Toothless buckets

[Smiffy]

I spend a lot of time on a 1.5 digging round services
We install a lot of carriageway drainage so lots of digging round services
We only usually carry 2 buckets a ditcher and 200mm bucket
It has a blade welded on to the teeth so you can tip the bucket back and use the side teeth to lift tarmac or concrete without easily but still have a blade
Bit pointless having anything wider on a 1.5 as you just struggle to dig in hard ground

On the odd occasion we need something wider we would get a 3 tonner in as it's not productive otherwise

As has been mentioned above a blade bucket with the blade extending further than the sides of the bucket is also better than a gummy bucket for digging under existing services as you can nibble away with the machine without touching the utility

 

[fred]

When I hit services, I like to cut them clean. Teeth rip the cable too much I find.

this is the only reason ill not use a toothed bucket if I know there is something in the ground as the teeth snag it before you can see it.

The original reason for buying the BMC 600 bucket, one of the builds planning put an Archeologic watch condition where they watch you dig and they wont let you use toothed bucked. I even tried paying the tw@t off to do the report from home as a halfs day of footings took a week at half a scoop every 10 mins. We were not on speaking terms at the end of day 2......

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Call me crazy but this is what I am thinking at the moment.

A 600mm cable bucket from BMC with bolt on teeth. 600mm is perfect for foundation work and if the ground is too hard the teeth can be fitted. In our clay soil a cable bucket hopefully behaves more like a clay spade compared to a normal digging bucket and doesn’t gum up as quickly. Due to the length in front of the sidewalls it is also easier to pick up things.

Secondly a 300mm cable bucket with bolt on teeth for mostly the same reason as above. However I have a job coming up to bury 900 metres of water pipe. The job was started by somebody else but he never compacted the trench and now the ground has settled there are holes everywhere. 300mm width is perfect for my plate compactor as it is also 300mm so easy to compact the trench. The next smaller bucket would be 230mm which is too narrow for a trench rammer as the one I can hire locally is 250mm.

 

[fred]

only thing i found with the deep buckets, i had the engcon 300 deep drainage, clay loved to get stuck inside it. every pull was followed by knocking on the blade to get the crap out.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Thank you Fred, it is good to read different perspectives. I hoped that the cable bucket would be more like a clay spade but it appears that I am mistaken. With the normal digging buckets I end up doing the same, ie knocking it on something to get the clay out.

 

[GazCro]

Thank you Fred, it is good to read different perspectives. I hoped that the cable bucket would be more like a clay spade but it appears that I am mistaken. With the normal digging buckets I end up doing the same, ie knocking it on something to get the clay out.

The theory with the long fronted scandi style buckets is that you don't fill them to the back. Carry material on it rather than in it, but the temptation to try to fill it is difficult to resist. Most manufacturers make bucket sides parallel but narrow buckets benefit from a slight taper.

 

[fred]

Thank you Fred, it is good to read different perspectives. I hoped that the cable bucket would be more like a clay spade but it appears that I am mistaken. With the normal digging buckets I end up doing the same, ie knocking it on something to get the clay out.

my next tilti will be the one that has the built in vibration on a button for this exact reason.

 

[Randla]

The theory with the long fronted scandi style buckets is that you don't fill them to the back. Carry material on it rather than in it, but the temptation to try to fill it is difficult to resist. Most manufacturers make bucket sides parallel but narrow buckets benefit from a slight taper.

Yes, and no.

The long nose is to cut the ground before the sides build up friction for collecting dirt, if that makes sense. They have a deeper back to compensate for the loss of capacity by the cut back sides.

That having been said, most (tilty) grading bucket users still fill them up, which is kind of missing the point

 

[V8Druid]

Frank (bucket on wheels) told me years ago that the idea of the long toe-ed scandy design was to carry materials on, not stuff 'em full ... the long toe design will carry as much as a conventional 'UK' style bucket stuffed full .. without being crammed in there and comes off the toe a damn sight easier than getting it out of a stuffed 'UK' style bucket

 

[fred]

my next tilti will be the one that has the built in vibration on a button for this exact reason.

 

[JerryRtilt]

Not something I use a lot but it’s handy when you’re in a tight spot sometimes

 

[Mogman]

Wonder what the ‘valve’ is could have one on the bucket ram on a standard machine

 

[Randla]

Wonder what the ‘valve’ is could have one on the bucket ram on a standard machine

The short answer is yes, Mog. Dynaset do one

 

[doobin]

Wonder what the ‘valve’ is could have one on the bucket ram on a standard machine

£2200 plus vat for the smallest model.

 

[Mick-the-fitter]

Cable buckets, didn’t they used to be called clay buckets?

 

[Smiffy]

£2200 plus vat for the smallest model.

A cetop valve and one of these could be made to do the same job

https://cpc.farnell.com/kemo-electr...PING&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224646539664!!!network}!834776438830!&gclid=CjwKCAiA1eKBBhBZEiwAX3gql6LsMNLSnKKEcuFiMMmKsCdfLAYU_RFFkW2jwJqCpASoP7cOKCtQRBoChkEQAvD_BwE

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

A little update on this. I have spoken to Robert Welsh (BMC) and he was very helpfull. My goal was to have a toothless bucket with a longer toe. However I wasn’t sure how long I wanted the toe to be which didn’t help the situation.

As a result I bought a 12” digging bucket from DigBits and set about modifying it.
This is what I started with.

None of my current buckets clean up against the blade, which can be annoying. As a result one of the criteria was that the modified bucket needed to reach the blade without its teeth. To achieve that I added a 10” extension to the base with tapering sides. It can now be used with or without teeth.

Whilst I appreciate that it might not be to everybody’s taste, for me it does the job as intended. It has been out and about with me and it seems to hold up fine.

 

[T whiting]

Looks dead handy there very useful like that for digging under things. I welded a plate under the teeth on a 1.5 bucket that stuck out about 6 inches it was very good for underpinning

Will your machine not clean up against the blade I'd you offset the boom all the way to the left?

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Will your machine not clean up against the blade I'd you offset the boom all the way to the left?

Yes, it does. I should have been clearer in my post. It does clean up against the blade on full left offset but not when the boom is not offset.

I prefer my buckets to clean up against the blade with the boom neutral. Obviously this has the draw back that you undercut the blade with the boom offset.

 

[V8Druid]

Yes, it does. I should have been clearer in my post. It does clean up against the blade on full left offset but not when the boom is not offset.

I prefer my buckets to clean up against the blade with the boom neutral. Obviously this has the draw back that you undercut the blade with the boom offset.

LOL ..... I can under cut the back axle / legs on the Drema, with her closed down ..... facing forwards