Making its debut in the marble quarry sector is a New Holland Construction B100C backhoe loader that has been specially equipped to cut marble. A support arm and chain cutter, mounted in place of the traditional backhoe, are said to offer “a new ingenious and simple method for cutting blocks of marble that is both fast and efficient.” The BI00C was fitted with a chain cutter (model CST 965) developed by Italian company Benetti Macchine, based in Carrara, Italy, who specialise in supplying marble-cutti
Making its debut in the marble quarry sector is a New Holland Construction B100C backhoe loader that has been specially equipped to cut marble.
A support arm and chain cutter, mounted in place of the traditional backhoe, are said to offer “a new ingenious and simple method for cutting blocks of marble that is both fast and efficient.”
The BI00C was fitted with a chain cutter (model CST 965) developed by Italian company Benetti Macchine, based in Carrara, Italy, who specialise in supplying marble-cutting machines. The company worked in close collaboration with the New Holland Construction Engineering division in Lecce, Italy, which has the capability to produce bespoke machines, based on requests from its customers, for niche sectors.
Federico Benetti, owner of Bennetti Maccine, explains the background to the development of this new product.
“This machine was created to meet the needs of our customers, who know better than anyone how to improve their business and what machines are required to best achieve it,” he says.
“What they were missing until now, was a machine that could operate autonomously in the quarry, and cut blocks of marble in situ. To accommodate this requirement we explored the idea of combining cutting equipment with a backhoe loader.”
Benetti considered New Holland to be the ideal partner to develop this type of innovative product with due to the performance and known reliability of their backhoe loaders. The close collaboration between the manufacturer’s engineering division and the Benetti technicians resulted in the development of a backhoe loader specifically designed for this particular application.
The prototype underwent several months of vigorous testing in the Carrara marble quarries, during which expert operators in marble extraction made the machine work at full speed and for long periods. The result was that the New Holland B100C backhoe loader “passed with flying colours,” and made its official debut at the Marmomacc trade fair in Verona, Italy, late in 2013.
Fitting a backhoe loader with a chain cutter is an alternative to diamond wire cutting machines, normally used to cut large blocks of marble (or bench walls). However, New Holland says its solution “offers greater safety and a considerable reduction in working time.”
The company says that diamond wire cutting machines do not move autonomously but must be positioned on tracks that run next to the blocks to be cut. This operation lengthens working time considerably.
The New Holland Construction backhoe loader is able to move up to the marble blocks autonomously and square them up to allow them to then be transported by truck to the facilities dedicated to transforming them into slabs.
The first B100C backhoe loader designed for quarry work was bought at the start of 2014 by Grupo Frazao, an important Portuguese company in the mining sector. Shortly beforehand, another customer, Solancis, also Portuguese, tested and subsequently purchased the prototype.
Antonio Alberto Frazao, managing director of Grupo Frazao, which was founded in 1963 and specialises in the quarrying of aggregates and limestone, says the decision to purchase the backhoe loader was driven by the need to increase quarry productivity. He also says the trust they had in Benetti and New Holland Construction led them to buy the new product.
The backhoe loader is currently working in the company’s limestone quarry in Pé da Pedreira, north of the capital Lisbon. It is used to cut the marble to smaller sizes, suitable for transport by truck.
Frazao says the new backhoe loader offers speed and autonomy of movement, and that cutting the marble does not require water.
The prototype of the backhoe loader for marble cutting has been working for several months for Solancis, which specialises in transformation of natural stone and is a long-standing Benetti customer.
Founded in 1969, Solancis is one of the leading Portuguese companies quarrying and transforming natural stone. The raw material comes from the Iberian Peninsula’s largest reserves of limestone at Serras de Aire and Candeeiros.
Managing director Samuel Costa Delgado explains the decision to purchase.
“We were convinced by the backhoe loader because of its great versatility and the reduced overheads. It is currently working in the Evora di Alcobaca Quarry in the district of Leira, 80km north of Lisbon. It is cutting marble blocks up to three metres high, and can move around inside the quarry without wires or tracks. Thanks to this machine, productivity has increased considerably.”
The New Holland Construction B100C backhoe loader, as with all backhoe loaders from the new New Holland Construction C Series, is produced in the Lecce plant, and the B100C is equipped with an engine that meets with the strict Tier IV Interim (EU Stage IIIB) emissions standards.
The 3.4litre engine has been developed by FPT Industrial and produced in the Turin, Italy, plant. C Series backhoe loaders are equipped with the LDS load sensing system with a load sensor and a variable displacement pump. Together, this system is said to reduce fuel consumption considerably.
The B100C backhoe loader also has a new base configuration which includes Powershuttle transmission and mechanical controls, gear type pumps, two front and rear lights and a ROPS-FOPS cab.
