FAMILY run extraction business Kinegar Quarries of Cockburnspath near Dunbar has opted for a new Volvo EC380D excavator for its Glenfin hard rock quarry, continuing a twenty five year association with Volvo Construction Equipment products.
Replacing a venerable Akerman EC300 which was originally built back in 1996 and which has clocked up 12600 hours of operation, the EC380D is in charge of ripping high quality greywacke sandstone from an arrangement of benches at Glenfin Quarry. This type of material has an exceptionally high PSV value of around 72 which when crushed down to 10 and 6mm product is ideally suited for road surfacing with excellent anti-skid properties. Equipped with a hydraulic quick hitch and a bespokely designed ripper tooth the 38-tonne excavator is well on top of the task in hand ripping the virgin material from bank. The ripped material is then loaded onto a resident Volvo A25D dumptruck which hauls it to the primary crusher.
“We have tended to favour Volvo products from the outset when we bought our first Volvo L120 at the end of the 80s,” explains co-director Stephen Findlay who along with his brother Arnot now runs the family business. “Over the years we have purchased various Volvo machines and they have a good track record for longevity and reliability so deciding upon our new EC380D wasn’t a difficult choice,” he continues. And to demonstrate this fact, Kinegar Sand & Gravel’s original L120 is still in daily use having clocked up a staggering 28000 hours of operation as is a subsequently purchased Volvo L120C, bought at the same time as the old Akerman. Both shovels have benefitted from a replacement engine and transmission and are still going strong.
At the heart of the EC380D is a Stage IIIB V-Act 13 litre engine developing 279 nett hp and it is ideally matched to its automatic sensing mode hydraulic system. The machine features an automatic idling system that reduces engine speed when the levers and pedals are not activated – aiding fuel efficiency and lowering external noise. When only a single function is being used, the two-pump hydraulics system combines the flow of both pumps for quick cycle times and greater productivity. It can also prioritize flow according to the work being done – e.g. to the boom for faster raising when loading or in deep excavations; to the arm during levelling or swing during large slewing angles. The EC380D boasts exceptional breakout and tearout forces for a machine in this size class with a maximum of 242.7 kN and 219.1 kN respectively – ideal for the application at Glenfin Quarry.
