There's a huge construction site (buildings being torn down) that I drive by on my way to work, and it's full of various heavy equipment. I'm fascinated by the excavators, because they remind me of giant, toothy quot;mouthsquot; on the end of long arms. It's also interesting to see how precisely they can chomp, lift and/or move things with their quot;jawsquot;. (I know, they're actually called buckets, heads and/or attachments, but I like the metaphor of mouths and jaws. *grin*)I was just curious how easy or difficult excavators are to operate? I'm guessing they're more challenging than some pieces of construction equipment. Hopefully at least some folks here have experience using them. Thanks and have a great weekend! :)
You can learn the macro-maneuvers rather quickly with a few days of practice. That is, you can dig a trench, clear out and move dirt from a large area. You master the controls and then you get an understanding of where the machine ought to be in relationship to the work. That's for the purpose of leverage and operator safety. The micro-maneuvers require a deft touch. There are operators who routinely can pick up a branch and stack it on a pile of other brnaches. This skill take quite a while to develop and there are operators who never quite master it. That is essential when there are laborers on the site who could be in danger of getting hurt with a small mistake on the operator's part. Using the thumb -- a separate lever opposite the bucket can be tricky as well. But unless you master that, you would not be able to use the excavator to tear down structures very well.
wow....you sure have an obsession starting there...lol anyway, it's not too hard to get the basics down, how to move the different mechanisms, but you need to have lots of practice before you do anything that requires precision. One wrong move and all that horsepower can make big damage! And they're like most pieces of heavy equipment...they're very challenging to operate well. I have some experience pipelining, so I have seen lots of operators. Most have to have years of experience before they're really good. Its tough to get someone to show you how if you're not being paid....you can rent tiny ones at some rental places if you really want to give it a try! pick a wide open space, and remember, you have to have the ground searched for buried pipelines, electrical lines, phone, water and sewer, etc before you dig.
