Excavator Bucket Types: A Comprehensive Guide
Table of Contents:
1. The Most Sought-After Excavator Bucket Types
2. Choosing an Appropriate Excavator Bucket
3. Excavator Buckets and More
An excavator is one of the most efficient machines on every construction site. However, it can be equally inefficient if you don’t operate it with the correct bucket type. It is a challenging task to choose not only the right excavator bucket but also a trusted manufacturer that produces quality tools. Thankfully, we are here to help with both. In this article, we will focus on the most popular excavator bucket types and give examples of the most efficient models on the market.
The Most Sought-After Excavator Bucket Types
The number of various available excavator buckets may be overwhelming. However, every attachment has its application. That is why we divided the types of buckets accordingly to help you choose the one best suited to your needs.
Digging Excavator Bucket
Application: Digging and moving material (including hard surfaces). Perfect for general construction and landscaping projects.
The digging bucket is an excavator bucket's most basic and universal representation. It has various applications, but the primary one (indicated in the name) is to dig. Breaking up the harder material is possible thanks to the buckets' teeth placed at the end of the tool. They also allow for scraping the material into the bucket. Digging buckets come in various sizes to best fit the given surface. Noteworthy, a digging bucket is not the best equipment for all digging applications. Extremely hard surfaces will benefit more from using a rock bucket or a frost bucket.
Rock Excavator Bucket
Application: Penetrating and breaking up hard, compact, and solid surfaces such as asphalt, stone, and large rocks.
Breaking through a hard surface is a task for a solid and powerful bucket with a powerful punch. One such tool is a rock bucket. It can be called a heavy-duty version of a digging bucket. Its reinforced design with thicker wear plates allows it to withstand a significant amount of pressure. The wear plates, along with sharp teeth, guarantee success in harsh conditions, penetrating even the most stubborn surfaces.
Utility Excavator Bucket
Application: Digging near utility lines, pipes, and cables, where avoiding the risk of striking them is crucial.
It is not uncommon that the construction works take place near the utility lines and other underground constructions. Because it is hard to navigate the machine, not seeing clearly what is below, manufacturers designed a special type of excavator bucket. The utility bucket protects the utility workers by deflecting the cables away from the digging tool. The tool has a double-enforced rounded edge ensuring the excavator doesn’t catch the underground systems.
V Bucket
Application: Creating and cleaning V-shaped trenches in preparation for laying piping and utility cables.
Since we have already spoken about protecting the utility cables and piping from damage, it is time to introduce a type of bucket that helps in their installation. V bucket (or a trenching bucket) has been specifically built to create narrow V-shaped trenches where the piping will be laid. Such trenches can also serve as a form of drainage. Trenching buckets can either have teeth (for more solid surfaces) or come without them. Most importantly, they need a powerful excavator to dig V-shaped trenches successfully. Therefore, they will work best with large excavators.
Skeleton Excavator Bucket
Application: Construction projects where separating dirt and soil from larger aggregate is crucial.
A skeleton bucket resembles a standard digging bucket to some extent. The main difference is the construction of the back of the tool. In a skeleton bucket, that part consists of a grid or a slotted surface. Such a build allows for digging the larger material and, at the same time, sieving the finer material and reusing it in other aspects of the projects.
Grading/Ditch Cleaning Excavator Bucket
Application: Leveling, profiling, and smoothing the ground made of softer materials such as fine dirt and sand.
Most excavator buckets usually perform some digging function. However, the grading bucket has a slightly different application. It doesn’t dig but levels and smooths the surface. That is why this tool is wide but short and shallow. Grading buckets will not be effective in moving any heavy material. The long, flat edge of grading buckets distributes fine dirt and sand thanks to the dragging movement. Grading buckets are often called finishing buckets. It is because they are usually used at the very end of the project as a final touch in leveling and clearing the area.
Frost Excavator Bucket
Application: Breaking up surfaces that are extremely compact and hard.
Essentially, frost buckets are similar to rock buckets. They are also designed to work in very hard ground conditions. However, frost buckets are specifically used to work the hardest surfaces. To do that, they have extra teeth at the backside that enable ripping even through the frozen ground. The solid construction makes the frost bucket a perfect tool for work in mountainous environments and cold climates to rip through practically any material.
Rake Riddle Excavator Bucket
Application: Digging roots out of the ground while sieving fine aggregate.
When it comes to construction, rake riddle buckets are similar to skeleton buckets. They have slats allowing finer material to fall through. However, a rake riddle bucket uses its teeth to loosen and dig up tree roots, grass, and shrubs. At the same time, the remaining loose soil can be reused in further stages of the project or a completely new job.
Clean-up Excavator Bucket
Application: A finishing bucket used for cleaning up a job site from loose material.
A clean-up bucket is also called a finishing bucket due to its use at the end of the job. However, it is worth noting that clean-up buckets have a larger carrying capacity than standard finishing buckets. Even though you cannot dig with the clean-up bucket, the carrying capacity makes it perfect for removing large materials. Clean-up buckets are one of the most versatile buckets, as you can also grade and level the surface.
Micro trenching bucket
Application: creating trenches for laying pipes, cables, or irrigation systems
Micro trenching buckets are the equivalents of V buckets. They also create narrow trenches to help in laying underground structures. However, micro trenching buckets create smaller trenches, which saves time in various construction projects. It is the time spent not only on digging but also backfilling the trenches. Micro trenching buckets used to be a tool exclusively used to create trenches for fiber-optic cables. Hence another name for this tool is a fiber-optic bucket.
Choosing an Appropriate Excavator Bucket
After introducing the most popular excavator bucket types according to their application, we can now give you a few other factors to consider while choosing the best bucket type for your circumstances.
Site Conditions
Consider the size of the area and whether it is open or closed up. It will help to choose the appropriate size of the excavator and, consequently, the bucket.
Weather and Climate
Even if you work with moderately hard ground, the climate might change the circumstances entirely. The frozen ground will require extra force to break through. Such force can only be assured by working with a powerful excavator and solid bucket.
Ground Conditions
Ground compactness is perhaps the most important factor the operator needs to consider before choosing an appropriate excavator bucket. Harder material may require a rock bucket or a frost bucket. A digging bucket will be sufficient if the ground is made of finer materials. However, harder materials will need more heavy-duty buckets, such as rock buckets or frost buckets, to complete the job successfully.
Hazardous Surrounding
Digging next to irrigation systems or utility cables is another factor you must consider when choosing an excavator bucket. A utility bucket will be the safest option in case of the occurrence of any underground installation.
Excavator Buckets and More
With so many available excavator bucket types, it may be troublesome to choose the appropriate one. Luckily, you have come to the right place. Skidsteers.com carries many excavator buckets made by the best American manufacturers. Available in our offer, Blue Diamond Attachments excavator buckets are a perfect fit for brands such as CAT, John Deere, Kubota, and Takeuchi machines. These reinforced tools are available in several widths to best suit your machine. Do you need more information? Don’t hesitate to contact our team. We are always happy to help.