How Do Excavators Work? | Learn About Excavators and Hydraulics for Kids

Welcome back to Brain Candy TV. Hello brainiacs! Look at this great construction site! Wow, look at all the awesome construction vehicles! Do you know what an excavator is? They are so cool! They use something called

hydraulics

which makes them super strong and really good at digging holes. Let's put this excavator together with all the different parts so we can

learn

how it

work

s. First we have this big part called the chassis, which holds the bottom parts together. Now let's add the final drive wheels. The final drive wheels have bumpy sprockets, which will be used to move the tracks.

At the other end of the chassis we will find the front guide wheels. These wheels help the track rotate around the front of the chassis. Now we will add the tracks to the chassis. These tracks give the excavator plenty of grip so it can navigate over bumpy and muddy terrain. Then we will need some rollers at the top and bottom to make the track move forward. Above the chassis is the turning mechanism. The swing drive allows the excavator to turn quickly. This large part is called the house. The house houses the engine and connects all the upper parts.

At the back of the house is a large, heavy piece called a counterweight. This helps keep the excavator balanced when digging with its large arm at the front. Now we will add the motor. That's the part that provides power to the excavator and makes everything move! Let's add a seat so the operator has somewhere to sit. On each side of the seat there are two joysticks. The operator uses these joysticks to control the large arm of the excavator. This part is called the cabin. Keeps operator safe on dangerous construction site. Now it's time to assemble the big arm of the excavator!

This large strong part is called a boom. Below the boom, we will add the hydraulic boom cylinders. These pieces can move the pen up and down with amazing force! The next part of the big arm is called the stick. Now we need to add the hydraulic lever cylinder. This will push the end of the stick in or out. The rocker arm cylinder must be connected with hydraulic hoses. One hydraulic hose goes to the front of the cylinder and the other to the rear. We'll see why this is important later. At the end of the stick, we have the cube.

The bucket is the part that helps the excavator dig deep holes and lift up a lot of rocks and dirt. The pointed teeth on the end help the bucket cut through hard soil. This part is called the H bond because it is shaped like a capital letter H. These parts are called dog bones. Ha ha, don't get too excited Lizzy, they're just shaped like dog bones, but you don't want to chew on them! Dog bones are used to connect the H link to the stick. Finally, we'll add the bucket hydraulic cylinder to connect to the H-link, along with more hydraulic hoses so we can control the bucket.

Awesome, our big and powerful excavator is now complete! Do you want to know the secret of why

excavators

are so strong? It's something called

hydraulics

. Let's

learn

how it

work

s. Inside the excavator, there is a pump that pushes hydraulic fluid, such as motor oil, very quickly through small tubes. The fluid then passes to one end of a hydraulic cylinder here or here. Inside the cylinder there is a piston that separates the liquid that enters at each end of the cylinder. If you want the piston to go in, pump fluid (shown in red) into this end. If you want the piston to come out, pump the fluid (shown in blue) to the other end.

When the high-velocity fluid from the tubes passes into the much wider cylinder, it slows down, but pushes against the piston with much greater force. So by controlling the fluid entering each end of all the cylinders, you get a super strong excavator arm! Very good, huh? Hi Lizzy! Do you want to get on the excavator and show us how it works? Well, let's join Lizzy in the cockpit and see how she controls all the different parts! Before we start, we need to unlock the safety lock lever so Lizzy can use the controls. These handles are used to drive each track.

To move forward, Lizzy will push both handles forward. To back up, Lizzy will pull the handles back. To turn the entire excavator, we can make one track go backwards and the other go forward like this. But we don't always have to use the tracks to turn the excavator. We can also just rotate the house by pushing the left stick sideways like this. Now comes the really fun part! We can use the other movements of the joystick to control the big and powerful arm of the excavator! To move the pen up, we will pull the right joystick back.

To lower the boom, we will push the joystick forward. To extend the stick, we'll push the left stick forward like this. To retract the lever, we will pull the left joystick backwards. Finally, to throw the cube, we will push the right joystick to the right. To curve the bucket, we will push the left joystick to the left. Awesome! Now we know the main controls of the excavator! Alright! Let's use our new skills to get those heavy rocks out of the hole at the construction site! Wow, it's so powerful! He has no problem picking up all those heavy rocks!

Hey, here comes the dump truck to take away the stones! Let's throw them in the trash bin! Good job Lizzy! Let's get another load. Great job! Now the dump truck can take away all those stones. Thanks trucker! Wow, it was a fun day at the construction site. We learned a lot about

excavators

and hydraulics! What do you want to learn next? Hello brainiacs! Click here if you want to see more of our fun videos! Learning is great and I'm so glad you're here to learn with us! And if you keep learning, you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up!

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