We live in an age where space is reducing and the ability to use full size equipment is becoming difficult or even impossible. We see mini excavators and bob-cats working hard all day, perhaps what you don’t see or hear very much about is the compact grader. In fact, you have probably seen them in action and not given them another thought.

Compact graders are identical to their bigger brothers. As the name suggests they are compact, or smaller in size. The compact grader, as an example, has a turning circle of less than twenty feet compared to twice that for the larger machines.

Although shorter in length, and having a significantly smaller engine, these little graders perform just as well as the larger models. They can still do an adequate job of moving dirt, snow or any loose material.

The skills required to operate a compact grader are no different to those of the larger machines. At ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools we offer training on motor graders to provide participants with the skills to operate both large and small machines. Check us out for a training program suited to your needs.

Where bulldozers rely on brute strength to push dirt around, motor graders rely in finesse to finely ‘grade’ as surface. Motor graders truly are the fine artists in the heavy equipment family.

Bulldozers are short stout muscle men. Motor graders are long and narrow. Bulldozers are often sitting on tracks which make them slow and cumbersome. Motor graders are on wheels which make them fast and nimble. The bulldozer has a blade at the front, the motor grader a blade hanging from the middle of the vehicle. I could go on with these comparisons, after all, they are both heavy equipment that has been designed to push dirt around.

The biggest difference is that bulldozers push huge quantities of dirt over short distances. Motor graders make long passes gently taking the top surface and trimming and smoothing it until it has the right angle or the right slope.

Road making is a prime example of a graders work. All roads have a slight angle to them, carefully designed to influence the run off of water. On corners, these angles (or camber as it is known) is designed to keep the car on the right line going around the corner, particularly when going through mountainous or hilly areas.

Believe it or not, the bulldozer can do some of the work that a motor graders does. However it takes far longer and is not precise like a true grader. A grader would have difficulty doing the work of a bulldozer.

If you’re somewhat of an artist and would like to work in the heavy equipment field, then check out ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools to see if we have the right training program for you.

Heavy equipment comes in all shapes and sizes. The bigger pieces of equipment can really pack some punch. A bulldozer is capable of pushing large amounts of material around. The grader can also push huge amounts of dirt around. So, in the world of heavy equipment, who is the brute?

Most people would opt for the bulldozer and why not, they can certainly push a lot of dirt around. Graders, however can also push the same amount of dirt.

When it comes to brute strength, they both have what it takes. Bulldozers are a little like a meat cleaver. They get stuck in and use their brute strength to carve up the earth and push it to one side.

Graders, on the other hand, use the same brute strength to push dirt around, but they are more like a fine slicing knife, using force to sculpt the land pushing the dirt out to the side while the blades dig in and peel the earth away.

They both use brute force, one in a brutal way, the other in gentler carving motion. The end result, the bulldozer has cleaned the rubbish and top dirt away. The grader can now come in and start to the shape the earth for the final steps of construction.

You cannot compare them. They both use brute strength for different jobs and different outcomes. To learn how to operate either one or both of these, check out ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools for more information.

Road graders are not just dirt moving machines. Road graders are used mainly for leveling and planing a surface. They are also used to ‘fine grade’ surfaces; this means to level and shape a surface to very fine measurements.

Graders have a blade that can be set and held at a precise angles and elevations. Road graders can be used to perform maintenance on unpaved roads and to also create a wide, flat surface in preparation to lay asphalt on paved roads. The graders ability to perform ‘fine’ grading means the road is shaped for both camber, used to keep cars on the road around bends, and fine slope to facilitate water run off during wet weather.

Operators of road graders are able to finely adjust the machine’s blade, either raising, lowering, turning and/or tilting it, to produce smooth, consistent surfaces.

Road graders are used in many different situations. Apart from the construction of roads, they are also used to finish railway beds, level and finely finish airport runways and to prepare commercial building sites.

Graders are also used to move snow from roads, airport runways and other important access areas. They uniquely able to not only push snow, but due to the angle of the blades they are able to direct snow to the verges in a single pass.

There are so many different types and brands of road grader in today’s market. Manufacturers like Caterpillar, Volvo, Case and John Deere are amongst the biggest and their modern machines lead the way in both safety and modern technology. Some graders now come equipped with GPS and laser technology to enable the finest and most accurate grading possible.

Operating equipment like this starts with basic training and to receive that training you should visit ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools.

Motor graders are the real work horses when it come to moving dirt and leveling and planing a surface to fine tolerances. This is done through the use a blade, or moldboard, that can be set and held at a precise slope and elevation. The operator can raise, lower, turn and tilt the blade through controls in cabin.

Typical motor graders feature three axles with the engine and the drivers cab situated above the rear axles. In road construction, road graders are used to “finish grade” or refine the “rough grading” that was performed by heavy equipment such as scrapers or bulldozers.

Motor graders are large powerful machines that weigh approximately 15 tons. Motor graders have a variety of uses across many different industries, but their primary use is to produce smooth, consistent surfaces, either level or graded. Motor graders are widely used in the construction of roads, railway beds, airport runways and commercial building sites.

For road construction, motor graders are commonly used in maintenance of unpaved roads and new road construction to prepare the base course to create a wide, flat surface for the asphalt to be placed on. Highways appear level to the naked eye, but are actually graded at a slight angle (often called a camber) to promote and guide runoff.

For a career as a motor grader visit ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools.

Motor grading is a job that can sometimes be considered boring, you spend hours just driving up and down, skimming a little of the top at a time. The reality is that good motor grading is actually an art form and the best heavy equipment motor graders are those with many years experience.

With blade work, there is so much in the way of repetition, going over your work till you get it to the right grade. Sometimes it takes a lot of time. Even for some one with a lot of hours up is can seem boring and frustrating. That is the life of a heavy equipment operator.

Patience and a good eye and feel and being able to anticipate what the machine is going to do in advance is one of the special skills that is developed over time and with experience. Along the way you also learn where your material must be and where it will end up once you have completed each pass. With heavy equipment operation, a lot of the skill is your intuition and what you are feeling through your hands and feet. In a way, you become one with the machine, feeling the slightest imperfections in the surface through your hands.

While not wishing to be too hard on new heavy equipment operators some from this generation have not learned patience – and that is the main essential for all types of motor grading, no matter what machine you are on. If the job needs another one, two or three passes to make it tidy or right, then that is exactly how it is.

Over the years all heavy equipment operators learn and develop these skills. The art of motor grading lies in the hands. However, you need to learn the basics of heavy equipment and motor grading operations before you can even begin to learn the finer art. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can give you that basic training to get you on the road to a great career. Check us out.

Graders are a reasonably simple machine when it comes to design and function. At least, that’s what it looks like to an untrained eye. The grader is one of the most important pieces of equipment to a road building crew.

The action of the grader is to use an angled blade that scrapes the surface and, through the angle of the blade, force the excess material to the side of the vehicle. The blades angle can be altered along with the depth of the scraping blade.

After all the work has been done, clearing rocks, tree stumps and other debris, the grader comes in to provide a level foundation for the proposed road surface. This is done by driving over the proposed road in several passes, each pass scraping more and more until the surface is not only level, but has the required to camber for the proposed road. [photo MathKnight cc WikiCommons Gallery]

Away from the road crew, graders have been used to clear snow from roads. The angled blades push the snow off the road surface and to road verges. At time of heavy snow falls, an essential piece of equipment to keep our roads open.

The attached picture shows a typical road crew with a grader, heavy roller and water truck. Working as a grader operator is a real team job. Bulldozer operators remove the excess heavy material. Grader operators clean the surface and provide a level base. The combination of watering and heavy roller create a packed solid base ready for the road building material.

If the opportunity to work as part of a team to build and maintain our highways sounds attractive, consider a career as grader operator. Professional grader training through ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools could open those doors for you.

Graders have been use for a long time in helping construction workers and engineers to build and improve communities. They are useful tools.

Graders are typically used to refine the grading that is started by heavier equipment like bulldozers and scrapers. These vehicles are used for rough grading. Dirt and gravel roads have been built using graders since 1903 when two entrepreneurs built the first Russell grader. Not long after that, commercial manufacturers like Caterpillar and John Deere began to make them for mass production. Some communities in the north use graders to scrape snow off of roads for safer travel. Even many farmers and ranchers all over the world use them to do farm work that is essential for their own maintenance needs.

The image above is a grader from 1918, borrowed from Wikipedia.

Grading is a common practice today in construction and engineering and with the help of ATS Heavy Equipment School, persons interested in learning a trade can learn to use a grader as well as other common heavy equipment.

There really isn’t much need to pull out graders these days if you’re working small or medium sized jobs. That doesn’t necessarily mean that graders are obsolete, though. Far from it, it means that graders are used for larger projects. The reason is that with the advances in technology, bulldozers are used to perform tasks and jobs that were impossible to perform previously. Laser guided graders and grading systems are available to more companies because of the affordable prices.

Bulldozers are able to perform some very amazing feats of grading in small work projects. This is probably why smaller companies are making use of them for their work jobs. It doesn’t matter if a bulldozer is laser guided or not, it is not going to replace the all purpose built grader. It can, however, allow spaces that were previously to tiny to be graded.

With tigh saces, you’re not always able to fit a grader into a property. You also won’t be able to give it the room it needs to maneuver. Graders are well situated for wide open areas, instead of the small spaces. That’s why graders are found in large construction projects, such as roadside work.

You usually won’t find graders leveling a suburban block, though. Graders are used for all kinds of big projects that require detail and precision. They are used for creating runways, roads and grading large foundations. They are also used a lot during the winter time, when they clear large masses of snow from the road. If you live in a location where there is a lot of snow, then you’ll see a lot of graders everywhere.

Graders aren’t for everyone

Graders are one of the more difficult pieces of heavy equipment that you can operate. Many people don’t start out driving graders. Instead, they work their way up. Driving grades is going to require a lot of control, because they are huge pieces of equipment. They are used for leveling airstrips and roads. It is easy to think that there isn’t much demand for graders, but the truth is that drivers of graders are always in demand. Contact us for more information on graders.

These days there really is not as much need to pull out the graders for small to mid-sized jobs, these are often the domain of bulldozers with laser-guided blades. That does not mean that graders are out of a job, far from it, it just means that they are relegated to predominantly larger tasks. There are a few reasons that we can see for this transition.

New technology allows bulldozers to perform tasks that they were not previously able to do. In particular, the aforementioned laser-guided grading systems that are now available for an affordable price really makes light work of complicated grading requirements. Light bulldozers are able to perform some remarkable feats of grading in small-scale situations. It is perhaps this that has seen some smaller companies make use of them for slightly larger jobs as well. A bulldozer, whether it is laser-guided or not is not going to do the job of a purpose built grader, but it will allow spaces that were previously too small to be graded to receive the benefit of grading.

Tighter spaces have meant that we are not always able to fit a grader into a property, nor able to give it the room it needs to maneuver. This has been the situation for some time. Graders are well suited to wide open areas, rather than the small blocks of suburbia. That is why you will find graders in large construction sites and working roads, but usually not leveling a suburban block.

So what are graders used for?

Graders are used for big jobs that require the precision that they are built for. Graders are used for creating roads and runways, and sometimes for grading large foundations. You will also find graders put to heavy use in winter, when they are put to use clearing snow from roads. If you live in an area with a lot of snow, it is scarce to see a grader going unused, no matter what time of the year you find yourself in.

If you are interested in learning more about driving bulldozers or graders, please do not hesitate to contact us at Associated Training Services.