Minidiggers and chalk

[seanandruby]

never delt with chalk myself sounds good but whats it like for holding thing up like pools or buildings?

It's good but by f*** it would take a long time to fill the pool :laugh:

[local patios and driveway]

lots of chalk on the south downs here. can be a b!tch to dig with a machine as you get deeper, it can become so compacted that its like rock. if that does become and issue put the smallest bucket on and dig out with that, it'll put more force on a smaller area. also dont think full revs will make any diffence, half power is all you ever need, its just a little slower but same power and you wont be throwing yourself around in the machine all day
Dan

[GB_Groundworks]

As a guy who drives machines all day I'd disagree with the half revs things we runs ours at 90% as there set not to over rev like a car won't get them above 1800 rpm at top whack. As machines work of hydraulic pump and pressure the engine has to be spinning to a certain degree to get the control and reaction speed. And no operator should be throwing themselves around at any revs, but as an ameature you'll be fine ticking over.

Basic rules: familiarise yourself with all controls, treat it as a weapon, no one near you while loading the dumper, don't over extend yourself, reposition machine or make away into the hole rather than over reaching, never ever dig across your tracks, do not dig over your drive motors, unless you can blade down to protect them. Take little scrapes across a greater distance rather than diving in deep so you can see what you are digging. Make sure all pins are in and lubed up.

What not to do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...._player

[local patios and driveway]

giles, have you ever compared the fuel costs over a week at half revs? its about 50% cheaper. i also spend all week on various machines. an old jcb op told me about the half revs and since trying it we always work that way, admittedly we dont slew as fast but in the domestic setting thats probably a good thing. but i always find the smaller 3/4 tons can give even the best ops a bad back after a day or two, merely because of the weight to power ratio

www.localdiggers.co.uk

[GB_Groundworks]

Our jcbs are run in auto mode they control their own revs and it's always about 90% yeah you burn more fuel but you get more done, on a domestic job maybe but when your loading trucks sat onto 1000 tons a few seconds a slew soon adds up and your asking the machine to work harder at lower revs as it's struggling for the pressure. We burn through about 600l a week when both js130 on the go.