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Cornish with a Scandinavian Twist

After leaving school in 2005 Arron went to work for his father who is a builder, but not long after the ambitious youngster set up his own business, A.C.S Building & Groundworks which became an instant success and has remained busy ever since. In what could be seen as a bit of a turnaround sometime later Arron ended up employing his father and at one time had around 20 blokes on the books.

Having earnt some very decent money in later years, Arron decided to invest in his own plant, rather than hiring in machines, which can often be seen as dead money in the long term. As the years had passed Arron had moved on from backhoe loaders and was now much happier at the controls of a tracked excavator, which are without doubt a lot easier to operate.

As such Arron’s first machine was a second hand Bobcat 325, which was used on a regular basis for 12 months before he decided to upgrade for a brand new 3-tonne class Bobcat E26. A year later Arron added a second machine again from the Bobcat stable in the shape of a 5.-tonne class E55 model.

Of course, times change and the approach to working and tackling jobs is always evolving, as such Arron had been keeping a keen eye on the compact “Baby Duck” sector, noting that the concept has long been popular in Central Europe and especially in Scandinavia. With that in mind Arron started to do his homework. A trip up to JCB in Staffordshire followed, then while in the area he also popped into Wacker Neuson’s facility nearby to look at their wheeled variants, but according to Arron, Volvo were the only ones who got back to him with a price and to offer him a demo model to try out for a week and the promise of good back up service and a decent warranty package.

The Volvo model in question was the EW60E which was first launched to the European market during the Bauma Trade Fair in 2016. The EW60E was the long-awaited replacement for the EW55B which had actually gone out of production as far back as 2009, leaving Volvo with a void in this wheeled excavator weight class for around 7 years.

Talking about the demo model and his experience on it Arron said, “Volvo put the demo machine into us and I absolutely loved it and within a day of using it I decide that it was the way forward for my business, replacing the two tracked machines for one multi-purpose machine, I know its become a bit of a cliché, but it really is an all round Swiss army knife type of machine”.

Following the successful demo period, a deal was done via Volvo’s Compact Construction Equipment dealer, Plant & Engineering Services LTD (PES) through their South West regional salesman Mike Murphy. The unit in question was part of the line-up for Volvo Construction Equipment’s Live It, Dig It events that took place earlier this year and had only 35 hours on the meter when Arron took delivery.

The machine also came equipped with a Steelwrist X06 tiltrotator C/W 3 finger gripper and S40 top quick coupler so the “tilty” can be dropped off if required.

Talking about the tiltrotator Arron said, “This has been my first experience with a tiltrotator, and to be perfectly honest, I did initially think, Oh my god, why did I bother, but the more I’ve used it and learnt to control it properly, it totally blows your mind just how good it is, it just opens up a whole new world in how you do things, in addition having the gripper option is awesome as on so many occasions it does away with the need for another man on the ground, I can just pick things up and move them around effortlessly from the cab, that in itself is a learning curve though, as I need to learn to be more gentle with it and not ending up snapping everything!”.

In the last 6 months Arron has decided to scale things right back in terms of employing people with all the additional hassles that it can bring and to focus on doing more work himself with the machine in true Swedish style, a real case of working smarter with more thinking outside the box.

We caught up with man and machine on a really tight building plot on the outskirts of Wadebridge where they are doing all the groundworks and building for 3 x properties, consisting of a bungalow and a set of semi-detached houses. Arron started the job with a hired in 13-tonne machine, and carried on the job with his E55 Bobcat, until the recent delivery of the Volvo duck which was initially deployed to install the service trenches.

The initial look at the Korean built EW60E, which tips the scales at 6500kgs (slightly more with the Steelwrist) reminded me of looking at a teenage youth, kind of gangly and less refined with some growing up to do before it turns into an EWR150E or similar, seriously though, this is a very useful piece of kit and its not hard to see why Arron holds it in such high regard. In terms of flexibility for example, just like a backhoe loader this machine can grab a couple of buckets and trundle off down the road to another job at 30kph all under its own steam without the need for costly road transport.

There are a lot less options available for this machine when compared to its more classy German built larger brothers and I for one would prefer to see some more stylish plastic mudguards rather than the metal chequer-plate ones that are used on this machine, which are nonetheless, very sturdy for the operator to stand on if required for topping up of fluids for instance.

A large one-piece rear bonnet pops open upwards to reveal the in-house 4-cylinder Volvo D2.6H diesel engine which is Tier 4 emissions compliant and offers a power output rating of 63hp (47.3kw). Everything within the engine bay is easily accessible for those vital daily checks, even for someone of my dwarf like stature! 

According to Volvo the cab is 10% more spacious than on the previous compact model in the range and although I didn’t sample the can environment myself on this occasion, Arron reports that is plenty spacious enough for his needs and is fitted with all the creature comforts you might need these days, Arron’s example is fitted with full air-conditioning (normally an optional extra) and joystick steering via the Steelwrist XControl joysticks.

This machine is also fitted with a rear-view camera mounted on the roof which when selected is viewed via the large 7-inch colour monitor on the right-hand front side of the cab.

Sitting on standard 12-16.5 HS656 tyres the machine features the standard “duck” spec of a fixed rear axle with dozer blade behind and steering via the floating/lockable front axle. The machine features a 2.9m boom, there are two dipper options a 1.9m but this unit is fitted with the a 1.6m option, this combination offers a maximum reach at ground level of 5,810mm and a maximum dig depth of 3,292mm, these measurements will be slightly increased with the Steelwrist mounted.

Boom off-set capability is 60 degrees to the right and 70 degrees to the left while slew speed is a decent 10 rpm. One thing I would like to see on the next replacement for this 3-year old model would be the fitment of a TAB boom arrangement, which would really take this machine to the next level in terms of flexibility and adaptability.

Summarizing on his new machine Arron said, “So far, so good, its just a case for me personally getting used to it now and remembering which buttons to push, and continuing to embrace the tiltrotator which I think is going to take a little bit longer!”.

Although clearly enjoying the Volvo Arron still had high praise for his Bobcat machines he’d owned previously saying, “I really cannot fault them and I think if I was to go for another small machine again, I would probably choose Bobcat, they were just so reliable”.

In some ways it’s a wonder Arron didn’t opt for Bobcat’s E57W model but it will be interesting to see how his relationship with his Volvo machine and Volvo Construction Equipment as a brand develops over the coming years.