Skip to main content

Liebherr and Sandvik add to machine fleets for construction operations in Germany

For more than six months, German contractor Jens Weiss has been using Sandvik’s new surface drilling rig Ranger DX800, with noted low fuel consumption per metre drilled. The Ranger DX800 is a hydraulic, self-propelled, self-contained, crawler-type surface drilling rig. It is equipped with Sandvik-designed safety features to bring it into line with EU standard EN 16228. Typical applications are road cutting, pipeline drilling and foundation drilling, as well as production drilling in medium-size quarries.
February 9, 2017 Read time: 4 mins
First upgraded Ranger DX800 in Germany impresses
For more than six months, German contractor Jens Weiss has been using Sandvik’s new surface drilling rig Ranger DX800, with noted low fuel consumption per metre drilled.

The Ranger DX800 is a hydraulic, self-propelled, self-contained, crawler-type surface drilling rig. It is equipped with 325 Sandvik-designed safety features to bring it into line with EU standard EN 16228. Typical applications are road cutting, pipeline drilling and foundation drilling, as well as production drilling in medium-size quarries.

Jens Weiss, a provider of drilling and blasting services, is located in Annaberg-Buchholz in the Erzgebirge, a mountain region in Saxony. His Ranger DX800 is the first fully radio remote controlled upgraded variant of the series in Germany, enabling it to drill, set-up and tram by remote control. Together with a DC125 and a DQ500, it is now operating throughout Erzgebirge and Thuringia and in the Czech Republic.

“About wear and oil consumption I can’t comment as yet [due to the relatively short time of ownership]. However, I was positively surprised about fuel consumption which has been excellent,” says owner Jens Weiss. The company has been using Sandvik equipment since 1992 and has been involved in construction of the Jagtbergtunnel, the fourth largest in Germany, in 2009 where 10,000 anchors were installed by Jens Weiss using three Sandvik drilling rigs

“We tend to concentrate more intensively on our region, in order to avoid high transport charges and to operate in an environmentally compatible way,” says Weiss. Therefore, it was decided to expand by investing in the new radio remote controlled Ranger DX800. “The revolving superstructure was one of the outstanding features and the decision criterion for choosing this Sandvik model,” says Weiss.

“On site, the rig has a large drilling coverage from one position, in excess of 26m², without moving the rig. Further highlights are the environmentally friendly engine technology, the low fuel consumption per drill metre, as well as the new high frequency rock drill,” Jens added. Furthermore, the Ranger DX800

Meanwhile, the company Pongratz Schotterwerk in Ensdorf-Wolfsbach in Bavaria state has been using a 718 Liebherr R 980 SME crawler excavator in their 15-hectare limestone quarry since May.

The family company says development of the quarry requires a crawler excavator with high capacity. The tough geological conditions with uneven excavation beds, as well as a large area of solid rock with soil, can now be developed in the coming years using the R 980 SME.

The 100tonne Liebherr R 980 SME excavator is at the face of the quarry loading dumper trucks, and in the overburden, working in tandem with an earlier Liebherr R 954 S-HD.

Because of this, the excavators must be compatible with each other. The R 980 SME is configured with a 6m³ HD bucket to produce 400tonnes per hour. "The new excavator loads a dumper truck with 40tonnes in four cycles and a dumper truck with 50tonnes in five cycles," explains Ulrike Pongratz. "There is time, then, between the loading cycles for sorting and the drop ball operation."

Numerous protective devices on the machine, together with a product range adapted especially for operation in the quarry, played a huge role for the company to acquire another Liebherr, explains Alexander Pongratz, technical head of the family-run company.

SME stands for "Super Mass Excavation" where the crawler excavators are equipped with a reinforced undercarriage featuring suspension components from the next model up in the standard range. For the R 980 SME this is the undercarriage of the R 9100 mining excavator, he says.

Combined with a heavy counterweight, the larger enables the use of larger capacity buckets for the machine’s size. The equipment, such as stick and bucket cylinder, has larger dimensions and offers higher digging and breakout forces with the adapted kinematics.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Compact and efficient drilling
    February 22, 2012
    Using MOBA MDS-2000 drilling system controls to monitor blast hole drilling in a limestone quarry is helping ensure optimum accuracy.
  • Intermat Middle East positions itself for growth
    October 17, 2012
    As the United Arab Emirates gears up to invest more than US $4.6 billion (UAE Dirham 17 billion) in its nationwide road network in the next few years, the second annual INTERMAT Middle East show has taken place in Abu Dhabi with suppliers like AAA Cranes, Miller UK, Kanoo, Liebherr, Sennebogen, WireCo World, Erkat, Terex Finlay, Atlas Copco, , ELSA SRL, Robit Rock Tools, Ramtec Robi, Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik, T.G.S – The Grab Specialist, BV Beco, Techking Tires, Blastrac, SK Solutions, Xcentric Internationa
  • Sandvik introduces smart drilling rig system
    March 9, 2016
    Sandvik has developed a sophisticated radio remote controlled drill rig technology. The new remote screen is a wireless screen solution for radio remote controlled drill rigs. This new solution allows the attachment of the screen to the radio remote controller, offering a considerable advance over earlier systems installed inside the cab. The remote screen is based on a common mobile device hardware platform with an Android operating system. Practically, this means that any mobile device can be chose
  • Volvo CE machines boost output for US quarry
    June 28, 2018
    At Savage Stone’s 161.9ha quarry in Jessup, Maryland, gabbro is extracted from five 13.1m-tall benches, with chemical rock hardness increasing with each lower level. The shot rock (similar to granite and good for coarse road base) used to be loaded into Volvo 31tonne and 36tonne capacity articulated haulers and 90tonne capacity Euclid rigid haulers and transported 800m uphill to the primary crusher, a Lippmann 5062 jaw crusher. The jaw crusher processes rock to 127-178mm, which is then stockpiled on the s