Mega attachments for the mega construction site

09/21/2021

A construction site like this is rare - at 2,000 metres above sea level almost 7 million cubic metres of soil are supposed to be moved by a fleet of construction machines. All that is framed by alpine scenery: On the Kühtai Saddle in Austria the TIWAG - Tiroler Wasserkraft AG (Tyrolean Hydropower) is adding a reservoir with a storage dam to its power plant group Sellrain-Silz. Rädlinger Maschinen- und Stahlbau GmbH provided the required construction machine equipment with individual buckets for excavators and wheel loaders.

"In projects we implement our customers' exact requirements, always in close coordination with the manufacturerer of the construction machine, in this case CAT, Komatsu and Volvo", explains Stefan Reitmeier, who is responsible for the engineering of customised attachments at Rädlinger. It is essential to balance the requirements for maximum bucket volume and high wear resistance with the limits of the construction machine. Rädlinger Maschinen- und Stahlbau GmbH has access to decades of experience and close interaction with its customers. For this project, which is realised by a working partnership between the companies Swietelsky, Swietelsky Tunnelbau (tunnel construction), Jäger and Bodner, seven excavators and four wheel loaders overall have been equipped with attachments by Rädlinger. The operating weights of the machines range between 25 and 140 tonnes - two CAT 6015B excavators. For the Komatsu WA800-8 wheel loader, which is a true colossus as well, a 4.8 metres wide loader bucket was manufactured.

Besides the engineering, the production of attachments with weights far in excess of 10 tonnes is a major challenge for most manufacturerers. Not so for Rädlinger Maschinen- und Stahlbau GmbH, which can fall back on the know-how of its steel construction division: Compared to a 35 metres long and 30 tonnes heavy bridge section, an "only" around five metres wide wheel loader bucket is almost easy to work. The knowledge of the welding experts is necessary in other respects as well: "Time and again it is a challenge to join the wear-resistent Hardox components with classic S355 steel or other heavy-duty casting components", explains Michael Eck, manager of the steel construction division.

Since spring the attachments have been performing their duty at the construction site in Austria - and have more than satisfied the expectations: "I have operated quite a lot of excavators, with many different buckets - but none compares to this one", Alfred Delfser, one of the operators of the two CAT 6015B excavators, says exitedly: "We expected that the teeth would last about 150 operating hours before we needed to change them. Actually they last 300 hours!"

High durability, the desired volumes and a weight that matches the kinematics of the machines - all of the customer's wishes for this flagship project could be fulfilled.