Breaking Ground with the Mini Excavator | Garage Shop Project Ep1
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2022
- EPISODE 1 - GARAGE SHOP PROJECT
We are breaking ground for the first time with our mini excavator. This is the start of our Garage Shop project will is the first part of the whole Container House development. We must have a base for the build and this is it.
Ian & Julie are building their tiny homestead and soon to be starting the biggest project of their lives - a Passive House Container Home which will be totally off grid.
Please subscribe to follow along with our story and also drop comments below if you have any ideas, questions or advice for us. Also click on the little bell for future updates and to help us grow - ruclips.net/channel/UCJtD...
#miniexcavator #garageshop #breakingground
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** GEAR WE USE **
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ECOFLOW Delta 2 - tinyurl.com/yta3smym
Mini Excavator NM-E10 - tinyurl.com/5xhysz5w
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Most people, when pinning a bucket onto the machine would do the main pin first and lift the bucket off the ground and the other pin goes in super easy.
Reverse this to take it off.
Many excavators have a feature called "Dig to Blade", bobcat is not one of them.
In many cases you can use the bucket to scoop dirt up against the blade and it's designed not to hit the blade if you're digging straight in front of the blade. This makes it easier to pick up small piles and also easy to pick up large rocks and small boulders to move them around if they don't fit in the bucket.
Try to keep the flat part of the bucket parallel/level with the ground and then turn the bucket up when you're done with that layer.
Especially when digging trenches you want to peel off thin layers until you get to the bottom of the trench. Then move forward and start peeling layers off again.
It works better than trying to dig from the bottom up.
Some people keep trying to put the bucket in the bottom of the trench and scrape up on the front of the trench which breaks the side walls that fall into the trench and that means that you have to dig out more dirt and have more dirt to fill back in later.
Peeling off 2-in layers works best for most machines.
If you need more downforce to dig in hard ground put the blade on the ground behind you. And if you need more lifting power without tipping the tractor put the blade in front of you with a little bit of downforce.
It would be good practice to do some mock digging by pretending to dig a trench and keeping the bucket absolutely parallel with the ground as you keep it about 2 inches above the ground while pulling it toward you and curling the bucket at the end of the stroke.
Some Chinese machines may break if you put down force on them very much like Nick does on his videos. I don't remember the name of this channel but he had to reinforce the mount for the blade cylinder on his cuz it broke loose. This part may need to be reinforced on all Chinese diggers anyway.
You should always have the blade on the ground when you're digging anyway to stabilize the machine.
If you have to dig a trench across a slope or hillside take the dirt that you dig up and pile it up where your downhill track will be to keep the machine level as you go across the hillside.
Many people use the blade to keep the machine level as they're digging uphill or downhill also.
This will damage some Chinese diggers if they're not reinforced on the blade cylinder mount.
I found those videos of Nick's repair. 😃
ruclips.net/video/dkp30UoZjuc/видео.html
I am learning - will get used to it after a few changes I am sure.
Hey guys 👍
When your pulling that right lever to spin the bucket up and fill it , do so a little later and pull the spoil towards you . Also put your blade down and pull the spoil to the blade before spinning the bucket up an filling it . It takes time to get fluid with these motions but you will get their in the end . Muck away spoil as you go so you don't don't double move spoil thus reducing fuel costs . Should you end up finding that things are on a go slow with the groundwork etc message me and I'll happily cone over for a weekend and teach you and get things back on track for you 👍
I think I am getting there now - the movements are becoming more natural. I am chipping away at it as I am only finding a few hours between normal work at the moment - once our season is over I will be full time again.
Tip keep front blade to rear and reach out boom dig curle scoop.
Yes, I am getting the hang of it now, dependant on terrain I swivel around for the best bite.
Good idea for us tanks
Hope you are both well, glad things moving forward. 👍😃
Cheers Simon - yes it is starting to feel like we are getting somewhere now.
Most of the operators I observe will rotate the bucket while excavating in ground, as if you where trying to scoop water out of a pond. This only works when going below ground, for on top of ground they drag it against the blade on the front of the machines like using utensils to pick up loose peas off your plate.
All looking sensational team, be sure to leave enough soil around the bottom of those stones so the wall doesn’t become unstable if you get some good rain. Can’t wait to get over for a tour.
Hi David, great to hear form you. My litttle blade is to short and the bucket does not reach (story of my life 🤣) - But yes the scooping is getting better now. Back on tour next week, so trying to get as much done as possible. See you guys soon.
I could probably offer some advice but the best teacher is time spent on the machine. Don't be afraid to try different ways of doing things then you'll find out what works best for you at your place. By time you finish that project you'll be a highly experienced operator. A couple of your comments would suggest you do much better on the digger when the missus is not there. Yeah I can relate to that mate, not that I'd ever say that out loud. Good luck with what you're doing there and keep the updates coming.
After 2 solid days I think I am getting there now. I get into a routine and it works well, then you hit a big rock and think you are toppling over...🤣 You have a very nice trailer for yours - very jealous. Cheers for watching 👍🏻
It takes many many months of continuous practice to become a good excavator operator.
I ran them periodically for several years and I never got as good as other operators who operated them all the time.
I probably had a total of 1 year experience on them.
Many different sizes and different brands.
You're getting the hang of it surely! Looking better each time.
I have a tip for practise, as we're probably not up on real time you might already know this and be a pro by now 😉but it might help someone else in that case. Also someone might already have put this forward in the comments on this or previous videos, but I'll take a chance.
Glossary:
Stick: is the arm section attached to your bucket in one end and the tip of the boom in the other.
Boom: is the arm that is attached to the stick at the tip and the excavator body in the other end.
Put the bucket with the face of the bucket fairly in line with the stick (like at 2:54 when you have dumped the material as reference) and extend the boom and stick fully out. Place the tip of the bucket a fair distance above the ground (so you have some room to work with before you hit the ground with the bucket tip). Now pull left joystick (hopefully, it's like driving a car when you get used to it, you won't even know what you are doing) slowly towards you (small movements) until it starts to move, the stick will now "curl" towards you and your bucket will go down towards the ground, go back up with the stick so you once again have the tip a fair distance above the ground.
Now again start to slowly pull the left joystick towards you but this time also pull the right joystick towards you slowly, you will now compensate the movement of the stick by raising the boom, having the same small movement your left joystick you can control the height of the bucket tip with your left joystick by increasing the movement on the right joystick (or wise versa) and while the tip is in the air, try to keep it level with the ground, in other words try to keep the distance of the bucket tip and the ground the same, like you are scraping the air above the ground. This is not easy but a good practise. Don't bother using the bucket curl yet! Also notice that when you come to where the stick is 90 degrees to the ground the movement of the boom reverses to keep the same distance to the ground (right stick now needs to go forward instead of towards you). When you have come close to the machine, do it in reverse.
Keep practising with this until you get an understanding for the relationship between the stick and boom, it will be hard to keep an exact distance to the ground while in the air so don't expect miracles, you're movement will be more like a skate ramp than a perfect parallel motion, don't worry as it will get better with practise. When you feel more confident on the relationship between the stick and boom (joystick movements become more natural and have to think of it less), put the tip of the bucket closer to the ground and repeat. Eventually you will be able to keep somewhat parallel to the ground with your bucket tip. While you do this movement you will notice that the tip of the bucket is not keeping the same angle to the ground in terms of the bottom plate of the bucket, this is where curl of the bucket comes in, when you feel comfortable with keeping to the tip of the bucket following the ground you can start to add curl. When you move the bucket/stick towards the machine you will generally have to curl the bucket away (right joystick to the right) from you to keep it at the same angle to the ground, and wise versa, when you move the stick/bucket away from you'll have to curl towards you (right joystick to the left) to keep the bucket at the same angle to the ground.
A fun and very hard challenge is to keep the edge of the bucket at a specific height and roll the edge in the same place in space using the bucket curl, stick and boom all at the same time.
And, a small excavator is always harder to operate than a bigger excavator, so don't feel bad if you see an operator in a big machine make it looks more fluid, that person has it easier than you do! It's also easier if you have the joysticks on armrests instead of the front panel, so again one extra point to you!
And most important, also have fun while doing it, something that you make fun is also easier to learn.
The idea is to scrape the material off rather than taking a big chunk out with a bucket curl. You can have the bottom plate of the bucket almost parallel to the ground with a slight angle so that the tip of the bucket is the only part actually in contact with the ground. Saves the bottom place from wear and will reduce the force the machine needs to exert when digging. Curl the bucket when coming closer to the machine. It's hard not getting material towards the blade and machine when digging, think of it like a broom and a shovel trying to get material brushed up on it. Do you ever manage to get all material up on the shovel with the first broom action? You have to do it several times and move the shovel and keep brushing, it's a bit like that. You get it close and you push it way again as you did on the video.
Hard to explain everything in text but I hope someone understand what I mean and it's helpful to at least one individual.
Also I have edited this many times to try to clean it up and make it more clear but there are provably still many mistakes 🤦♂
Also a note, there are different control schema standards and this is one of them and the one it seems this machine has, if you have another control schema this will not work, at all, regarding the control (joystick) directions. I used to be a excavator operator but that was 11 years ago so I am very rusty and might have made errors in the text above, so sorry for that, in that case!
Great advice and I have put a lot of it to the test yesterday. I seem to be getting the hang of it now. Thank you for all your comments, really appreciate them.
Nice to see you have got a start. Practice makes perfect.
I am actually totally knackered after two days digging. Who thought it was so physical operating one of these tiny machines.
I love your house design , great to see you breaking ground.
Looking forward to the next one
Take care
Cheers George, thanks for watching - meeting tomorrow with our first contractor..... getting real now.
It took me a full day to get the hang of the 1.5tonne mini digger I hired so you're doing very well. Digging below ground is much easier than above ground as you're curling the bucket below the blade. However, if the soil is dry, fairly light and easy to work with
then you might want to turn the digger through 90o and work from the side. This gave me a bit more room to work with but also meant the digger ran parallel with the line of digging and hence was quick to move forward each time I wanted to start a new area. Saved time but needs care not to overfill the bucket. Have a good trip and best wishes from N. Ireland.
hahaha, yes I did try the sideways position and lost concentration for a second and rocked back and forth a few times. I am sort of getting it now and was able to move quite a lot of dirt without thinking too much - takes it out of you though. Cheers for commenting 👍🏻
Thanks for doing this video. I've been considering buying a Chinese excavator and actual examples of their use are hard to come by. Many are advertised as baggers, which implied to me, that they were inadequate for breaking ground. Clearly, that is not the case.
Regarding technique; curl your bucket upward as you drag the boom toward the blade. When learning, you can position your blade toward the direction that you are working the ground. As the boom is pulled toward you, the earth will pile against the blade and this will aid in your retrieval. As you get smoother and better in your technique, you will find that you can consistently pick up without using the blade as a backstop.
You will find that it is necessary to position the blade at the back of the cab while digging harder ground. The blade is lowered to grade as a support when pushing down with the bucket and boom.
Best to not dig from the side of the machine unless necessary in tight spots. Earth and rocks can be driven into the track rollers. Then, when you move, you can pop a track off of the rollers. Takes time to reinstall and its an annoyance when you are trying to get work done.
Thank you Ross, I am a little bit better now at operating it. Trouble is the blade on this model is very short so the bucket can hardly reach it. Yes, just experienced the rocks in the tracks, pain getting off and prising them out. Thank you for commenting, really appreciate it. 👍🏻
Keep practicing with it and stay hydrated!
Cheers, everyday it is getting better - yes, we still seem to be in this heat. thanks for watching.
Good part about the quick release. It adds about 6inch in digging. I would recommend adding a hydraulic thum. It makes taking trees out a lot easyer..
Wish I had larger bucket. Where I live you would not be digging with the larger bucket. Ground is to hard. I'm lucky. Have a small dump trailer on moving dirt
Yes, I now see the upside of the quick release as I am a little short getting to my blade. With that I would reach. I can order this from Nuoman next time I put in an order. Thanks for commenting.
@@HomesteadingUncontained I would not wait to long. I did wait for 6 months and went from 200.00 when I started looking. Bought about a month ago and was around 270.00 or a little less.
It may be a small machine but it sure does save your back from using a pick ax and a hand shovel. Plus you don't have to rely on someone else to do the work for you. just do it yourself whenever you want to. I'm all for it.
Yes, exactly. I had to have it before I started the work, if not it would have been impossible.
Keep blade in front of you while digging. When bucket comes in contact with blade move bucket forward slightly and curl it. Also practice curling before blade. If excess dirt comes above ditch push it back in trench with bucket
My blade is too short. It is not a great design as it does not raise very high either - I need to take it off and see if I can modify it a little. Cheers for the advice and I have started curling that blade just at the last minute of pulling the dirt towards me.
Practice makes perfect nice to have the digger and the tractor 👍❤️
That's was my thought process - I really like the back hoes for the Kubota but then I would have to keep changing it out. So the little mini ex is perfect.
@@HomesteadingUncontained tractor loader backhoes AKA tlb are a combination of two tractors and they're not real good at either one.
Excavators are a dedicated one function machine that work better than any other for their purpose.
Excavators also make pretty decent cranes for limited distance. They are a perfect lifting machine for lifting heavy items with a chain of rope. Especially if you take the bucket off and use a lifting eye. Some excavators have a lifting eye mounted on the dipstick already. Lifting eyes can be mounted onto any excavator.
Some buckets also have lifting eyes on the back.
On some excavators you can wrap the chain around one of the bucket mounting pins.
Some people just wrap the chain around some of the bucket teeth but that's not considered very safe because the chain could easily slip off.
Just keep practicing with it. Depending on how deep your going. It is just OTJ.
It is getting easier, but now I have had a break for 2 weeks so hope I remember when I get on it tomorrow - cheers for watching.
Come on Julie you have go and show Ian how it done 👍
haha, I keep offering the controls. I will get her digging the septic tank hole for sure. 👷🏻♀️
Look at the digger speed another way - slow means more time to spot potential or real problems. Do you get much seepage through the large boulder wall near your build site?
I am trying slow and fast but I know what you mean. There is only seapage at the top of the driveway - part of the land purchase was for the Mayor to put in a big soakaway on the gravel parking above and this was in the contract. Planning on putting in lots of French Drainage (Just called drainage here though) 🤣
Great video , bon chance 👌
Thank you - I am tired out now 🤣
👍👍👍
Thanks - the new machine is about to get to Le Havre......
Hy Ian just do a lot of practice to use the mini digger, with lots of practice you get to use the mini digger better . Good luck to you from South of Italy
Cheers Giovanni - I spent several hours today digging away, no camera, no Julie and it got a lot better.... now pressures 🤣
Very brave to start operating your machine on camera when you are inexperienced, however I note that the first thing you did was undermine your stone retaining wall. Unless you are going to demolish it, you now have a small problem in that area. The next rain my see your wall collapse in that section. Unfortunately you can’t just put the spoil (earth) back again, it needs compacting. Generally you need to keep an’ angle of repose at 45 degrees from the foot of the wall, then it will be ok. I hope you don’t find this too negative a comment because I think what you and your wife are doing is fantastic. May I wish you all the best with your project and I’ll follow it with interest. Cheers from ex-construction guy, Australia.
That part of the wall is pretty secure with the large rocks - it was pre built for the new carpark (a few years ago). I have pulled the rest of the earth away now and starting the retaining wall this week - all the supplies are now on site. looking forward to it.
Keep the cutting edge of the bucket at 45 degrees to the ground all the way using only the dipper and boom control and then curl the bucket at the last
I think I mastered that today. Three easy steps and it worked every time - I was mentally worn out after a few hours due to the concentration. 🤣
You will get it with a little practice things will get easier
Cheers Mark - I had some alone time with the excavator today.... it felt much better 👍🏻
How ironic I just commented on another video that the quick coupler and thumb would be the first things I would get for it.
I am realising various mistakes in planning as I go along…. But adding all the options at the time was becoming expensive.
Pull the dirt more with the dipper arm before curling. In other words, point the teeth or the bucket blade in the direction your going to pull the earth. Then pull the dipper toward you then curl near the very end of the movement. You can move more earth quicker than just trying to plunge the bucket into the ground then curling a load. Hope I'm making sense.
Once I got that it worked perfectly. Initially I was trying to dig down but now dragging the earth towards me and curling it at the end makes so much more sense. Thanks for the comments 👍🏻
I am looking forward to a video with all the out takes 🤣🤣
a 5 hour bonanza 🤣
That young lady should learn how to run it also. 😃
That young lady runs away every time I ask her 🤣
Thanks
Cheers Tam, thank you so much. When you come over you can operate the digger while Julie talks to you - test your concentration (it is like an SAS interrogation test)
@@HomesteadingUncontained I can imagine the difficulty the funny thing is having worked in construction sites for many years I never ever drove or worked a digger I was always the person who told them they were doing wrong🤣🤣 keep up the great work Ian & Julie look forward to the video take outs when it’s all done x
All of us watching are pulling hard for your experience. You can see from the postings below, many attempts are being made to convey suggestions. Unfortunately, technical documentation (telling others via the written word) is among the most difficult of efforts a person can undertake. Congratulations on that new bucket. When you watch "Hedblom" on his channel, you will see what can be done and you will never pick up a shovel again. That guy can self-applicate toilet paper with his excavator.
Now ... and most important ... successful excavator operators function on what's called "the Rule of Five". It means you get up at 5:00am and work until 5:00pm (meaning 1/2 days). And ... this is where you need to teach the Queen how to assist with this Rule. The closure of every work day must meet certain specifications as follows:
2 oz. Stoli Vodka (unflavored)
1 teaspoon of Noilly Pratt "Rouge" (do not use anything else)
2 Jumbo pitted olives
Stuff the Olives with Bleu Cheese chunks and place on a cocktail skewer
Place the Stoli's and Noilly Pratt in a metal shaker full of ice and shake vigorously
When your hands can't take the cold any more, place ingredients into a Martini Glass
On Fridays ... Include an A. Fuente cigar (with a Connecticut wrapper)
Make certain you are in prime physical condition because when the Queen finds out I've made this recommendation, she's going to chase you with the car and run you down. Such are the values of me living distantly in America.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Cheers Richard - you have made my day.
At least with the digger I got, I was told that the quick release big advantage was that those points don't need to be regreased when its changed every time...
Pulling soil towards you, I have the same, please tell us when you learn or work it out. I think its just the nature of things, I think with practice I kind of managed to get the scooping co-ordinated better so its not just pulling towards so much, kind of backing of as the bucket gets fool, and doing more movement with the bucket rotation and less with the arms... hope you know what I mean.
The tracker with front loader is great combination, wish I had one as well :)
Yes, I think the front blade is too small and too short so the bucket does not reach it. I am getting to grips with scooping better now and then pushing the excess forward with the blade , reversing and then scooping that up - I have a new tractor implement that seems to be working wonders (next video) 👍🏻
I have a slightly larger tractor (still a small tractor) and I think I am going to go for a Chinese 3 pt linkage backhoe. (personally I,d love a JCB, even an old one would have a work rate of 10 times these small excavators).
Me too, but those old machines still cost 3 times what this did. I just could not find the budget for it. But today I got rid of a lot more in less time, it is more about the crappy operator I think 🤣
i am in the US. I was looking for something similar as we need to do a lot of yard work…. Is this one pure electrical or is it with an engine? Sorry maybe you mentioned somewhere in your video. I am just to busy to sit and watch the full video. Thanks a lot
It has a diesel motor, I like the electric but cannot charge on site as we do not have grid power.
looks like Eurocopter from airbus messing about
Think it was searching for you 🤣
Great serie of vids!
Do you have a fuel or diesel version?
Thx
Xavier
Cheers Xavier - it is the diesel version. A small Koop motor.
@@HomesteadingUncontained thx! One if these I´ll 😉rder one due to your vids ..
CHeers from Brazil, mate! I've been considering buying one of those to small scale works. Is it worthy?
Yes, really worth it - we are using it all the time and no project is out of our reach now. If i rented I would be put off doing anything.
Practis, practis, practis- all that to do! I think John you are a bit afraid of digg to hard 😉 ..... if you set the digger a bit fawer from the place you want to digg, and reach out the bukett and plant it into the ground, tilt the bukett almost 90 degress, pull your cloasest (biggest arm) towards you, almost 90 degress, then curl the second arm 45 degress together with the bukett.... ( first sorry about my english spelling, second, the Best way to learn is to have a teacher, 3rd best look at some videos and then last- practis, practis, practis) but you get a hang of it, already seen impovment...
Cheers Tony - I think I am getting it now - I have started scraping the hard rocky dirt towards me and then filling the bucket. Finger tips only on the controls as it is a little jumpy
How is the digger holding up? Wou lo d you buy it again?
I am about to put out a video 1 year on - but yes, it is going great and I would buy it again....unless I could find something cheaper locally (prices have dropped a little now)
Well appears that it is still working? The Chinese Mini. Unless the video is from a couple months ago. Friend of mine ended up getting something that looks just like yours. Month after getting it with roughly 12 hours recorded on it. The Engine Failed and brought it to shop to get it fixed and found out the Engine was very very cheaply made. Engine block developed a Big Crack. The Company that Sold it, Refused to send a replacement engine, Return or Refund.
So Let's Hope you have better Success with having One.
No, I only want good news ☹️ All is working well. I am really pushing it at the moment in hard rocky ground and it is performing well. Will do an oil change very soon as well as the hydraulics. But fingers crossed it is doing what I wanted it to do.
@@HomesteadingUncontained Well I hope everything will be fine with it and Nothing does go wrong with it. I ended up talking to my friend about his again. He was only doing pretty Light work with it. Mainly loose sandy type of soil and moving small stone (Driveway stone).
Mustve bought from a bad seller..
Use the blade to go against to pick up the dirt or you will be chasing it for ever
Trouble is and it is a design flaw - the blade does not go that far out to meet the bucket. Maybe a quick release would extend that a little.
Hi Ian, sorry to bother 1 more time. Trying to finalise deal with Helen on Alibaba. What is % import duties on this equipment from China? Thx Paul (again)
So sorry for the delay, been away working. So it is 20% TVA then I paid around €950 in forwarding fees (offloading, admin and lots of stuff they just added on).
Hi after almost 1 year of use what do you think of the machine ? Have a good day
It is working great - used it on my garage foundations, a septic tank. Wall footings and also a lot of fencing.
@@HomesteadingUncontained ok thank you for your return I'm ordering one too I'm looking forward to it !!!
Did you know you can not put a hydraulic thumb on there? I have watch all your videos. So I ordered one excavator. Worst experience of my life from this company. Or maybe it was the agent.But any way after it was at boat I was asking about cost to ship thumb attachment. Then they said if I did not tell them before I could not add it. Funny thing is they are the ones that did not let me know. Like a should know there equipment better then them, But bad experience all the way around with that company. Just giving you heads up if you ever wanted hydraulic thumb,
That is a shame. But you do need to specify the thumb from the beginning as the boom arm is slightly different. I made the same mistake but I have a thumb on its way and I will fabricate the boss for it.
Three weeks later …………..
But that was the plan, it is to be done bit by bit, but saying that I am a ⅓ of the way there in just 2 days.
Very few people watch tractor videos to listen to music. That's what music videos are for.
People like hearing the equipment working and some dialogue.
artistic license - I have a new mic so will be able to talk more while on the machine.
👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you