Ollie gets on the grade with Engcon beam

by Nick Drew | Thu 03 Dec 2015

Ollie gets on the grade with Engcon beam

Well known owner/operator Ollie Kitchen has just added another attachment to his arsenal of equipment with the purchase of a genuine Engcon grading beam.

The Swedish grading beam concept is an attachment which appears to divide many in the UK, with some seeing them as just another gimmick and the untrue perception that they are aimed at operators who can’t grade with a bucket cutting edge! Those that own and run these attachments though know how valuable they can be in terms of speeding up grading work and leaving a great finish ahead of the compaction equipment.

Ollie tells us that management on the job he is currently working on have been so impressed with the beam, that it is likely to be put forward for an innovation award. According to the site foreman the fitting of the beam has resulted in the job being done 3 times faster than previously achieved.

Ollie was keen to tell the Digger Man Blog more about the new attachment, “There have been some nice little touches that Engcon have done with the grading beam, compared to what other people are producing. They have made it so that the roller at the back is adjustable depending on what you are rolling or not so to speak, it can be lifted up out of the way if the stuff you are levelling is quite big and bulky”.

“They have also made it so that you can have the wings on the side, on or off, which I thought was a clever idea, again it's all down to what you are levelling and also operator preference. I personally will be keeping them on, as with type1 it's nice to keep everything together when you are pulling it through, but, being able to have the option is a great idea”.

Ollie continued, “The head stock is a bolt on affair, which is a bonus if I wanted to put it onto a standard machine back home, a quick change of headstock, and it could be on a 20tonner for example. Also when I get my EC-oil fitted, it gives me a number of options to be able to upgrade the grading beam . Sending it up to John Craig in Scotland will allow me to put a scaifirer on the beam too, but being able to lift it up out of the way when I'm not using it, all from the comfort of the machine and not having to get out is another health and safety box ticked. They have also raised the level of where the headstock is, some competitors have their headstock level with the beam itself, meaning that any build-up of material covers the tilty or hitch, with there being a sufficient gap on the Engcon one this is not a problem as the material just falls though”.

“They have also made the front of it with a cutting edge, which again, I think is a smart move. I'm hoping at some point get a laser mounted onto it, which I think will be quite handy”.

Talking about using the beam Ollie said, “So far I've found the best way to use it is, after the stone had been tipped, knock it something like with the bucket, then straight over with the beam as quick as you like”. Summarising Ollie said, “I’ve been very pleased to have had a big input into it to be honest, when myself and Eddie went over to Sweden at the start of the year to visit the factory, it was something that I pushed very hard for with Sten and Robert back here in the UK. I told them they were really missing a trick, sent them all my research and everything else I'd done on the use of grading beams, and this is the final result, its brilliant!”

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