Three manufacturers launch their largest excavators at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020
Doosan, Volvo and Caterpillar released their largest excavators for the North American market
Excavators need to deliver productivity and durability on the toughest jobsites – particularly in mass excavation for infrastructure and quarry applications. To accommodate the need for larger, more powerful equipment, Doosan, Volvo and Caterpillar released their largest excavators in North America to date at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020.
Doosan's largest excavator is ideal for mining and aggregates operations
Primarily intended to serve customers in mining and aggregates applications, Doosan's DX800LC-7 crawler excavator made its North American debut during CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020. Designed to remove overburden and load large amounts of material into articulated dump trucks or rigid frame trucks, the DX800LC-7 may also be operated on very large construction projects – particularly at infrastructure jobsites – where a massive amount of material needs to be excavated and stockpiled or loaded into trucks to be moved. A removable counterweight is available as an option and is ideal when the machine needs to be transported between sites.
Volvo's largest excavator fills a 60-ton haul truck in four bucket passes
Similarly, Volvo's largest excavator, the 100-ton (90-tonne) EC950F, is now also available in North America.
Equipped with a 603-hp (450kW) Volvo D16 Tier 4 Final engine, the EC950F crawler excavator delivers high torque at low rpm. Pairing the EC950F with the Volvo A60H articulated hauler, the EC950F fills the 60-ton haul truck in just four bucket passes, with an average cycle time of 20–25 seconds.
Optimized hydraulics deliver constant high pressures across each phase of the digging and lifting cycle. The hydraulic system increases pump power for fast and smooth operation, while the electro-hydraulic system controls on-demand flow and reduces internal losses in the hydraulic circuit. The EC950F also comes with a boom-swing priority valve which adjusts the priority of hydraulic flow between boom-up and swing so that truck loading cycle times can be set to truck loading working conditions.
To boost machine versatility, the attachment management system can store settings for up to 20 different attachments, enabling the operator to pre-set hydraulic flow and pressure through the in-cab monitor.
Cat's largest excavator boosts production by 10 percent
Also offering its largest excavator to date is Caterpillar, with the release of the Cat 395 excavator. The machine offers users up to 10 percent more production, two times more structural durability, and up to 20 percent less maintenance costs than the 390F that it replaces, according to the company.
A key driver to the 395's production is a new dedicated hydrostatic swing circuit – a feature found only on larger Cat mining shovels like the 6015B.
The 395 also features Cat Payload, which helps operators increase loading efficiency with on-the-go weighing; real-time payload estimates can be calculated without swinging to help prevent overloading and underloading trucks.
Whether equipped with a bucket or hammer, the machine's standard 2D E-Fence prevents the excavator from moving outside operator-defined points. This helps protect the machine and other objects from damage and reduces the risk of fines related to zoning or underground and aboveground utility damage.
Find out more about what caught our eye at the event in our CONEXPO and CON/AGG post-show reports.
