Flexibility is the key for Ollie Kitchen

Wed 21 May 2014

Flexibility is the key for Ollie Kitchen

Of course tiltrotator users are already well aware of just how much more adaptable and flexible a system makes them on the job site, enabling them to work more efficiently and indeed keeping them on hire longer as the customer witnesses the benefits. For an owner operator it definitely is an invaluable piece of kit. We are seeing this over and over again as I go out visiting end users, who all tell me that they could never go back to a rigid bucket set up, which to be perfectly honest, would be like stepping back into the dark ages. Having been in that position myself in the past, it suddenly felt like I only had half a machine to use, the difference is that noticeable. In this first set of photos we see Ollie at work taking out old kerbs in a street, using his integral grab to pluck them out, before despatching them into the skip of a waiting dumper.

And in this shot we see Ollie using the triple boom combination on his Komatsu PW160-8 to good effect to gain the optimum geometry whilst working below overhead telephone cables, as his bucket is being loaded with tarmac cuttings.

In the next couple of shots we see the benefit of specifying the integrated grab/gripper as Ollie deploys his to remove some temporary fencing stakes. Conventionally this would have been done either by hand, or by using a machine with a cloth strop wrapped around them by an additional ground worker. This method makes the whole process a one man operation with much less risk of damage to the stakes or individuals working in close proximity.

Finally in this batch of shots from Ollie, we see just how much easier it is to excavate around manholes and other ground obstacles, without the need to keep moving the base machine.

This whole process is performed from one spot, using the tiltrotator to get the right angles for the cut. Less movement means much less wear and tear on the base machine in terms of in this case tyres or tracks.

Of course these game changing attachments don’t suit everyone in the UK market, which in all fairness is very different to the Swedish sector. They are not really suited to the UK plant hire sector especially that of the self-drive hire fleets, where they could be subject to some serious abuse. One old chestnut I often hear on the social media platforms is that the tiltrotator is dumbing down the skills, I totally disagree with that viewpoint as in fact, in the hands of a skilled operator, the tiltrotator takes skills to yet another level. We thank Ollie Kitchen for sharing these latest photos with us here on the Digger Man Blog.

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