Excavating and grabbing with an additional degree of freedom

The L&K Land- und Kraftfahrzeugtechnik GmbH is known in the building machinery industry as a manufacturer of especially long-lasting equipment for excavators, wheeled loaders, telescope excavators and special vehicles. Numerous types of bucket, backhoe and other items of equipment are custom-made. Extremely wear-resistant Hardox types of steel – and iglidur plain bearings – ensure a long service life for the equipment, which is used in unfavourable conditions and is subjected to dynamic loads
 
For excavator drivers and construction machinery hire companies, they are "just" a tool - but one that has to meet the highest demands in terms of load capacity and wear resistance. This is because the shovels and clearing buckets of excavators and wheel loaders that we are talking about here dig into the material with high dynamics in each individual operation and also encounter resistance like hard rock.
 
The environmental conditions during this work are unfavourable, not to say extreme: the construction machines can stand in water or remove highly abrasive material. The stress acting on the tools is very dynamic and hardly calculable, especially since the equipment is also loaded on one side and is often "misused" on the construction site.

The 8.5 m3 high dump bucket is also equipped with iglidur plain bearings. On the left: Dipl.-Ing. Sven Gasterstädt from L&K, on the right: technical igus sales consultant Kevin Büttner.

Problem

The bearing point must be maintenance-free for a total of more than 4,000 hours in an application.  Completely regardless of whether the excavator is standing in water or removing highly abrasive material.  In addition, the bearing points are exposed to heavy loads and shocks. The exposure to dust and dirt is an additional challenge for the bearing positions.  

Solution

With maintenance-free and lubrication-free iglidur plain bearings, the required service life was even exceeded.  Even after 5 years of use there were no complaints or the need to lubricate or replace the plain bearings, despite the highest demands.  They are also around 40 percent more cost-effective than the previously installed composite bearings.

High-quality equipment for construction machinery - "Made in Thuringia"

Many manufacturers, rental companies and users of construction machinery do not want standard tools for such conditions, but tools that are characterised by long service life and often also by special mobility and additional degrees of freedom. With this wish they are in good hands with L&K Land- und Kraftfahrzeugtechnik GmbH in Stadtilm/ Thuringia. For more than forty years, the company has been specialising in developing high-quality tools for construction machinery.
 
The wide standard product range, which includes backhoe buckets of all kinds, high dump buckets and side dump buckets, is the basis for the most varied special designs. This is because the tools are always manufactured to customer specifications, and with a short lead time. Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Anderle, Managing Partner of L&K: "We deliver at short notice, usually within two to three weeks. " The modular design of the product range contributes to this as much as the modern production with CNC machines in all areas. Another important factor for the high quality and short delivery time is the know-how of the welding specialists, who are trained and further educated by L&K in its own DVS course centre.

Not all buckets and grabs from L&K are as large as these - but all are characterised by extreme load capacity and long service life.