Up on Cloud Number 9

Taking a look back at this article from last year, previously published in Earthmovers Magazine, and bringing it to life here on the internet.

During the mammoth Bauma Trade Fair in Munich last year, Develon revealed it’s all new Dash 9 series of excavators for the very first time in public. Taking centre stage on the stand was the 23-tonne class DX230LC-9 which was unveiled during launch ceremony attended by senior Develon management, whilst out on the demonstration plot the 26-tonne class DX260LC-9 was going to star in the regular shows.

With the exception of the boom, dipper and undercarriage, the Develon Dash-9 models are totally brand new, and feature a whole host of new technologies which looked to be super impressive on the stand at the world’s largest trade fair. These two new models will replace the outgoing DX225LC-7 and DX255LC-7 both of which have proven to be very popular machines with end users.

Looking at the machines at a show is all very well and good. But there is no substitute for spending time in the seat to get a real feel for the new machines.

It transpired that the first DX260LC-9 to be delivered to a dealer anywhere in Europe was heading to Real Machinery OY who are the main dealers for Develon construction machinery, headquartered in Lempäälä, in the Pirkanmaa region in Finland. The machine arrived just in time for some product training ahead of its first public appearance in Finland at the Maxpo show which was held at its spiritual home of Hyvinkää Airport.

With the show taking place on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday, there was a window of opportunity for Earthmovers to spend a day with the machine on Real Machinery’s dedicated demonstration plot at the rear of the premises, where I was very kindly introduced to the new model by Timo Salin Real Machinery’s Develon Product Manager, and Ari Kauranen, who is Technical Support manager at Real Machinery, specialising in Develon.

Pictured above: L-R  Timo Salin Product Manager DevelonReal Machinery & Ari Kauranen Technical Support Real Machinery

Timo pointed out that the previous DX255LC-7 was a much-liked model in the Finnish market, however in Finland the market is largely dominated by short radius models, but expectation for the DX260LC-9, which comes with a 500kg heavier counterweight, is already high and a few customers who have had the opportunity to run the new model have all provided very positive feedback.

The previous machines were all fitted with six-cylinder in-house built diesel engines, a powerpack that has always been well liked in the UK market, especially by old school operators who preferred the much-perceived grunt that a six-cylinder appears to give you in heavy work. However, the new machines are sporting Develon’s latest torque rich four-cylinder DX05V diesel engine, the high-tech powerpack in this application puts out 171.1kW (229.4hp) @1900rpm.

Raising the bonnet, the engine looks super compact, but from my experience on the day, it packs a powerful punch, offering maximum torque, even at very low speeds, while just frugally sipping diesel, offering both powerful performance and superb fuel economy. Develon state that the new engine offers a 20% increase in power output, while offering an 8% reduction in fuel consumption.

A technically detailed report on the machine was featured by my colleague Eoghan Daly in the July edition of this magazine, so I was keen to focus more on the operating experience for this feature.

Climbing up into the spacious cab, one could not fail to be impressed with the layout of the controls, and the overall standard specification. The fully adjustable heated and optional cooled air suspension seat itself, had been fitted with a protective cover, but having seen the original at Bauma, I was suitably impressed with it, to be honest, with its leather look trim, it wouldn’t look out of place in a premium level sports car as it just oozes quality, and I have to say I found it to be a very comfortable seat to spend a day in. A nice touch is a car style three-point seatbelt, however due to a seat cover having been fitted, I was unable to try this feature on the day.

A nice automotive touch is the ambient light setting which features no less than 10 colour options, which can create a homely atmosphere within the cabin, especially during cold dark mornings and late-night working shifts. Newly designed joysticks will also be fitted, however on this example it was fitted with Engcon joysticks for the tiltrotator, and you could still use the Scandinavian inspired joystick steering feature which is another game changer.

Another state-of-the-art feature is the Bluetooth-enabled digital key, which you can use to unlock the cabin, start the engine and even adjust the air conditioning via the My Develon app, allowing you to set and warm the machine up for work from distance, a superb feature for the long cold winter months.      

The two-tone grey plastic trim, has a homely and stylish feel to it, while on the offside joystick console, we find all the usual switches and buttons, that we have become accustomed too in a modern hydraulic excavator, but not too many, as the vast majority of the functions can be set via the big 12.8in touch-screen monitor or via the familiar jog dial control to the operators right, in between the power and work mode selection buttons.

The monitor itself is intriguing as you navigate around the various selection modes, the operator can do so much in terms of fine tuning, and operator profiling, that it would be quite easy to spend many hours looking around in the labyrinth of menus.

As one would expect the monitor also doubles up as a display for the multiple integrated cameras, the radar sensor display and the payload weighing system, so there’s lots of information to digest literally at your fingertips.

The operator can customize the monitor display to his preferred look, and you can even change the joystick pattern to suit different operator’s configuration preferences. There are also adjustments that can be made for attachments, including in this instance the Engcon, whereby you can speed up or slow down the movements of the attachment to suit the individual or task at hand.

In the Nordic regions the machine flow set-ups are extremely important to end users, Timo said, “We have many customers here that insist on having the machine set up for perfection, for example, one of our customers has to have the main machine swing speed, to be the same as the tiltrotator rotation speed, so it’s all working in harmony, that attention to detail is very common here in Finland and in Sweden”.  

This particular unit was pretty much fully loaded specification wise, and was fitted with virtually all the option available including 2D machine guidance, the weighing system and the Smart AVM with object and human recognition, the only feature that wasn’t on this model was the E-Stop system, which will automatically shut down the machine when an object or person is detected within a 3 metre working zone, but according to Timo, that will be coming in due course when full production is in place.

Having taken a good look around and discussed the numerous features, the time had come to try the machine out, I have to confess by now I was buzzing to see how it performed, it certainly looks good, very stylish, and the technology is super impressive, but how would it perform.

Having settled into the seat I pressed the start button, and the four pot Develon engine sprang into life. Cranking up the throttle dial I was pleasantly surprised by the noise level in the cab, which is rated at just 69dB (A) and 102dB (A) externally.

Raising the hydraulic isolation lever, and with a sharp tug on the boom lift joystick, the machine sprang into life, in its default Eco mode power setting, I tracked the machine towards a large pile of material on the demo area, putting the machine through various movements as I travelled, all too often on machines if you try to use other functions when tracking it saps power to other services, I have to say, I didn’t notice any power draining effect on this machine which was impressive.

Once on top of the heap, I started to dig and throw a few buckets of material around, although the material was fairly loose, it was quite heavy but was no problem for this 26-tonner, even when operating in Eco mode.

Scrolling through the power modes I spotted the Power Plus and was instantly drawn to select it, as is so often the case, the difference in speed and power was very noticeable and I instantly warmed to the machine’s faster response. By this time I was well and truly getting used to the feel of the levers, as mentioned many times before, I’m not really a fan of electro-hydraulic controls, but on this machine I had no cause to dislike them, they behaved and performed just how I would want them too, even when reaching at full stretch you could bring the dipper and boom in perfectly, with no noticeable dips in the material during the grade, I have to say, I was super impressed!

On the slew, the initial take of felt quite rapid, quickly gaining a maximum slew speed of 11.1rpm which is lively enough for a 26-tonne machine. As the time was passing by rapidly, I decided to shape up the pile of material to protect it from the rain that was predicted for later in the week.

Trimming up and sealing was a pure joy with this machine, super smooth and controlled movements, made even better with the Engcon tiltrotator that was fitted. I was a little concerned that the extra weight might make the machine sit up a little especially when working over the side, but even with a heaped bucketload at full stretch the DX260LC-9 remained as stable as ever, which must be helped by the extra 500kg counterweight, I could shake the shake bucket, and try my hardest to create a tipping situation, but it was having none of it, it’s quite clearly a very well balanced piece of kit!.

With the afternoon sunshine beaming in through the extensive glass on this new cab, I cranked up the air-conditioning. There are 9 vents in total located around the cab, 4 rotating vents on the front right-hand console, one at floor level under the seat, and 4 rotating vents to the rear, so there is exceptional air flow right through the cab, however, being old school, I do like to have the front window screen open and stored up in the roof, it has to be a really bad weather day for me to have the front window shut!

I finished off tracking in the top of the pile using the left-hand joystick for steering the tracks, some may say it’s a bit of a gimmick, but I can see it could have some benefits and let’s face it, in the Nordic regions they love all that kind of thing.

I walked away from this machine with a big beaming smile, and I certainly felt like I had been up on cloud 9, I honestly could not find a thing to criticize on it, this Korean manufacturer has come a long way over the years, and they are now up there with the best of them.

Concluding Timo said, “I have high hopes for this Dash-9 series, everyone who has tried it so far has been 100% impressed with it, I think we will do well in the market with them". This example has since been out on a demo tour with customers in the Finnish region, which proved to be a very positive experience for the dealer and customers alike.