Plate compactors.

[EquilibriumX]

OK, I am thinking of buying a plate compactor. I need it for driveway/road work, trench work and general site work. So what do you think of this belle compactor? It has a compaction force of 16.5kN. This is at the top end of my budget, I think.

http://www.elliotts4tools.co.uk/product.asp?P_ID=352

Any advice greatly appreciated. :)

EX

[TEMPL4R]

That 2 stage compaction looks good. We have an old compactor for when we concrete the yards, silage pits and other stuff around the farm. We also use it for filling holes in the farm tracks. It must be about 20 years old. still works though.

That looks good value.

Chris

[Lighting90]

As Templ4r says, looks good for the money, and also notice it is powered by a Honda engine, which I have to say, on all general use products on the farm powered by such engines, have been good runners, with long reliable life.

[EquilibriumX]

Thanks mate, interesting that you have had yours for twenty years. I hate hiring equipment it feels like lost money, I would prefer to own the asset. I have plenty of groundwork to do, so I think it will pay for it self, numbers add up. The dual system appears to offer a fairly high compaction force.

Thanks for the input.

EX

[EquilibriumX]

Thanks Lightning, good to hear that Honda engines have a decent rep.

EX

[baz]

Rather suprised to see it doesn't have some little lift up wheels for transport. You site workers like making things hard for yourselves.

[Paul Humphreys]

Get a good one and not one of the cheep ones.

Heres the first link I found http://www.expresstools.co.uk/ishop/692/shopscr3093.html

The small ones do not conpact MOT stone towell.

Paul

[DavejDavies]

I hate hiring equipment it feels like lost money, I would prefer to own the asset.

Hiring can work out better for tax purposes etc, depends how much use you'll be getting out of it and whether you can do the maintenance yourself etc

That said, if it's anything like their mixers it will go forever:D

[EquilibriumX]

Get a good one and not one of the cheep ones.

Heres the first link I found http://www.expresstools.co.uk/ishop/692/shopscr3093.html

The small ones do not conpact MOT stone towell.

Paul

Even with a compaction force of 16.5kN? What level of compaction force is necessary? Or is it the size of the plate that is the problem? One of the reasons I am considering a relatively small plate is for trenches. (LOL, I going to end up getting a trench rammer too).

The compaction force of the belle is 1.5kN greater than the equivalently priced Wacker, and 1.5kN less than the two grand (inc Vat) Wacker. How big do you think I need to go?

Thanks for the input Paul.

[EquilibriumX]

Hiring can work out better for tax purposes etc, depends how much use you'll be getting out of it and whether you can do the maintenance yourself etc

That said, if it's anything like their mixers it will go forever:D

I assume this is sarcasm. Should I avoid Belle?

I suspect hiring will be the way to go if I need to purchase a 30kN plate compactor, and 16.5kN trench rammer. LOL. :D ;) :eek:

And, thanks for your input.

EX

[EquilibriumX]

The compaction force of the Belle twin rollers is 16kN, is it the plate size that is the problem for MOT Type 1 etc?

http://www.bellegroup.com/en/catalogue/productData.asp?Range=CompRoller

EX

[Paul Humphreys]

not sure what it is, but some of them don't do MOT stuff well, it's ok for light stuff over the top. But for roads/drives it's still to soft.

Paul

[EquilibriumX]

Hello Paul.

I have compacted MOT with a trench rammer, pad was 300mm x 300mm and a compaction force of 16.2kN. One of the problems I found was that the pad displaced a lot of the stone around the pad area this meant I needed to do the same area numerous times to get a level, and even finish, Slow.

Another problem is that a lot of plate compacters simple do not have enough compaction force.

Thanks for the input mate. I certainly will not rush into parting with my cash.

EX

[Paul Humphreys]

Best way to find out what one is best for your needs IMOH would to be hire a few models and test them. Then buy the best.

Paul

[EquilibriumX]

Hiring can work out better for tax purposes etc, depends how much use you'll be getting out of it and whether you can do the maintenance yourself etc

That said, if it's anything like their mixers it will go forever:D

I have looked into the tax issues and at this point it does not make any difference to own the asset. This my change in the future, so thanks for the information mate.


EX

[EquilibriumX]

I have decided to continue hiring for the time being, I will hire trench rammers, compaction plates and rollers when necessary. I think hiring does provide a degree of flexibility in the type of equipment available.

Again, thanks for ALL the input gents it has genuinely been very useful. :)




EX

[TEMPL4R]

With hiring, you usually get newer equipment and if it has problems, change it.

We have our own JCB, whacker plate and ballast trailer. We hire dumpers, mixers and jack hammers.

Those magnetic attach drills are brilliant for drilling holes up a barn stanchion.

Chris

[EquilibriumX]

LOL, sounds like you have some good toys. For me this is an ongoing issue, i.e. deciding which equipment to buy, which to higher and which to borrow. In this case I think I will wait to see how the work pans out.

EX

[TEMPL4R]

We used to have a HyMac 360 deg (a 690 Model IIRC) for emptying the slurry lagoon. Weighed about 18 tons, but I could keep 5 spreaders going all day. 6 buckets and they were full.

Chris

[Gray]

the belle PCX range is what we use on our hire fleets. the dual force is a fairly simple but brilliant conception.

Honda engines power the vast majority of our petrol equipment, and if looked after can give many years of use. Plus if they do go wrong they are so simple to repair.

[EquilibriumX]

Thanks Gray,

So their experiences with this compactor are pretty good? I liked the idea of the dual compactor, looks simple, but I did not know anyone who had used one, so was unsure of its ability particularly for trench work, landscaping, drives etc.

EX