Digger/excavator post driver

[hedge mong]

2 hours ago, doobin said:

No, I tried that around a pond in soft clay with the p180 and it wasn’t really having it. It worked but I ended up cutting off more than I thought I would. Didn’t cut a spike though, I reasoned that the surface area of the profile wouldn’t be much reduced by doing that, unlike a solid round wooden post. 

Hmmm,

Try spiking the steel it does help .

Thanks .I'll see if I can hire one on the next job and give it a whirl....

[Malus]

On 14/08/2023 at 21:12, Matthew Storrs said:

These are my two. One is a protech which has the chained post cap doobin was referring to. As said a must really, males it so much easier to stabilise on a small machine, makes the hammer more efficient and I find a lot quicker than using a leg. I use mine on my own using a plumb line hanging on the post so thay I can see it's going in straight in both planes, and can easily adjust as it goes in rather than waiting for another man to communicate to me. It has to be offset really to avoid arm smacking the dipper, means I can bring it in close to the machine which is handy in a tight spot, has 180kg hammer and is fine on 2.8t digger. I reckon the next one I'll have the 210 kg hammer as confident it will handle that easily too.

The second one I had adapted to go on the smaller 1.8tmachine. The pulley design is better to lift the weights can mountit direct in lineas no arm to bang on the dipper. That has a 130kg hammer and is just ok at far reach 

Nice one, thanks for those photos. I like the design of those keyfab one, the vector ones I've seen use a similar principle. I was a bit concerned about whether the oil would exit the ram free enough to not slow the weight as it drops. Obviously the manufacturers have it sussed but it's a bit hit and miss when you're doing it yourself! I think the ratio on mine is something like 8:1 weight/ram travel.

 

I'd be interested to see how you get on with a heavier weight. I wanted to go heavier but was a bit paranoid it would be too heavy with the extra weight of the tilt hitch already on there. I've got some awkward bits to fence on some steep slopes so wanted to keep it fairly manoeuvrable. 

[Matthew Storrs]

21 minutes ago, Malus said:

Nice one, thanks for those photos. I like the design of those keyfab one, the vector ones I've seen use a similar principle. I was a bit concerned about whether the oil would exit the ram free enough to not slow the weight as it drops. Obviously the manufacturers have it sussed but it's a bit hit and miss when you're doing it yourself! I think the ratio on mine is something like 8:1 weight/ram travel.

 

I'd be interested to see how you get on with a heavier weight. I wanted to go heavier but was a bit paranoid it would be too heavy with the extra weight of the tilt hitch already on there. I've got some awkward bits to fence on some steep slopes so wanted to keep it fairly manoeuvrable. 

Yeah you've probably got the right idea keeping the weight down if using under the tilt hitch and on steep ground too. Although with steep ground there are always ways round it. Knocking up hill if poss, if pointing down hill and it's steep I often won't use it over the side of the tracks, preferring to drive blade downhill towards each stake and use blade to anchor the machine- can work on some ridiculously steep ground that way. I'm not that keen on the machine being offset myself as quite a twist on the boom but to be fair I have been using the protech like this for many years now with out any effect on the boom. I would try and keep the hitch in as close as possible to the mast to avoid unnecessary side leverage . Some of the vectors I have seen have the mast about 2ft offset which is ridiculous.

[Malus]

10 minutes ago, Matthew Storrs said:

Yeah you've probably got the right idea keeping the weight down if using under the tilt hitch and on steep ground too. Although with steep ground there are always ways round it. Knocking up hill if poss, if pointing down hill and it's steep I often won't use it over the side of the tracks, preferring to drive blade downhill towards each stake and use blade to anchor the machine- can work on some ridiculously steep ground that way. I'm not that keen on the machine being offset myself as quite a twist on the boom but to be fair I have been using the protech like this for many years now with out any effect on the boom. I would try and keep the hitch in as close as possible to the mast to avoid unnecessary side leverage . Some of the vectors I have seen have the mast about 2ft offset which is ridiculous.

Ace, thanks for the tips. I had a play around with the hitch mounting tonight and got it to a position I'm happy with for now. As you say it's offset but kept it as minimal as possible. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make up an online hitch without the arm hitting the dipper so I'll use it as is for now. All apart again and first coat of paint went on tonight. 

 

I just looked up the vectors again and noticed in one of the photos they have a stand to dismount the driver. I guess that's how they get around the issue of it being awkward if not impossible pick up with the weight facing the cab. https://www.daviesimplementsltd.co.uk/product/agricultural/post-knockers/model-6-mini-excavator-post-knocker/

[Matthew Storrs]

32 minutes ago, Malus said:

Ace, thanks for the tips. I had a play around with the hitch mounting tonight and got it to a position I'm happy with for now. As you say it's offset but kept it as minimal as possible. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make up an online hitch without the arm hitting the dipper so I'll use it as is for now. All apart again and first coat of paint went on tonight. 

 

I just looked up the vectors again and noticed in one of the photos they have a stand to dismount the driver. I guess that's how they get around the issue of it being awkward if not impossible pick up with the weight facing the cab. https://www.daviesimplementsltd.co.uk/product/agricultural/post-knockers/model-6-mini-excavator-post-knocker/

Would it take much to weld some sort of brackets/legs so the knocker can lie upside down with hammer on top so it's easier to hitch up if you want it facing towards the cab? The problem I've found with mounting it towards the cab is it makes it hard to fence up against walls or hedges with all the bulk of the knocker in the way. 

 

Interesting project though- will look forwards to some pics of it in use. Like all these things there are probably things you'll change as you use it. My very first knocker was one me and my dad put together, it did alot of work actually and was exciting to build as before that it was all by hand!

[Malus]

On 16/08/2023 at 22:27, Matthew Storrs said:

Would it take much to weld some sort of brackets/legs so the knocker can lie upside down with hammer on top so it's easier to hitch up if you want it facing towards the cab? The problem I've found with mounting it towards the cab is it makes it hard to fence up against walls or hedges with all the bulk of the knocker in the way. 

 

Interesting project though- will look forwards to some pics of it in use. Like all these things there are probably things you'll change as you use it. My very first knocker was one me and my dad put together, it did alot of work actually and was exciting to build as before that it was all by hand!

It wouldn't take much to make a set of legs for it but it would probably be more hassle than it's worth. I need to be able to take it on and off easily and load it onto a trailer etc to get to sites. You've all convinced me that they work well facing away from the cab. 

 

I'm in the same boat you were in back then. My tennis elbow flares up just from thinking about fencing by hand these days 🤣

[Malus]

Just realised I never updated the thread. I ended up mounting it as suggested and it's been brilliant for everything I've used if for so far. The hitch plate is sandwiching the big box section using 4 long M16 with a little bit of room to spare, distance between the bolt is about 5mm lager than the size of the box. I found that the hitch would twist a bit until that slack was taken up and I wasn't particularly happy about it, so just welded a couple of strips of square bar onto the box to hold the hitch plate square.

 

Was dreamy knocking these 5x3" posts in up on a bank. Was dreading doing it by hand because the bank is made up mostly of rock and topsoil. 

 

 

[swinny]

Looks ace! 

 

I have some tree planting and deer cages to build around them in December. Taking the digger to dig holes but have to take tractor with farmers post knocker for the posts, would have been great just all 1 machine

[Slicer Dicer]

20 hours ago, Malus said:

Just realised I never updated the thread. I ended up mounting it as suggested and it's been brilliant for everything I've used if for so far. The hitch plate is sandwiching the big box section using 4 long M16 with a little bit of room to spare, distance between the bolt is about 5mm lager than the size of the box. I found that the hitch would twist a bit until that slack was taken up and I wasn't particularly happy about it, so just welded a couple of strips of square bar onto the box to hold the hitch plate square.

 

Was dreamy knocking these 5x3" posts in up on a bank. Was dreading doing it by hand because the bank is made up mostly of rock and topsoil. 

 

 

That looks great👍. My only possible concern it that with that stack height with the tilt hitch on the knocker is creating a fair bit of leaverage on the dipper ram, and just twist int the stack too. Has that got the standard quick hitch on too?

[Malus]

On 30/10/2023 at 08:13, Slicer Dicer said:

That looks great👍. My only possible concern it that with that stack height with the tilt hitch on the knocker is creating a fair bit of leaverage on the dipper ram, and just twist int the stack too. Has that got the standard quick hitch on too?

Yeah that's a good point. I guess most of the stresses are taken by the tipping link pins? Maybe that's a nudge for me to think about renewing the bushes and pins 🙄

 

No, just the tilt hitch pinned to the end of the dipper. To be fair the extra length of tilt hitch really does give the pins and bushes a harder life, especially when the corner of the grading bucket snags a hidden rock etc. I'm not sure how much the weight of the knocker will affect things, once it's on a post and knocking most of the weight and stress goes directly through the post.