Thumbs up! … for productivity
On the construction sites of yesteryear, how many men did it take to move debris with an excavator? The excavator could lift the materials but it took an extra worker (or two) to hook and unhook the chains necessary for holding the load in place. Some times an extra machine, like a loader, would have to help, too. Who can afford that luxury of extra workers and extra machines today?
If you are involved in demolition, land clearance, brush clearing or feeding tub grinders, or in any operation where you have to grab and hold materials, you’ll find that a thumb on your machine will save time and money.
The thumb, with its ability to hold materials in place, even awkward materials like slabs of uneven concrete, tree branches of irregular shape and construction debris, has made material handling much easier for excavator owners and operators. The excavator thumb is like the human thumb. It makes sure that balance is good when you are holding something. (Try doing many of your everyday hand tasks without using your thumbs! How would you hold a can? Use a ballpoint? Tighten your belt?)
It’s not only for the big jobs with big excavators, where the holding advantages of a thumb are obvious, but you can also have a thumb for your backhoe or mini excavator for those smaller, everyday jobs where maneuvering the materials take most of the time and any way to speed the process is a welcome bonus. Using a thumb will prove what a sensible concept it is, what a versatile attachment it is.
The construction of the thumb is critical to its success. Using AR-400 steel is a good first step and using an “A” Frame Stiff-Leg reinforces the strength of the attachment. When the thumb is in action for you, you don’t want unbalanced materials twisting the thumbs; it must be strong enough to resist that. A simple, practical design like having outside pin positioning helps, too. And when you have finished work, it’s practical to be able to store the stiff arm flat under the thumb.
Look at the models described here at USA attachments and you’ll understand that the thumbs have been designed with particular sizes of machine in mind. An attachment as smart as this does not come in “one size fits all” configuration. Once you know the size of the machine for which you want your thumb, call us (800.870.3610) and find out the best match available for you. If you need a special thumb, we will design and build that for you, too.
Before you purchase any thumb, ask some questions of the manufacturer. Are the pivot points where you want them, and are they protected? How easy is it to transport my excavator with its thumb? Do I have to detach it? How critical is the weight of the thumb attachment? How easy is it to install? Can that be done at the jobsite? How wide, or narrow, should it be? And how soon can I get the thumb I need?