser calibration was
1) set pin centre position, did this with dipper fully extend.
2) dipper right in and raise boom till laser picked up.
3) extend dipper out to catch laser again
Originally did it and changed the measurements to the actual measurements, then on the second attempt at a complete setup, left it to the settings it came up with, then this evening redid the calibration but with the laser higher than last time and then adjusted to the measurement again (about 10mm in the a-c measurement and left the a-b as it was) and also changed the dipper measurement to the actual pin centres.
It seems to be within 10mm at 600mm above ground but will see what happens tomorrow when 1.6m deep.

Will probably move the combo sensor at some point as don't think any hoses will hook up with a sensor on, the bucket sensor is also not ideal, there is not any sort of decent space on the hitch to have full contact with the bracket