Skip to main content

Increased working accuracy for compact graders

Bobcat is offering improved working precision for grading operations with its compact loaders and grader attachments. The new grading equipment is designed for use by asphalt and concrete contractors for excavating and grading work for new roads. Loader-mounted Bobcat grader attachments can now be combined not only with a new sonic tracer kit. This is the first sonic tracer system aimed at use with compact loaders, providing automatic grade control in applications where lasers may not be suitable.
November 29, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
Bobcat is offering new machine control packages for its compact graders
Bobcat is offering improved working precision for grading operations with its compact loaders and grader attachments. The new grading equipment is designed for use by asphalt and concrete contractors for excavating and grading work for new roads. 

Loader-mounted 1130 Bobcat grader attachments can now be combined not only with a new sonic tracer kit. This is the first sonic tracer system aimed at use with compact loaders, providing automatic grade control in applications where lasers may not be suitable. 

A sonic tracer is versatile as it can follow undulations in terrain and can also be used in parallel with laser equipment. Users can mount the sonic tracer on a grader blade, allowing the operator to switch between using the sonic tracer or the laser system.

The Bobcat sonic tracer kit is designed for use with the new enhanced 274mm wide HD Grader 108 and 244mm wide HD Grader 96 heavy duty attachments.

The HD Grader 108 heavy duty attachment is approved for use on the Bobcat S770 and S850 skid steers, T770 and T870 compact tracked and A770 all-wheel steer loader models. The HD Grader 96 attachment covers the same models as well as the smaller T650 compact tracked loader.     

The grader blades feature a six way blade with hydraulic side-shift of up to 330mm left or right. The hydraulic side-shift allows the blade to get into corners when working in confined areas, as well as grading right up to an obstacle.
The new graders can also be converted from standard units to laser graders quickly and easily. The operator only needs to mount the receiver poles, clamp the laser receivers onto the poles and plug in the harnesses. 

In addition to the laser receivers are the laser transmitters; the model GL412, a single-slope version, and the GL422, a new dual-slope transmitter which comes standard with a Handheld CR600 receiver.

Installed on the blades of the HD Grader 108 and HD Grader 96 heavy duty grader attachments, the sonic tracer emits ultrasonic signals to maintain a set distance or elevation from an object, surface or the ground, allowing the graders to be used to grade, level, and backfill on a multiple slope terrain when following a string line, kerb Stone, the gutter or even a previous pass as a grade control.  Grade accuracy is 6.4mm, and the detection range of the sonic tracer is from 200-1300mm.

The Bobcat system comprises a sonic tracer, two slope sensors and one rotation sensor, all of which are 2122 Trimble components.

To be fully operational, the Bobcat loader must be equipped with the control panel. The operator can set the desired grade and tracer offset, while getting a read out of the actual grade and graphical feedback on both grade and tracer offset.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Dressta increases dozer application range
    January 6, 2017
    Dressta is increasing the application range of its well-proven bulldozer designs with the introduction of new models for specific duties. The company claims that these variants represent Dressta’s customer-focused approach to manufacturing construction equipment. The firm has considerable experience in specifying its machines for different, and in some cases particularly arduous, machine applications. The range of customer-specific variations include optimal equipment configuration to adapt the machines to
  • Smoother surfaces
    September 11, 2014
    Efficient new soil compaction machines featuring the latest technology are now coming to market – Mike Woof reports The start of 2014 has seen a major development for the construction equipment sector, with the Tier 4 Final emissions requirements at last beginning to take effect. The implications of the drive towards the introduction of low emission engine technology have been seen right across the off-highway machinery equipment industry, and the soil compaction segment is no exception.
  • Innovations in asphalt surfacing will deliver improvements
    June 20, 2017
    The first few months of 2017 have seen a flurry of new model introductions in the asphalt paving sector for both European and North American paving types - Mike Woof writes. Developments are being seen in both European and North American asphalt paving machines. The latest equipment will help boost productivity and quality for asphalt paving work, while many of the new machines also offer increased versatility. Innovations in telematics meanwhile are helping to ensure that new generation asphalt pavers also
  • Silver Star marries a Topcon GPS system to a Power Curber 5700-C
    January 19, 2016
    In the US state of Oklahoma, Silver Star Construction has adopted 3D technology for site modelling and stringless machine control The company, based in the town of Moore, recently used a Topcon Millimeter GPS system mounted on one of their Power Curber 5700-Cs to put down nearly 5,500m of curb and gutter in a residential housing addition in south-west Oklahoma City. Once the dirt work and grading was completed, the concrete crew got to work by mounting the Topcon receivers on their 5700-C. The Topcon