How much can you do in a weekend with a 1 ton (+/-) mini digger and a skip
loading mini dumper?

Or to turn it around, I have 2 jobs:

1) Load 6-8m3 previously kango'd concrete into a skip 15-30m away.

2) Move the top 300mm of topsoil from an area about 100m2 to lower parts of
the garden. Dumper probably not required - can probably drag it with the
grading bucket once dug up and loosened.

3) Dig back a 1m high bank a metre or so over a length of about 8m. Soil
will be move within digger-arm's length.

Weekend feasible - or am I'm off by a country mile? Let's assume I am not
super proficient with a digger - but that I managed to learn a tractor with
back-acktor in about 30 mins to trenching competance a few years back

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...

How much can you do in a weekend with a 1 ton (+/-) mini digger and a skip
loading mini dumper?

Or to turn it around, I have 2 jobs:

1) Load 6-8m3 previously kango'd concrete into a skip 15-30m away.

2) Move the top 300mm of topsoil from an area about 100m2 to lower parts of
the garden. Dumper probably not required - can probably drag it with the
grading bucket once dug up and loosened.

3) Dig back a 1m high bank a metre or so over a length of about 8m. Soil
will be move within digger-arm's length.

Weekend feasible - or am I'm off by a country mile? Let's assume I am not
super proficient with a digger - but that I managed to learn a tractor with
back-acktor in about 30 mins to trenching competance a few years back



I think that you are being optimistic if you haven't regularly used the
digger before - scooping up loose material isn't as simple as it sounds
Make sure that the 1 ton digger you hire has the ability to use the dozer
blade as a 'dust pan' to the grading buckets 'brush' On my 3/4 ton Kubota
K008 they don't quite reach each other by about 6 inches which is a right
royal pain.

You are welcome to pop down and have a play with it if you want.

AWEM

On Thursday 22 August 2013 16:40 Andrew Mawson wrote in uk.d-i-y:


I think that you are being optimistic if you haven't regularly used the
digger before - scooping up loose material isn't as simple as it sounds
Make sure that the 1 ton digger you hire has the ability to use the dozer
blade as a 'dust pan' to the grading buckets 'brush' On my 3/4 ton Kubota
K008 they don't quite reach each other by about 6 inches which is a right
royal pain.

You are welcome to pop down and have a play with it if you want.

AWEM

Hi Andrew,

That's both a very useful bit of info and a most generous offer

It might be more sane to break the job in two hires - weekend rates from
Heathfield are fairly inexpensive.

I also suspect I will not be able to estimate the skip volumes that
perfectly for concrete disposal - so perhaps I should do the "easy" bit
first until I fill a 6yrd. The "last" bit is both the shed base (there's a
shed on it now, another precondition) and fiddling around with the top lawn
with some major vertical resculpting!

What I really want to do soon is to regrade the front lawn and the lower
back lawn. Both are ropey and lumpy and are annoying the hell out of me.

Part of the front lawn might get dug out a further 4" and filled with
railway ballast, compacted and dressed over with clover as a car
hardstanding that is green.

Know anyone that sells railway ballast (reclaimed)?

Cheers,

Tim

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...

On Thursday 22 August 2013 16:40 Andrew Mawson wrote in uk.d-i-y:


I think that you are being optimistic if you haven't regularly used the
digger before - scooping up loose material isn't as simple as it sounds

Make sure that the 1 ton digger you hire has the ability to use the dozer
blade as a 'dust pan' to the grading buckets 'brush' On my 3/4 ton Kubota
K008 they don't quite reach each other by about 6 inches which is a right
royal pain.

You are welcome to pop down and have a play with it if you want.

AWEM

Hi Andrew,

That's both a very useful bit of info and a most generous offer

It might be more sane to break the job in two hires - weekend rates from
Heathfield are fairly inexpensive.

I also suspect I will not be able to estimate the skip volumes that
perfectly for concrete disposal - so perhaps I should do the "easy" bit
first until I fill a 6yrd. The "last" bit is both the shed base (there's a
shed on it now, another precondition) and fiddling around with the top lawn
with some major vertical resculpting!

What I really want to do soon is to regrade the front lawn and the lower
back lawn. Both are ropey and lumpy and are annoying the hell out of me.

Part of the front lawn might get dug out a further 4" and filled with
railway ballast, compacted and dressed over with clover as a car
hardstanding that is green.

Know anyone that sells railway ballast (reclaimed)?

Cheers,

Tim


Tim,

Do you have anything to carry the concrete in in smaller quantities - I can
probably accommodate it if you can shift it ? Save you the stupid money for
a skip and take the panic over timescales out of the digger hire. I can lend
you a smallish trailer if you have a ball hitch

As it happens this weekend - well Sun / Mon we're putting in a bit of hard
standing, and I was going to 'use up' four pallets of s/h concrete roof
tiles as the fill, but your concrete could go in there instead if you want.

Contact me off line re railway ballast.

Andrew

On Thu, 22 Aug 2013 17:58:07 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Part of the front lawn might get dug out a further 4" and filled with
railway ballast, compacted and dressed over with clover as a car
hardstanding that is green.

Won't that shift from under where the tyres roll? It's all fairly
uniform large ish lumps, no range of bits to bed together and make a
stable surface. You need MOT1 for that, which may produce a surface
that clover won't survive on where they tyres go. I suspect you
really need those plastic grid things at least for the tyre tracks on
top of compacted MOT1.

Know anyone that sells railway ballast (reclaimed)?

Do they bother reclaiming it? Judging by the amount that is strewn
down the sides of embankments they don't, though I guess they have to
in tunnels and cuttings...


--
Cheers
Dave.

On 22/08/2013 21:11, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2013 17:58:07 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Part of the front lawn might get dug out a further 4" and filled with
railway ballast, compacted and dressed over with clover as a car
hardstanding that is green.

Won't that shift from under where the tyres roll? It's all fairly
uniform large ish lumps, no range of bits to bed together and make a
stable surface. You need MOT1 for that, which may produce a surface
that clover won't survive on where they tyres go. I suspect you
really need those plastic grid things at least for the tyre tracks on
top of compacted MOT1.

Know anyone that sells railway ballast (reclaimed)?

Do they bother reclaiming it? Judging by the amount that is strewn
down the sides of embankments they don't, though I guess they have to
in tunnels and cuttings...


They wash it and put it back!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCu12MZ5qbA

--
Rod

On Thursday 22 August 2013 21:11 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

On Thu, 22 Aug 2013 17:58:07 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Part of the front lawn might get dug out a further 4" and filled with
railway ballast, compacted and dressed over with clover as a car
hardstanding that is green.

Won't that shift from under where the tyres roll? It's all fairly
uniform large ish lumps, no range of bits to bed together and make a
stable surface. You need MOT1 for that, which may produce a surface
that clover won't survive on where they tyres go. I suspect you
really need those plastic grid things at least for the tyre tracks on
top of compacted MOT1.

Not IME - ballast really locks *very* well (that's why they use it) - even
loose it is a ******* to move. Shovel wont go in - you need a fork with
curved tines. It has a better draining characterist than Type 1 MOT due to
the proportion of voids to solids.

It is actually exactly what I want - used it before and I know how it
handles.

Know anyone that sells railway ballast (reclaimed)?

Do they bother reclaiming it? Judging by the amount that is strewn
down the sides of embankments they don't, though I guess they have to
in tunnels and cuttings...


Fairalls in Godstone, Surrey did - but they were close to a number of
railways (Brighton slow, Brighton fast, Redhill-Tonbridge)

Specifically - it is washed[1] and relaid a number of times in situ using a
ballast washer engineering train. When the granite lumps are breaking up to
too small a size, it is usually taken out and replaced. This can all be done
with the track in situ (but lifted by the train doing the washing).

I believe it at this point it becomes saleable as hardcore as it is not
longer the correct grade for the railway.

Ballast washer unit:

http://www.miac.org.uk/images/dr73116.jpg

[1] The accumulation of fines and dirt ruin it's characteristics.

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

On 22/08/2013 21:23, Tim Watts wrote:
When the granite lumps are breaking up to
too small a size, it is usually taken out and replaced.

Not always granite. There is a history of using materials such as steel
furnace slag. However I seem to remember that it can cause problems with
track circuit signalling due to its relatively high conductivity.

--
Rod

On Thursday, August 22, 2013 9:34:31 PM UTC+1, polygonum wrote:
On 22/08/2013 21:23, Tim Watts wrote:

When the granite lumps are breaking up to

too small a size, it is usually taken out and replaced.



Not always granite. There is a history of using materials such as steel

furnace slag. However I seem to remember that it can cause problems with

track circuit signalling due to its relatively high conductivity.

That's what my physics teacher at school always told us - but many long years ago

Jonathan

polygonum wrote:

On Thu, 22 Aug 2013 17:58:07 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Know anyone that sells railway ballast (reclaimed)?

They wash it and put it back!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCu12MZ5qbA

Do american railways discharge the bogs onto the tracks? Wouldn't want
to be breathing that dust

On Thu, 22 Aug 2013 21:23:18 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Won't that shift from under where the tyres roll?

Not IME - ballast really locks *very* well (that's why they use it) -

Yeah but they have some hefty machinery and 1000 tonne trains to
vibrate it together into lock. B-)

... even loose it is a ******* to move. Shovel wont go in - you need a
fork with curved tines. It has a better draining characterist than Type
1 MOT due to the proportion of voids to solids.

It is actually exactly what I want - used it before and I know how it
handles.

Fairy nuff. Agreed MOT1 will forma very hard firm surface, just not
convinced that a mere 4" of ballast will lock together well enough
not to slowly move away from the tyre tracks.

Specifically - it is washed[1] and relaid a number of times in situ
using a ballast washer engineering train. When the granite lumps are
breaking up to too small a size, it is usually taken out and replaced.
This can all be done with the track in situ (but lifted by the train
doing the washing).

Fascinating, I knew they had trains the lifted the track (complete)
shook the ballast, replaced the track and bedded it back down. Didn't
realise they washed it as well but that makes sense to remove the
fines etc that will stop it locking.

Thanks Tim.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 22/08/2013 14:11, Tim Watts wrote:
How much can you do in a weekend with a 1 ton (+/-) mini digger and a skip
loading mini dumper?

Or to turn it around, I have 2 jobs:

1) Load 6-8m3 previously kango'd concrete into a skip 15-30m away.

2) Move the top 300mm of topsoil from an area about 100m2 to lower parts of
the garden. Dumper probably not required - can probably drag it with the
grading bucket once dug up and loosened.

3) Dig back a 1m high bank a metre or so over a length of about 8m. Soil
will be move within digger-arm's length.

Weekend feasible - or am I'm off by a country mile? Let's assume I am not
super proficient with a digger - but that I managed to learn a tractor with
back-acktor in about 30 mins to trenching competance a few years back

1 tonne is pretty small are you limited for access ... a 1.5tonne
would be better

Could be w/end if it's dry and you do long days

On 22/08/2013 22:07, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2013 21:23:18 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Won't that shift from under where the tyres roll?

Not IME - ballast really locks *very* well (that's why they use it) -

Yeah but they have some hefty machinery and 1000 tonne trains to
vibrate it together into lock. B-)

... even loose it is a ******* to move. Shovel wont go in - you need a
fork with curved tines. It has a better draining characterist than Type
1 MOT due to the proportion of voids to solids.

It is actually exactly what I want - used it before and I know how it
handles.

Fairy nuff. Agreed MOT1 will forma very hard firm surface, just not
convinced that a mere 4" of ballast will lock together well enough
not to slowly move away from the tyre tracks.

MOT1 will just become mud under the wheels IME.

It might be better with MOT3 (IIRC) as it has voids and drains rather
better.

On Thursday 22 August 2013 22:07 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

On Thu, 22 Aug 2013 21:23:18 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Won't that shift from under where the tyres roll?

Not IME - ballast really locks *very* well (that's why they use it) -

Yeah but they have some hefty machinery and 1000 tonne trains to
vibrate it together into lock. B-)

... even loose it is a ******* to move. Shovel wont go in - you need a
fork with curved tines. It has a better draining characterist than Type
1 MOT due to the proportion of voids to solids.

It is actually exactly what I want - used it before and I know how it
handles.

Fairy nuff. Agreed MOT1 will forma very hard firm surface, just not
convinced that a mere 4" of ballast will lock together well enough
not to slowly move away from the tyre tracks.

6" is what I used last time - but that had an 11 ton truck on it (not mine).
Not one stone moved - it was that solid.

I agree 4" is branching into the unknown but I'm fairly confident cars are
going to have little impact on it - it will be set into a virgin dug-out and
will extend well beyond the wheels in all directions.

Specifically - it is washed[1] and relaid a number of times in situ
using a ballast washer engineering train. When the granite lumps are
breaking up to too small a size, it is usually taken out and replaced.
This can all be done with the track in situ (but lifted by the train
doing the washing).

Fascinating, I knew they had trains the lifted the track (complete)
shook the ballast, replaced the track and bedded it back down. Didn't
realise they washed it as well but that makes sense to remove the
fines etc that will stop it locking.

I had a mate who was a train driver. He drove engineering trains in the days
of BR (as well as freight and passenger). I don't think he drove a ballast
washer or a track layer (they are a bit specialist) but he was on site at
the time, driving the train loaded with top up ballast or loose CWR
(continuously welded rail).

Thanks Tim.

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

On Thursday 22 August 2013 22:10 Rick Hughes wrote in uk.d-i-y:

On 22/08/2013 14:11, Tim Watts wrote:
How much can you do in a weekend with a 1 ton (+/-) mini digger and a
skip loading mini dumper?

Or to turn it around, I have 2 jobs:

1) Load 6-8m3 previously kango'd concrete into a skip 15-30m away.

2) Move the top 300mm of topsoil from an area about 100m2 to lower parts
of the garden. Dumper probably not required - can probably drag it with
the grading bucket once dug up and loosened.

3) Dig back a 1m high bank a metre or so over a length of about 8m. Soil
will be move within digger-arm's length.

Weekend feasible - or am I'm off by a country mile? Let's assume I am not
super proficient with a digger - but that I managed to learn a tractor
with back-acktor in about 30 mins to trenching competance a few years
back

1 tonne is pretty small are you limited for access ... a 1.5tonne
would be better

Could be w/end if it's dry and you do long days

Hmm - not that limited. Perhap 1.5t would be better.
--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

Tim Watts wrote:
How much can you do in a weekend with a 1 ton (+/-) mini digger and a skip
loading mini dumper?

Or to turn it around, I have 2 jobs:

1) Load 6-8m3 previously kango'd concrete into a skip 15-30m away.

If it's any help, digging out 4-5 cu m of soil and transferring it to a
farm trailer took me three days using a mini digger.

2) Move the top 300mm of topsoil from an area about 100m2 to lower parts of
the garden. Dumper probably not required - can probably drag it with the
grading bucket once dug up and loosened.

Good luck with that, that sounds like a day's work based on the time taken
to grade my drive.

3) Dig back a 1m high bank a metre or so over a length of about 8m. Soil
will be move within digger-arm's length.

Fairly trivial. If it took as long as a morning I would be surprised.

Weekend feasible - or am I'm off by a country mile? Let's assume I am not
super proficient with a digger - but that I managed to learn a tractor with
back-acktor in about 30 mins to trenching competance a few years back

Pushing your luck, I reckon.

--
€¢DarWin|
_/ _/

On Friday 23 August 2013 12:22 Steve Firth wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Tim Watts wrote:
How much can you do in a weekend with a 1 ton (+/-) mini digger and a
skip loading mini dumper?

Or to turn it around, I have 2 jobs:

1) Load 6-8m3 previously kango'd concrete into a skip 15-30m away.

If it's any help, digging out 4-5 cu m of soil and transferring it to a
farm trailer took me three days using a mini digger.

Wow. OK - and concrete lumps are worse as the digger will not fill its
bucket with them - it'll probably get a couple of lumps each time if lucky.

2) Move the top 300mm of topsoil from an area about 100m2 to lower parts
of the garden. Dumper probably not required - can probably drag it with
the grading bucket once dug up and loosened.

Good luck with that, that sounds like a day's work based on the time taken
to grade my drive.

Thank you.

3) Dig back a 1m high bank a metre or so over a length of about 8m. Soil
will be move within digger-arm's length.

Fairly trivial. If it took as long as a morning I would be surprised.

Ah ha.

Weekend feasible - or am I'm off by a country mile? Let's assume I am not
super proficient with a digger - but that I managed to learn a tractor
with back-acktor in about 30 mins to trenching competance a few years
back

Pushing your luck, I reckon.


Sounds lik2 2 seperate sessions are the best best. Session 1 - attack what I
can get at *now* (without moving sheds and stuff).

Session 2 - wrap up, where I should be able to accurately estimate the size
of skip 2 and the time taken.

Cheers!



--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

On 23/08/13 14:36, Tim Watts wrote:
On Friday 23 August 2013 12:22 Steve Firth wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Tim Watts wrote:
How much can you do in a weekend with a 1 ton (+/-) mini digger and a
skip loading mini dumper?

Or to turn it around, I have 2 jobs:

1) Load 6-8m3 previously kango'd concrete into a skip 15-30m away.
If it's any help, digging out 4-5 cu m of soil and transferring it to a
farm trailer took me three days using a mini digger.
Wow. OK - and concrete lumps are worse as the digger will not fill its
bucket with them - it'll probably get a couple of lumps each time if lucky.

2) Move the top 300mm of topsoil from an area about 100m2 to lower parts
of the garden. Dumper probably not required - can probably drag it with
the grading bucket once dug up and loosened.
Good luck with that, that sounds like a day's work based on the time taken
to grade my drive.
Thank you.

3) Dig back a 1m high bank a metre or so over a length of about 8m. Soil
will be move within digger-arm's length.
Fairly trivial. If it took as long as a morning I would be surprised.
Ah ha.

Weekend feasible - or am I'm off by a country mile? Let's assume I am not
super proficient with a digger - but that I managed to learn a tractor
with back-acktor in about 30 mins to trenching competance a few years
back
Pushing your luck, I reckon.

Sounds lik2 2 seperate sessions are the best best. Session 1 - attack what I
can get at *now* (without moving sheds and stuff).

Session 2 - wrap up, where I should be able to accurately estimate the size
of skip 2 and the time taken.

Cheers!



dont **** around. Hire the biggest digger you can, At least 3.5 tonne
for the above



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

On Fri, 23 Aug 2013 14:36:11 +0100, Tim Watts
wrote:

On Friday 23 August 2013 12:22 Steve Firth wrote in uk.d-i-y:

If it's any help, digging out 4-5 cu m of soil and transferring it to a
farm trailer took me three days using a mini digger.

Wow. OK

Yes, I agree, wow! It does seem rather a long time to take to move
soil using a digger. I once dug a soak-away of about 1m across x 1m
down, so about 0.8m3, in less than an afternoon using nothing more
than a shovel and a spade. At that rate I could have shifted 5m3 in
about the same time as Steve with his digger.

He doesn't say how far he had to shift it though. If the digger had
to travel some distance for each bucketful instead of being able just
to swing around and drop it, that would certainly increase the time
taken significantly.

and concrete lumps are worse as the digger will not fill its
bucket with them - it'll probably get a couple of lumps each time if lucky.

Yes - although I suspect it will make a lot of difference how big
the lumps are, etc - and you've got quite a distance to travel with
them too. It will probably take longer than you think.
--
================================================== =======
Please always reply to ng as the email in this post's
header does not exist. Or use a contact address at:
http://www.macfh.co.uk/JavaJive/JavaJive.html
http://www.macfh.co.uk/Macfarlane/Macfarlane.html