Big Excavator Protects its Baby Brother

Our good friend and contributor Robert Carlsson from Sweden, has sent over some more photos featuring machines parked outside the Volvo Customer Centre in Eskilstuna.

The machines on display this week are a 50-tonne class EC480EL hydraulic excavator and at the other end of the scale a 1.5 tonne EC15E mini excavator. Talking about the feature Robert said, “This display made me think that in these hard times for us all, the big and strong must embrace and protect the small and weak, that’s certainly the way it looked with the big machine protecting the small one”.

This display must have resonated with Robert, as later on at work he decided to replicate the display with some of his own Volvo machines which include, ECR25D, EC45 PRO, EW140B and EW160.

I was interested to see Roberts EW140B which features a TAB boom and even more interesting a Sandco telescopic dipper arm.

Talking about his set-up Robert said, “The Sandco telescopic dippers differ slightly from one to another but my model extends from two to three metres. So, you get a short two metre dipper for most digging operations, giving you extra breakout force and you get a three metre dipper for improved reach and for grading which means covering bigger areas quicker”.

Robert continued, “But as you know, there are no free lunches and the downside, besides the extra cost, is the weight of the Sandco. I don´t have the exact numbers but I think the standard dipper is like 5-600 kg and the Sandco probably is like 800 kg, having said that, I wouldn´t want to be without it, as it is very, very addictive”.

“The Sandco is controlled by a roll on front of the right lever, the same roll on my left lever is for the grapple (not mounted on the photos).
And of course the thumb rolls on the levers are for tilt and rotate, as usual, then I have two of the buttons on the left lever, which are for steering right or left” concludes Robert.

The Digger Man Blog thanks Robert for sharing these photos with us.