Grading beams are popular excavator attachments in the construction and landscaping industries, designed to increase the speed and precision of your grading and levelling projects. In this blog post, we're going to dive into the top 5 frequently asked questions about excavator grading beams and shed some light on multiple areas, including the best materials to use, compatibility with couplers, suitability for use on micro machines and more.
Excavator grading beams can be used with a whole range of materials but usually work best with smaller aggregates, such as topsoil, sand, gravel and crushed tarmac. They pretty much work with all type 1 and type 2 aggregates. If you can grade it with your standard grading bucket, then chances are you can grade it with your grading beam too! Some of the best uses are levelling gravel on driveways or pavements, grading out the top soil on a garden ready for planting or turfing, or even spreading wood chippings on a children's playground.
The decision to use a grading beam or a grading bucket largely depends on the nature of the project and your desired outcome. Grading beams are excellent for precise grading and levelling tasks, especially on larger surfaces or expansive areas. They achieve a smooth and even finish so if precision is essential, grading beams are your best choice. Your grading beam is more suitable for tasks that involve moving large volumes of loose materials, although you can also grade with your bucket too - either with the bottom of the bucket or the flat edge. If you're wanting to grade larger areas than the grading beam is your best options otherwise you will start to wear down your bucket. The grading beam is made of thicker and more heavy duty steel so will withstand your grading jobs for much longer.
Yes, you can use your grading beam with a quick coupler. In fact, we would recommend it! Chances are if you're using a grading beam, you're also using a range of other attachments to help complete your projects, such as a ripper tooth or rake riddle bucket. So, using your grading beam on your quick coupler means you can quickly and easily switch between attachments when needed. Not only does this reduce your downtime so you can get your projects completed faster, but it also stops the manual handling needed to manually fit your buckets and attachments to your digger.
No, most manufacturers do not make a grading beam with the option to add a bolt on cutting edge. Due to the size of the attachment, adding a bolt on blade to cover the entire underside of your beam would be too heavy for mini diggers to handle. As well as being too heavy, the blade would also hang below the bottom of the beam so you would no longer have the flat bottom desired to level out your material. However, you do not need to worry about your grading beam wearing down, these attachments are made with excessive wear in mind. There are built stronger than your standard excavator attachments to help prevent this wear.
This question is slightly more tricky to answer because it depends. As mentioned above, the grading beam is a heavier attachment than some of your standard attachments like digging buckets and grading buckets. This means it's easier to push your machine to the limit of its capabilities. For more skilled operators or operators who have been using excavators for a long time, you will be able to tell when your excavator is struggling and being pushed beyond it's limit. We would recommend to use your judgement as to whether the grading beam is suitable for you or not. We have numerous customers who operate micro excavators with our grading beams and have no issues with machine power or performance, a great example being ALS landscaping who frequently use their Rhinox grading beam on a micro excavator for those projects with more limited working space. If you do not extend to the full reach of your arm and work within a closer parameter to the machine, your grading beam will perform as desired.
Rhinox grading beams are available for up to 4 ton excavators, in widths of 48" wide and 60" wide to best suit your mini digger and projects. If you want to know more information about our range of excavator grading beams, or require further assistance with purchasing, get in touch and one of our team will be happy to help. Shop our full range of grading beams for your mini digger online today.