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#miniexcavator

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Small hydraulic leak from one of the drive motors. Nothing was loose, but after removing and reseating the hoses, it leaks no more.

Good, because I don't have a size 41 nut for those big adapter fittings 😅

Plus I never got that nutbuster (impact wrench with extreme torque) which is probably required to get them out.

After the maintenance, I dug.

A steel pipe end peeked out. Regular readers will not be surprised that this led to half the Nordstream pipeline coming out.

Then I dug out the side of the big barn, because it's bottom log is rotting from being below soil level due to 90 years of soil accumulation. Good practice for digging near buildings. Only hit the roof once 😬

Lots more junk came up, steel, chunks of cancer roofing, wire, wood, roots, rubber, plastic pipe, disintegrating plastic sheet, rocks and lots of bricks.

Then I made a ditch for the water from the roof to run off (there's no gutter) and leveled the area. Needs some more infill at the end, but already much better.

Slow progress on the excavator thumb: Made a cardboard template to work out the angle and rough shape.

Next I gotta order three 25mm pins and find some suitable chunks of steel.

A thing from the scrap pile has already volunteered, it's 10mm plate in roughly the right size for the sides. No idea what that thing used to be.

Helped a neighbour figure out his new machine. He bought this very similar 1.1 ton machine with an extra tilting grading bucket he needed help attaching.

Alas, the bucket has fittings for different pins and the hydraulic connections are the wrong size, so he'll have to find some hydraulic fittings and pins before this can work.

Also pointed out the grease fittings for the pins which were dry and grinding metal dust 😬

This is the Briggs & Stratton petrol engine version. Runs rather hot despite the electric fan. It has a proper counterweight, which is nice but makes the engine access very difficult.

He's been busy digging and grading around the house and already put 20 hours on it.

Neighbours bought an excavator after seeing ours.

Looks like this one: auction-baltic.com/en/construc

It's the Briggs & Stratton petrol engine version with a fixed thumb, but no swing boom, which is why it didn't fit our needs.

They want to dig a pond, a greenhouse foundation and also level some bumpy terrain, which it should do fine.

I might come around and take measurements of the thumb :)

Turning over the compost pile is quick & easy!

Ok, the wide bucket is a little large for the wheelbarrow, but it got full anyways! 😁

This simple compost pile worked a lot better than the fancy plastic composter in the garden (came with the property). Just not enough oxygen in that thing.

Sadly the pile was full of dubious materials from the previous owners, so I'm not using it for food growing. I fished out most. Maybe next year.

Excavator upgrade (look closely).

Also a general check-up, greasing and getting to know the thing. Found three missed grease nipples (you have to swing things just so to access them). One doesn't accept grease.

The machine is "new" with warranty, but got a significant discount because it spent a winter sitting outside in the sellers parking lot.

Hence some cosmetic damage, especially under the still wrapped seat, which I promptly fixed.

The Chinese mini excavators have become so popular, even tool importer Scheppach has started selling one: scheppach.com/de/unternehmen/n [German]

This is a very small 560kg one with an unknown petrol engine. It's not the usual Briggs & Stratton XR2100 that all the other petrol versions use.

www.scheppach.comKraftvoll und kompakt: Mini-Bagger EXC815Aktuelles bei scheppach ★ News ★ Produktvorstellungen ★ Testberichte ★ Pressemeldungen ★ Innovationen ★ Aktionen ★ Veranstaltungen

A strong arm with claws arrived. Small enough to drive into the living room, strong enough to dig holes or lift logs. With extra trenching and sand bucket.

Had some practice digging and then reinstalled the roof, which to my delight fits through the barn door.

Filled the grease gun and gave it some lube as it's been sitting outside all winter.

Only came with an engine manual, none for the machine itself, which is probably against some EU law.

Went south to retrieve wife and buy excavator.

Wife is dubiously inspecting the new living room arrangement, excavator should get delivered tomorrow.

The B&S Petrol engine would've been a six month wait, so I grudgingly went with the KOOP 1 cylinder air-cooled diesel, a copy of a Yanmar design. It's got a year warranty in case it goes wrong (they tend to go wrong early on or not at all from my research).

Bonus: Wide and trenching buckets included!

Looks like a ship full of Chinese made mini excavators has docked, everything is back in stock, including one that ticks all my boxes and comes with two extra buckets (trench and wide).

Hope to go look at it soon!

Decided on the Briggs & Stratton XR2100 petrol engine as the Koop 192F (Yanmar 1 cyl air-cooled clone) has too many defects and doesn't like starting in cold weather.

Then the digging can begin.

Still looking at mini excavators. New conclusions:

- Cheap KOOP diesels suck, better engines cost much more
- Swing boom almost a must for foundation restoration
- Track speed on most minis is incredibly slow

Given that last fact, I couldn't drive the excavator to the forest to handle some logs or whatever, it would take hours.

So tractor attached is back in the game. Annoying to reposition, but more mobile. Also cheaper.