Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Yes, I know this is a dumb question.

Kind Regards,

Derek.

In article , Derek
writes
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

The mini digger that was used on our foundations could be nosed up to a
wall with the arm at right angles to the direction of travel, and then a
trench dug sideways as it were. Of course you had to keep backing off
and nosing into the wall a few feet further on.

J.
--
John Rouse

In message , Derek
writes
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Just watch out for fibre-optic cables !

--
geoff

On Mon, 10 May 2004 14:25:39 +0100, Derek wrote:

Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Yes, I know this is a dumb question.

Kind Regards,

Derek.

I had a 3 tonne mini last week.

On mine the arm swiveled at the base, so you could drive straight at
the wall, then swivel the arm to 90 deg from the machine, and dig.
This is *MUCH* more confusing to operate, but you can do it at
different angles. I got my trence right next to the wall. What you do
need to watch is your swing as you turn.

Rick

geoff wrote:
In message , Derek
writes
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Just watch out for fibre-optic cables !

Yeah, only the copper ones are worth anything as scrap.

In message , Ian Stirling
writes
geoff wrote:
In message , Derek
writes
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Just watch out for fibre-optic cables !

Yeah, only the copper ones are worth anything as scrap.

But just think of the fibre optic light sets you could make ...
--
geoff

geoff wrote:
In message , Ian Stirling
writes
geoff wrote:
In message , Derek
writes
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Just watch out for fibre-optic cables !

Yeah, only the copper ones are worth anything as scrap.

But just think of the fibre optic light sets you could make ...

Single-mode fibers don't work well.
The core is so narrow that you see little light from the end even
if the other is pointed at the sun

In message , Ian Stirling
writes
geoff wrote:
In message , Ian Stirling
writes
geoff wrote:
In message , Derek
writes
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Just watch out for fibre-optic cables !

Yeah, only the copper ones are worth anything as scrap.

But just think of the fibre optic light sets you could make ...

Single-mode fibers don't work well.
The core is so narrow that you see little light from the end even
if the other is pointed at the sun

Put reality aside, just for a moment, please
--
geoff

Derek wrote:
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Yes, I know this is a dumb question.

Kind Regards,

Derek.

Just make sure you don't dig up the foundations of the wall as well

Nick Brooks

Derek wrote:

Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Yes, I know this is a dumb question.



No. its not.

In general all diggers have in addition to total body rotate, about +-
80 degrees on the arm itself.

If you get the digger as close to the wall as possible, tracks parallel
to wall, then angle the bucket away from the wall, and swing the cab
towards it, you can get ALMOST a right in paralell pull. Usually good
enough, beacause most walls have ragged foundations below ground anyway.

Watch out for bashing the wall. Diggers take a but of time to get used
to. It will be a slow process that close in.



Kind Regards,

Derek.

geoff wrote:
In message , Ian Stirling
writes
geoff wrote:
In message , Ian Stirling
writes
geoff wrote:
In message , Derek
writes
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Just watch out for fibre-optic cables !

Yeah, only the copper ones are worth anything as scrap.

But just think of the fibre optic light sets you could make ...

Single-mode fibers don't work well.
The core is so narrow that you see little light from the end even
if the other is pointed at the sun

Put reality aside, just for a moment, please

Yes, I know.
I was just pointing out something that surprised me the first time I
tried it, as I was intending to do the above with some old comms cable.

Derek wrote in message
Hi all,

I have hired a 3ton mechanical digger before, but with a new job at the
house I have to dig close and parallel to a wall. Is there a way of
angling the arm and digging in a kind of 45deg approach to the wall, or do
I need a special type of digger.

Derek.

Hi,

I've used diggers in the past which had the digging arm mounted on a
rail which allowed you to move it to one side of the machine or the
other just for this purpose. I've only seen this on wheeled diggers
and not tracked.

A quick look on jcb.co.uk and I can see a one for sale which has
exactly what I am talking about. The correct term for this type of
digger is a backhoe loader - I live & learn.
Check out the pics at
http://www.jcb.co.uk/used_equipment/...s.aspx?ID=4826

You might also have a problem if space is an issue as these machines
are usually quite big.

Alan.