[QUOTE=metric_taper;244825]Nice looking welds.
You must be your own contractor to own a super duty Takeuchi excavator. My local Rural Electric Cooperative, only uses that brand (here in Iowa, US), they don't break down.

Thank you for your kind words about the welds. The machine was purchased to help me complete a renovation project and will then be sold once the project is completed. Attachments are expensive so whenever possible I like to make my own. I say the attachments are expensive which is probably a little unfair the cost of materials, specialist cutting equipment, welding, and labour all adds up so they are probably not making as much as I think.

Everything that main dealers do is expensive but generally they are covered with good warranty and genuine parts are used. My machine (so far) has been very reliable but I have serviced and maintained myself to keep costs low and to a minimum, so when the resale occurs I can hopefully recover the money back I have spent (well that’s the idea). QI have made a land rake, riddle bucket and a ripper tooth for the digger.

The tilting grading beam is the next project

The Home Engineer