With a lack of hydraulic tilt and sieve buckets available for mini excavators, ANT International has identified a gap in the market
When Earthmovers & Excavators last caught up with ANT International, the attachment business revealed its capacity to build products for some of the largest machines on the market.
Offering buckets up to the 100-tonne size class from its Rocklea, Brisbane-based workshop, ANT International believes its manufacturing ability stands alone.
According to production manager Lex Treloar, the business is now carving a new niche in the market for mini excavators in the 0.5 to 1.5-tonne size class.
“Manufacturers and suppliers tend to not focus on this size class, so landscapers with small machines are generally at the mercy of what the market has to offer,” he says.
“We believe our hydraulic tilting bucket and sieve bucket are tailored to their needs and meet a gap in the market.”
Hydraulic tilt
ANT International’s 700mm-wide hydraulic tilting bucket is offered for 0.5-tonne mini excavators and is suited to operators working with complex terrain.
Its tilt buckets are commonly used for the creation of slope banks, the digging of swimming pools and golf course constructions.
Treloar says this because the tilt bucket offers far more possibilities than conventional buckets.
“It can tilt to a 45-degree angle on either side, allowing the operator to cut, trim and form complex terrain features,” he says.
“This minimises the need for secondary trimming operations, thus saving time and money.”
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When loose material needs to be quickly transferred, the tilt bucket can also act as a normal mud bucket, thanks to its digging profile and 700mm length.
Using the ‘world class’ Swedish Hardox abrasion resistance steel wear plate for the front lip and sides, the tilt bucket provides wear resistance and increased structural strength.
This increases the life of the bucket, saving customers time and money on their investment, Treloar adds.
Further emphasising this, the bucket is built with hardened bushes – making it even more durable. An integrated hungry board is also included to protect the hydraulic cylinder from spillovers. When operators are digging, this stops rocks and soil from spilling over and getting caught in the hydraulics.
“There’s not many manufacturers currently making a tilt bucket for this size class,” Treloar says.
“We think our buckets will help landscapers with their needs.”
Sieve bucket
For operators wanting to do quick on-site screening of rocks, ANT International is offering a 1m-wide sieve bucket that is suited to 1.5-tonne excavators.
Rather than hiring a dedicated screen on site, Treloar says sieve buckets are a more cost-effective alternative.
“For this size class, many manufacturers produce what’s called a ‘skin sieve’, which is essentially a mud bucket with holes cut into it,” he says.
“Ours is a ‘rib and bar’ sieve, which is longer lasting and more of a heavy-duty design. The rib and bar construction is comparable to what larger machines use, and expect.”
ANT International’s 1.5-tonne sieve buckets are also designed to have a shallower and more penetrating profile, which Treloar says helps to achieve efficient digging. He adds that this maximises the effecting screening area, and therefore the speed of screening.
Sieve buckets can be custom built to customers’ screening criteria, with the option of standard replaceable teeth and adaptors for more aggressive digging, or bolt-on cutting edges for smaller, loose granular materials.
“Skin sieves have holes cut in it so material can fall through, but they’re light duty,” Treloar says.
“Rib and bar designed buckets are generally used for larger machines, but we’ve decided to make them available for the smaller size class, designed specifically for heavy duty sieving.”
For more information on the 700mm-wide hydraulic tilting bucket for 0.5-tonne excavators and the 1m-wide sieve bucket for 1.5-tonne excavators, visit ant-get.com or call 07 3710 6700.