THREE models from Caterpillar’s range of reliable small hammers have been making an impression in diverse applications across Australia. A Cat H63, and two H65DS models, have recently been put to work with an asphalting crew, a pipe laying earthmoving specialist and a rail maintenance gang respectively.

Cat small hammers, ranging from the 103 kg H35DS model, to the 271 kg H65DS, feature a one-piece body, silenced operation and deliver superior blow rates, and are precisely matched to Cat’s compact equipment range including excavators, skid steer loaders and multi terrain loaders.

Leigh Rees, managing director of A1 Asphalting, based in the Victorian town of Drouin, says a Cat H63 hammer, which is fitted to the company’s 4t and 5t Cat mini excavators, is a reliable performer. “In our road maintenance contract work, the hammer has been fantastic. We use it for breaking away end walls and under bridgework and also use it in our civil business to remove kerb and channel – it gets a fair bit of work. It runs beautifully and has made doing our jobs easier,” says Rees. “We didn’t have our own hammer before this one and hired them in, but it was the same old story, when you wanted them, they weren’t available.”

Availability was also the rationale for Bendigo based excavation contractor and pipe laying specialist, Andrew Spence to acquire a Cat H65DS hammer. “We’d been hiring hammers through the Cat Rental Store but some of our jobs meant we really only needed the hammer for a few hours but we’d have them around for the whole day, so it made business sense to get our own,” explains Spence. “It has also picked up a bit of business for us by having it.”

“It is a good little hammer and is probably twice as efficient as the hammers we used to hire. It’s been out in the trenches with us and is handling the sandstone and granite rock around here easily – probably twice as fast as the rental machine – and it has made a real difference to our productivity,” adds Spence.

In northern NSW, leading civil contracting company Downer EDI Works has put a H65DS to the test for about 12 months now. Fitted to a Cat 304CR mini excavator when required, the hammer hasn’t let the rail maintenance crew down, according to plant operations manager, Lindsay Furness. “The hammer is very compact unit and doesn’t have any fittings that could get caught up and break,” he says.

An addition to the plant inventory rather than a replacement item, another H65DS is also about to be put to work as the company’s rail signal maintenance and installation works has experienced good growth. “(The H65DS) has been up with our crew for a while now and we have not heard of a thing wrong with it. The feedback I’ve got from the crew is that it has worked brilliantly and we haven’t had any problems at all,” says Furness.



http://www.infolink.com.au/articles/22/0C053122.aspx


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