In the residential excavation field, time is money. For Ken Williams of Williams Loader Services Inc. the time savings that he gained from adding a PowerGrip multipurpose bucket to his CAT 314 was immense. When using the PowerGrip in conjunction with his existing PowerTilt Tilting Coupler, Williams is able to complete certain jobs, such as loading trucks, up to 30 percent more quickly than with a conventional bucket/thumb combination. The PowerTilt/PowerGrip combo in addition to the four other PowerTiIt attachments that Williams uses on his fleet of backhoes has maximized his productivity and improved his bottom line.
Prior to using the PowerTilt/ PowerGrip combo, Ken Williams used a hydraulic thumb for clearing lots and found it to be challenging at best. When loading trucks with the thumb, Williams would have to swing around the material at only one angle to the truck, and when he was clearing and loading six foot saplings, he always had to rely on a chain saw to rip them apart, costing him extra man-hours swapping between the excavator and the chain saw at the job sites. With the PowerTilt/PowerGrip combo, Williams never has to leave his machine. The unique design allows him to angle the material into the truck in any direction and rip apart six-foot saplings with ease.
The PowerGrip with its unmatched, hand-like manipulation and dexterity is also unique in that it can be used to pick up and stack brittle stone without breaking it; a task that Williams Loader Services does frequently. When Williams added the PowerGrip to their existing CAT backhoe, it also opened up the opportunity to add utility work to their services. In working on water and sewer lines, Williams found that “When getting into rocky material; you can scoop up a bucket of rocks, then open up the bucket three to four inches to separate the smaller material. You can never do this effectively with a standard bucket.”
Parker's integral designs are based on research, engineering and innovation, providing the most efficient solutions for work site versatility. PowerTiIt is available for equipment up to 75,000 pounds in eight sizes with standard rotation of up to 180 degrees. Each model is designed for a specific class of machinery and individually customized to fit the carrier. In addition, PowerTiIt is specifically engineered to work with a variety of other attachments, greatly enhancing your machine's versatility. Wide buckets, brushcutters, narrow buckets, hydraulic hammers, rippers and mowers, are just a few of the attachments that are compatible with the PowerTiIt.
PowerGrip buckets are available for equipment up to 20 tons, in three sizes, with bucket width ranges from 24 to 48 inches in the trenching profiles and 48 or 60 inches in the ditching profiles. PowerGrip has been engineered with the flexibility to function as a trenching, ditching, grading or clamshell bucket and can also be used for gripping and loading. PowerGrip’s adaptability allows it to be a true multi-purpose tool that can change from one job to another without the need to change tools.
Diversity of tasks performed with PowerTilt/PowerGrip combo
Williams uses their four PowerTilts and one PowerGrip on his entire fleet of backhoe loaders to perform a wide range of tasks throughout the residential excavation process, ranging from clearing lots, digging basements, tight grading, cutting a swale and picking up soapstone to ripping trees apart, separating materials and loading dump trucks. Because there is no need to remove the PowerGrip bucket, Williams can switch easily from working on his excavating jobs to doing his water and sewer utility work; an important labor and time-saving feature. For his excavation business, Williams uses a grading bucket with PowerTiIt attachment 100 percent of the time, as well as a PowerGrip multi-purpose bucket in combination with a PowerTilt attachment on their CAT314.
“I don't take the PowerTilts or PowerTilt/ PowerGrip combo off the machines, even though they wouldn’t be hard to remove. I personally use the machine with the PowerGrip 50 percent of the time; the other 50 percent of the time my operators use it. Currently we have over 3,000 hours logged onto the PowerGrip. I would never buy another hydraulic thumb. The weight savings and overall versatility of PowerGrip puts it so far ahead of a thumb. I can clear lots, dig basements, cut a swale, rip trees apart, separate materials, and even pick up brittle soapstone without breaking it.”
Ken Williams, Williams Loader Service, Inc
The rotary actuator technology
PowerGrip and PowerTilt use Parker’s innovative Helac sliding-spline operating technology to convert linear piston motion into powerful shaft rotation. Each actuator is composed of a housing and two moving parts — the central shaft and piston. As hydraulic pressure is applied, the piston is displaced axially, while the helical gearing on the piston outer diameter and housing’s ring gear cause the simultaneous rotation of the piston. PowerGrip and PowerTilt’s end caps, seals and bearings all work in tandem to keep debris and other contaminants out of the inner workings of the actuator, prolonging product life and reducing required maintenance.
To learn more about our construction attachments, including PowerGrip and PowerTilt, visit http://solutions.parker.com/powertilt
This article was contributed by Jessica Howisey, marketing communications manager and Daniel Morgado, applications engineer, Helac Business Unit, Cylinder Division.
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