Now for something completely different. I figured we had enough politics for today. I am not sure how many readers are interested in mining equipment, but mining machines have engines, lots of power, and may appeal to the various motorheads here. Lots of new technology this time around. The focus here is on Caterpillar; fans of Komatsu, Dresser, etc, will have to get their own spys to take pictures. No lawn and garden equipment (D6 and down), we're doing mining machines today.

I went to Mine Expo in Las Vegas last week. I spent most of my time in the equipment displays, looking at trucks, loaders, wheel dozers, tracked dozers, underground mining equipment, and so on. It was a good show, an incredible range of product on display, and a chance to catch up with old friends, co-workers, and customers.

Wednesday, we flew to Phoenix and on to Tucson, to the Tinaja Hills proving grounds. We attended a private demo of new and very new mining products, some of it just out and some soon to be introduced; once again, trucks, dozers, loaders, motorgraders, etc. We then got to climb all over them before heading home.

The large trucks are the most impressive: the largest is the 797F; it has a 400 ton payload capacity, 4000 hp in a direct drive configuration, and a new V20 engine that meets Tier II emissions standards. Standing start fully loaded is very impressive. Top speed of 68 km/hr. Customers are three-pass loading them with 130 tons/shovel pass. These are used in the oil sands in Alberta, and in mines in North and South America. The new 795F has a 345 ton capacity, and a proprietary AC electric drive system optimized for certain haul profiles. Cat hasn't made an electric truck since 1967, so this is about expanding market share by appealing to both camps, the mechanical drive folks and the electric drive folks. The 793F carries 240 tons and is now available in mechanical and elecric drive configurations. These are the trucks shown in the outdoor shots. The D11T dozer has a blade capacity up to 45 cubic yards, and 850 hp. The 994F wheel loader usually runs a 23 yard rock bucket, is 64 feet long, and weighs 430,000 lbs. It won't load the largest trucks shown here efficiently; we would use a cable shovel for those. The 994F is more of a utility machine on a minesite, very mobile.

Mine Expo is a bit of a toy show, but fun given that you can get with the development engineers and service folks as well as get on and under the equipment.

All shots posted here are just snapshots from a Canon SD870, as it was too hot to lug around DSLRs and lenses, and a little dusty as well. The first picture is from the show in Las Vegas, but the lighting was bad inside so the rest are from the demo at the proving grounds in Tucson. After the heavy equipment ran various scenarios, the demo included an Escape, one of the DARPA unmanned vehicles from this year's challenge. I think it came 3rd. It was programmed to mimic a load and haul cycle of a mining truck. The TV screen in front of the display shows what the unmanned vehicle is seeing and processing, while another shot of the Escape shows what happens when obstacles were randomly place in the haul road path. The DARPA vehicle saw the obstacles, and figured out how to go around them. This technology isn't in the production off-highway vehicles yet, but it is coming soon. Lowering the cost of production in mines is closely related to taking out the variability of the operators.

Hope you enjoy the shots.

Attached Images

          

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2008 535, 6 MT, M Sport, Premium, Space Grey
2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White

Retired:
2003 X5 3.0 Steptronic, Premium, Titanium Silver
2002 325xi 5 MT, Steel Grey
2004 Z4 3.0 Premium, Sport, SMG, Maldives Blue

Man...My 2 year old son would love to see those in person. He loves trucks tractors and other large construction vehicles. We take rides on my riding lawn mower and he always wants to drive.

I picked him up a child's electric power wheel Jeep today and he can't get enough of high gear.

Cool pics Jeff, thanks. I don't suppose they have a chassis dyno for the 797F lol?

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^I guess your son's also an SUV/Truck guy as you are.

When he is about 13 I'll have a nice muscle car and a piece of junk parked in the back for his first car.

Which one he gets to drive at 16 will depend on his grades.

No, we run engine dynos, not chassis dynos, for everything over Class 8 highway trucks. Cat may have something at the factory, but I haven't seen it. Every year it seems we need to build a bigger engine dyno, first 2000 hp, then 2500, then 3500, now 4000. We also run transmission dynos for testing and running them in after rebuilds.

I think with the new electric trucks we should be able to load them up with the brake packs, or using external resistive load banks as we do for testing gen sets. It hasn't been too difficult to test 4 mW gensets for a 24 hour load test, so it should be possible.

Yes, I know you were joking, but this is what we do here. It is the ultimate sandbox.

That just made me kinda miss my first job, installing windshields for all our mobile accounts at a glass shop. I handled all of the local construction equipment companies and marinas that build offshore towboats. Those were the days... of climbing up two extension ladders tied together, making it a 4 piece, with a 4'x 5' wheelhouse windshield in my arms because the bucket lift was stuck in the mud across the yard 1/2 the time. Didn't have anything as big as the 797F, but had its baby brothers and big track hoes etc to glass up. Yet now I am the only one at my dealer to install windshields without outsourcing them. I guess learning that trade successfully spilled over to my current career!

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You think professional is expensive, just wait until you pay for amateur.

Great pics Jeff. The sheer massiveness of those machines has always astounded me. That first one looks like a building on wheels.

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Ahhhhh! I remember those days with my father going to the pit. He used to be a Civil/Mining Engineer near Albuquerque, NM and Spokane, WA. He used to take us to "work" and show us around the pits. He is the one that got my little brother and I into Engineering. My "relatives" always tells me "here comes the spark chaser" and come back with "at least I am not a ditch digger." ;-)

But - those pictures brings back lots of great memory with my dad. Thank you for bringing back those great memories. Would you mind if I "borrow" the pics and send it to my dad? He would get a kick out of it.

Thank you!

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