Construction Demolition Equipment
Excavator Buckets
Most excavators are fit with a bucket in their standard configurations. Excavator buckets are mainly used for digging, but they can also be used to perform demolition tasks. They can be fitted with bucket teeth that can scratch and tear away at different types of structures. Buckets come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and there are many kinds that are manufactured to perform specific tasks. Heavy duty buckets are commonly used for demolition because they are made to withstand hard impacts. Volvo and Caterpillar both manufacture their own lines of excavator buckets. ACG Attachments (formerly CMW Attachments) is another company that manufactures excavator attachments including buckets. Their bucket line is broken down to match different weight classes of excavators. More information can be found here: ACG Buckets.
About Excavator Attachments
Hydraulic Hammers
Hydraulic hammers are another great attachment that can be used to demolish concrete structures. Also referred to as "breakers," these attachments act similarly to jackhammers but on a much larger scale. On top of building demolition, they can be used to speed up the process for road or bridge demolition jobs. Hammers come in a wide range of sizes and shapes. Caterpillar and Volvo both manufacture their own hydraulic hammers. Volvo produces a line of hammers that provide impact energies between 1,600 and 12,000 foot-pounds of force. Their largest hammer is the HB3800 that has an operating weight of 8,378 pounds and an impact rate between 300 and 700 blows per minute. More information can be found here: Volvo Hammers.
Hydraulic excavators are extremely important for demolition work as they are used to perform a wide variety of demolition tasks. They are very versatile pieces of equipment because they can be equipped with various attachments that allow them to do different jobs. There are several types of excavator attachments including: buckets, grapples, shears, thumbs, and hydraulic hammers. Each attachment serves a different purpose. For example, hammers are used to break apart concrete while shears are used to cut through steel supports. It's very common for general contractors to own only one excavator but have a large arsenal of attachments to get the most out of one piece of equipment and save money.
Why Attachments?
Shears
Hydraulic shears are essentially large, high-powered demolition scissors. They are a great attachment to have for building demolition where there are a lot of structural steel elements. Shears can be used to cut through these types of materials. Hydraulic shears typically rotate and can grab onto objects and twist to provide a torque force that other equipment cannot. Similarly to most attachments, shears come in many different sizes and shapes. Caterpillar's line of shears are made specifically for demolition and scrapping tasks. The S385C is their largest product with a throat force of 1,405 short tons, an apex force of 528 short tons, and a tip force of 279 short tons. More information can be found here: Caterpillar Shears.
Grapples
Grapples are used to pull apart portions of buildings and to pick up irregular-shaped objects. Typically, grapples are utilized for non-concrete demolition projects as they do not provide much crushing strength compared to hammers. There are several types of grapples including: basket-style, orange peel, trash, solid waste, and standard contractor grapples among others. Caterpillar produces all of these types of grapples and makes contractors' grapples and demolition and sorting grapples for demolition work. The demolition and sorting grapples are made for material handling of demolition debris. They are basket-style grapples that can rotate a full 360 degrees. More information can be found here: Caterpillar Grapples.
Excavator Thumbs
Excavator thumbs are extremely useful for performing demolition tasks. They are used with buckets and provide extra grabbing potential. They can grab onto the tops of walls and pull them down or grab onto various structural elements to tear them apart. Thumbs come in different sizes with varying numbers of teeth and various connection systems such as a weld-on bracket or a hydraulic cylinder and pin. Caterpillar produces three different types of thumb attachments: Pro Series, Stiff Link, and Utility thumbs. The Pro Series Hydraulic Thumbs are made to be very durable under heavy wear and are perfect for demolition. More information can be found here: Caterpillar Thumbs.
