Excavator or excavators are one of the pieces of heavy equipment that you may hear talk about but rarely actually see – unless you are specifically looking for them. They don’t do a lot of driving around like a bulldozer or loader, they tend to sit in one place and do a lot of work before being moved a small distance to continue on with the job.

The excavator consists of a cab, an engine, dual bulldozer-like tracks or treads, a boom arm, and an attachment.

• The cab is where the operator sits. It can generally pivot 360° on top of the tracks and act as enclosed rollover protection work areas.
• The engine provides power for the tracks and powers the hydraulic systems that run the arm and its attachments.
• The undercarriage includes the tracks that move the machine around, along with the sprockets and rollers that guide and propel the tracks.
• The boom is like an arm that extends from the body of the vehicle. It connects at an elbow to the stick that holds the attachment.
• It is the attachment that does the actual work – generally a bucket with teeth designed to dig an remove the loosened material.

Some excavators use a quick coupler that makes it a lot easier to switch between attachments. Some common attachments include augers for boring holes and thumbs for pinching or gripping, as well as hydraulic hammers, rakes, rippers, and mulchers.

Learning to operate an excavator is not that difficult. It just takes a little attention to detail and plenty of practice. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools include excavators in their training program. Check us out for details on our next heavy equipment operator course.

The mining industry would not survive today if were not for the heavy equipment used. The world’s appetite for raw materials is such that no amount of human power could ever hope to satisfy it.

There are several different types of heavy equipment in use, particularly in open cut or surface mining. There are those that dig and gouge away at the material being mined, and there are those that push the mined material around. A third group are involved in the transportation of the mined materials.

Excavators do a lot of the actual digging. Some mines sites use explosives to loosen the material then bring in huge shovels that effectively take big bites of the loose material and dump it into equally large dump trucks.

Large bulldozers are used either to scrape up the loose material and work in conjunction with shovels. The bulldozer forms a large pile that shovel can then scoop up. Bulldozers are also used to rehabilitate areas once the raw materials have been mined out.

The trucks used to carry the material to a loading site are massive. Their wheels are the two or three times the height of a man, require large specifically built fork lifts to get the wheels on and off and use tires that can cost up $50,000 each – forget all four – that’s each.

The one thing these heavy equipment operators have in common is the basic training required before they can commence work. Training organizations such as ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can prepare you for a career in the mining industry. Inquire now for details on a course starting near you.

While just about every construction site has its heavy jobs for which full blown excavators are required, there is no shortage of smaller jobs that backhoes can be used for. In fact, for smaller applications, backhoes are much more versatile than their larger cousin. What is the reason for the versatility of small backhoes? It is of course, their compact size.

Think about landscaping applications, where there is an enormous need for earthmoving. The average backyard does not have an entrance that would permit an excavator to enter. You can get them in there, but it often involves a great deal of disruption. Unless the job is really big, it might not be necessary. Small backhoes can fit into much tighter spaces and perform the same work on a smaller scale. It might take longer, but the disruption that this saves might make the additional job time worth the expense.

Of course, backhoes get a lot bigger than the small backyard landscaping models, and these can compete with excavators for some of the larger jobs. The excavator’s strength is that it is a mobile powerhouse. It can perform very heavy excavation jobs and demolition jobs. It is designed and built with these purposes in mind. There is and always will be a place for both types of equipment, but consider training in backhoes if you want to work outside of industries that tend to employ excavators.

If you are interested in learning more about either excavators or backhoes, please do not hesitate to contact us at Associated Training Services.

We tend to normally think of excavators digging in preparation for large building projects, but they are also extremely functional in demolitions. Excavators are perhaps the biggest piece of general purpose heavy equipment, assuming of course that you exclude cranes. It is the size and mobility of excavators that makes them so incredibly useful for demolitions based tasks.

Many people have a brute force image of demolitions. This is only partly correct. While the process of demolition does involve a certain amount of smashing, bashing and at times exploding, it is a precise process. If a building is brought down in a manner that is anything less than completely controlled, accidents happen. Excavators are the perfect piece of machinery for this as they can provide a large amount of power very precisely to get the job done.

Excavators are used in almost all aspects of demolitions for buildings that are three stories and under. For larger buildings, the process becomes a little bit more delicate. Excavators are still put to use, but in more of a secondary role.

If you are interested in learning more about excavators and their role in construction and demolition, please contact us at Associated Training Services. Excavators are just one of many pieces of heavy equipment that we train people to use.

It is worth reminding yourself every once in a while that what has been learned about heavy equipment safety has come from the painful consequences of other peoples’ mistakes. There was a time that construction was an extremely dangerous occupation. The dangers have not diminished; we have just developed better safety procedures to protect us from them. Heavy equipment safety is one area that has improved dramatically, but mistakes are still made and lessons are still being learned. Take the following example which is from a public safety report that was published on the University of Iowa Website:

In the bottom of an 8-foot hole was a concrete casing around an existing pipe that the men were trying to remove. An iron trench box, measuring approximately 20’ long, 8’ tall, and 8’ wide, was in the hole. The victim was standing in the trench box giving hand signals to the excavator operator above him. He was positioned between the excavator bucket and the inside wall of the trench box (see diagram). The men were trying to carefully remove the casing without damaging the pipe. In the process of prying off the casing, the bucket teeth slipped off the edge of the concrete, and the bucket and arm of the excavator snapped toward the victim, crushing him against the wall of the trench box, causing chest and abdominal injuries.

This accident resulted in the death of the victim, which is sad because it was avoidable. Neither the victim or the operator of the excavator was at fault. They were unaware of the dangers that were involved, as is so often the case. The fact is that many unskilled laborers have no training regarding heavy equipment safety.

Reading the report one is struck by the inherent dangers of the situation, but when you are on a job, you tend to be thinking about the job, you grow accustomed to the dangers and you take risks. Complacent is something that you never want to become. Be paranoid about heavy equipment safety and you will see far fewer accidents. In the case above, workers from the company did later succeed in removing the casing. They did so with jackhammers, which though less powerful and a lot slower would have been the better choice from the very beginning. Sure an excavator could have gotten the job done a lot faster, but the environment was not safe for an excavator, end of story. If there are unacceptable heavy equipment safety risks involved in an operation, you need to reevaluate your game plan.

In building, the demolitions process can be just as important as the construction process. Demolishing unsafe buildings safely takes a degree of skill and expertise. Demolitions of smaller buildings, those that are around two or three stories high is a relatively simple process. It can often be accomplished by making use of common heavy equipment and usually involves the use of heavy equipment, in particular of excavators.

Excavators are particularly useful for demolitions because of their strength and size. An excavator fitted with a grapple can make short work of a home or small building. The operator can make use of both the brute strength of the excavator while also enjoying the pinpoint precision that is afforded by the articulated arm.

Excavators can be used for the bulk of the demolitions process, which can proceed very quickly with the support of a bulldozer. The excavator can take part in rubble clearing, but if the space is available a bulldozer is generally faster. A bulldozer will push large amounts of rubble at once, while an excavator is limited to the size of the bucket or the amount that the grapple can hold.

Once the building is torn down and the rubble cleared, the construction process can begin. If you are in the construction industry and would like to learn how to use an excavator, contact us at Associated Training Services. We have helped many people, just like you get their excavator certification.

Excavators are one of the biggest pieces of heavy equipment that most people will get to use. They are similar in appearance to backhoes, but larger. They are usually tracked and are sometimes referred to as trackhoes, diggers or simply as hoes. They are used for a range of excavation functions including digging trenches, holes and foundations. They can perform many other operations beyond digging, and support a range of hydraulic attachments. Excavators can be used for demolition jobs, heavy lifting, river dredging, mining (especially open pit) and brush cutting. They are extremely versatile and are used in almost all types of building site. They come in a range of sizes to suit applications of different scales.

Here at Associated Training Services, we have a nationally accredited excavator training program. We have professional instructors that will take you through your excavator training, both in the classroom and on a simulated building site. The goal of our training program is more than just getting you certified, it is about getting you employed. For this reason, we have a job placement program that places graduates of Associated Training Services at different companies around the country. We recognize that not all schedules are equal and that some people do not have the time for full time training. This is why we offer both full time and part time training schedules. We aim to be as flexible as you need.

Getting certification for excavators makes sense. Operators of excavators earn a good wage, the training does not take very long and operating heavy equipment is much lighter work than some other jobs on the building site. It is something that you can be just as capable of doing at the beginning of your construction career as at the end. If you have any questions about excavator training or any other type of heavy equipment training, do not hesitate to contact us at Associated Training Services.

It is a fact that when most people think heavy equipment, they think excavators. Excavators can be one of the most exciting and interesting types of equipment that you will ever get to use. With excavators certification, you are ready to use one of the most versatile types of heavy equipment that exists. Excavators are everywhere on different scales. You can find them in construction, in mining and in agriculture settings. What that means is that there are lots of doors open to you as to the type of work that you do.

Some companies provide excavators for multi-purpose tasking, while others are very specific in the type of work excavators will be used for. It basically depends on the company that you go to. If you go to a company that specializes in providing excavators and excavator operators, you could be working in a variety of different work environments. Whereas if you go to work at a construction company, you may not see work in other environments. It is all a matter of personal choice. With proper certification in excavator handling, you should be able to find a career that makes you comfortable.