Breaking out in Brisbane

Australian civil excavation company Earthmoving Contractors (EMC) has become the first business in the country to use an Atlas Copco HB10000 hydraulic breaker for an inner city bulk excavation project.

EMC has developed a strong reputation in the Queensland bulk excavation basement market over many years, and is experiencing strong demand from a number of high rise developers in the Brisbane area.

To meet this growing demand for EMC’s services, BA Equipment Group state manager Rob Guerin and Atlas Copco Australia regional sales manager Alex Bennett worked with EMC to agree key performance indicators for a trial of the 10 t breaker, which started in June.

“The HB 10000 is breaking out more than double compared to our existing 7 t breaker, the HB 7000,” said EMC managing director Jim Dupuis.

Jim also said how surprised he was with the low noise levels and how comfortable it was to operate for such a large and powerful breaker.

Vibration levels were measured using calibrated vibration monitoring equipment. Two types of monitors were used to ensure there were no incorrect or inconsistent readings and the vibration levels were found to be within the required parameters. Jim advised that this was critical as a heritage listed building is on the boundary of this excavation site.

Productivity was also tested. EMC marked out a 10 cu m (353 cu ft) section of Brisbane’s hardest rock and the HB10000 completed the works in five minutes – half the time of the 7 t breaker.

“If you work that out over an hour, day, week, month or a year, that is a massive production increase,” added Jim.