Demolition and recycling company Sutton Services, of Lakenheath in Suffolk, has added a JCB JS260XD crawler excavator to its growing fleet of specialist equipment. The machine replaces a JS220 and has been purchased to meet a growing requirement for heavier equipment and an increasing workload. The company has ordered the machine, its largest JCB excavator to date, with a triple articulating boom (TAB), adding to the versatility and flexibility of the JS260XD.
With a length of 6.24m, the TAB boom is longer than the standard 5.85m monoboom, providing an increased digging depth of up to 12.12m with a 3.53m dipper arm and a digging reach at ground level of as much as 11.13m. This additional length also provides improved access for high-reach work with a range of demolition attachments.
However the articulating boom also allows the operator to work right up to the tracks, particularly useful when operating with a grab or shear and handling demolition waste. This ability to vary the excavator’s working envelope using the articulating boom, provides the operator with increased versatility and flexibility, particularly when working in confined operating conditions. The JS260XD is equipped with a full array of auxiliary piping, providing Sutton with a machine that can be used with hydraulic breakers, pulverisers, shears and grapples.
The excavator’s quick hitch has been converted to work with the firm’s existing buckets and attachments and the additional weight of the XD machine, up to more than 27 tonnes, delivers a stable base for a range of demolition and recycling attachments. The TAB boom retains the powerful breakout forces of the standard machine, with dipper tearout of up to 18,272kgf and a bucket tearout of 19,574kgf.
The JS260XD has gone straight to work at the nearby RAF Mildenhall air base, where it is being used to demolish an accommodation block known as Building 479, for base facilities management provider Vinci Facilities. Sutton has a number of demolition projects ongoing for Vinci and has found the JS260XD to be better equipped to handle the two and three-storey buildings.
“The JS260XD with the TAB boom gives us better reach,” says operator Robert Saunders. At full height, the TAB boom gives operators 28% more forward reach than a traditional boom.
“We have been using JCB excavators for a long time and we thought we would try the TAB boom to see how it performs in demolition. Not only does it give me more reach, but I can work right in by the tracks if I need to, which means there is less need to move the machine.”
The JS260XD is powered by a Tier 4 Interim/Stage IIIB compliant four-cylinder diesel engine, delivering 188hp (140kW). This drives through a proven twin pump, variable flow, load-sensing hydraulic system, with flow on demand and variable output. JCB’s Smart Control System provides easy access to variable working modes with manual selection of High Plus mode for 100% productivity.
By matching engine and hydraulic output to demand, the system guarantees minimum fuel consumption and maximum productivity.
Sutton Services uses the JS260XD with buckets, shears, grabs and a pulveriser. A quickhitch allows the operator to rapidly change between attachments to better meet the needs of the job.
“I’m really happy with it so far,” says Mr Saunders. “The boom makes it easier to work with a bigger machine, even in a confined site.
Sutton Services was formed in 1992 and has been operating from its current location in Lakenheath since 1994. With a range of machines from 2.5 tonnes right up to the 26 tonne JS260XD, plus crushing and screening machinery and a fleet of road-going tippers, Sutton is well equipped to carry out a range of demolition and recycling operations for customers throughout East Anglia.
All of the company’s JCB equipment is supplied by local dealer Watling JCB, with the company providing essential back-up and service work when required.
“Watling has been very good to us, very reliable, and they are one of the main reasons that we buy JCB machines,” says company owner Glenn Sutton.
“You ring them up and you get an answer straight away,” adds Mr Saunders. “They are a really good dealer.”