Making a tilting bucket for a mini diggers

[Wee Jim]

I have a spare ditching bucket that came off my Hitachi EX15 that I no longer have. So I am thinking of turning it in to a tilting bucket as it may be handy to have. Has anyone here made on or got some photos on one for a 1.5 ton machine that I can copy?

[245dlc]

Found the perfect thread on HEF for you Jim, I'd be interested in seeing how it goes.

http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/...de-tilt-bucket

[Muz]

Found the perfect thread on HEF for you Jim, I'd be interested in seeing how it goes.

http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/...de-tilt-bucket

Nice wee job he's doing there ... ram placement looks odd, or hadnt he fixed it yet ? .. ANyways .. to my mind jim you want the rotator pin bout twice the diameter of you bucket pins, plus it would be a good idea if you could get a bunch of shims made for it to keep taking out any slap, I'd put two greasers on it too

[Wee Jim]

Thanks for thto guys that's exactly the info I am looking for. I am not much of an engineer but I am going to have an attempt at this and see what I can get done and when I can get going with it!!

[245dlc]

I think it's a great idea Jim I know when I get my first machine I'll get one, I don't weld so I'll have to buy one or have one made but they sure are nice to have.

[Wee Jim]

I think it's a great idea Jim I know when I get my first machine I'll get one, I don't weld so I'll have to buy one or have one made but they sure are nice to have.

I don't weld either but I have been trying recently to learn how to weld with a stick welder so it's a fine chance to teach myself how to weld and make something really usefull!

[Muz]

I think the biggest problem with these hitches/headstocks is that invariably they are used on ditching buckets, where there is a lot of twisting load coming from the bucket ground engagement, so the carrier has to be heavy and resistant enough to these twisting loads, so as it wont distort, but not soo heavy that your machine nods every time you lift it, as ever its a trade off, quite fancy one myself actually and I have plenty of spare buckets to work with.

I take it your machine has a double acting circuit on it jim to power the ram ?

[mogman]

If I was to build one i would use two single acting rams working opposite each other then it would take all the slack out of the pins and holes so keeping it tight even when its worn out

Mog.

[Muz]

If I was to build one i would use two single acting rams working opposite each other then it would take all the slack out of the pins and holes so keeping it tight even when its worn out

Mog.

Thats not where the biggest wear or strain will be though .. its going to come from the whole thing being dragged towards you on a mount with a pin in line with you, so what ever holds that pin , and the pin its self must be big enough to take that load, and not wear hugely, so to my mind if you made the pin diameter bigger, it will wear more slowly due to its surface area and have more strength inherantly, but the bracket needs to be beefy enough too, to take the load ... thats the compromise, if you add an extra ram you have to lighten the bracket, otherwise the whole thing gets too heavy for a mini ... might be ok on a 13 tonner though .. I'm just surmising, but I'm tempted to have a go now .......

[Muz]

Ive always liked these Engcon ones

But see how har away the bucket gets from the dipper.. and how much power you lose... nice to have the rotate facility too though

[245dlc]

I talked to a local company that's well known in the area for it's tilt buckets they said they could sell me one for a 1.5 tonner but they can only manage a single double acting cylinder due to the lack of space for two single acting or double acting cylinders and that the minimum bucket width I think he said was 30 inches. This was a few months back (February I think) so I might have gotten my facts mixed up. But I had used one of they're custom buckets on a 5 tonne machine two years ago and really liked it despite the single double acting cylinder.

[Muz]

Did you take this anywhere Jim ?

[Wee Jim]

Did you take this anywhere Jim ?

Not had the time yet but winter is coming with the long winter nights so might get on to it soon!!