CONSTRUCTION TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

There are several equipment that are used in the Construction Industry. These are used for both large and small
scale purposes. Various types of Equipment are used for Building & structural Construction, Road construction,
underwater and other marine construction work projects etc. There are various operations that are involved in
construction projects, whether it’s a large scale or a small scale;

1. Excavation and digging of large quantities of earth

2. Placement of construction materials (eg:-Bricks, concrete)
3. Compacting and leveling, Dozing, Grading, Hauling etc…

Construction equipment can be categorized into 4 main sections based on purpose and use;

1. Earth Moving equipment 2. Construction vehicle 3. Material Handling Equipment 4. Construction

Equipment

EARTH MOVING EQUIPMENT

1. EXCAVATOR
An excavator is a construction vehicle used to excavate or move large objects. An Excavator is basically
made up of 2 parts: a driving base associated a powerful boom arm with an attachment designed for
excavating. The operator sits within a small cab connected to the base and controls the arm. The
excavator uses a Hydraulic system to generate a Hydraulic force to control the mechanical arm of the
machine. It also uses a chain wheel system for its movement.

Excavators are been used in large and small scale constructions. They are used for small housing projects
to do a cut and fill, used in road construction, used in marine structures to place armors and large rocks,
and also been used in larger sites to excavate, move construction material, remove construction waste
etc. There are several types of excavators which are classified on use, brand and purpose.

The excavator probably is the most commonly used machine in the Construction Industry. These are the
following:

▪ Digging of trenches, holes, foundations

▪ Demolition
▪ Material handling
▪ General grading/landscaping
▪ Brush cutting with hydraulic attachments
▪ Forestry work
▪ Lifting and placing of pipes
▪ Mining, especially, but not only open-pit mining
▪ River dredging
2. GRADER

A grader is a construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface. It is commonly called in names
such as road grader, a blade, a maintainer and motor grader. Graders are mostly been used in road construction
for construction and maintenance of dirt roads and gravel roads. The grader typically consists of three axles, with
the engine and cab situated top, the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third axle at the front end of the
vehicle, with the blade in between.

In the construction of paved roads, they are used to prepare the base course to create a wide flat surface for the
asphalt to be placed on. They are also used to set native soil foundation pads to finish grade prior to the
construction of large buildings. Many countries use grader for the flatting process that is done before the placing of
Asphalt. Graders too have various types; some consist a large fork front, and some consist of a flat blade front,
which vary from different sizes.

3. LOADER

A loader is a heavy equipment machine frequently used in construction industry, mainly used to load material
(such as demolition waste, feed, gravel raw minerals, used material, rock, and plywood) into or onto another
type of machinery (such as a dump truckload). Loaders have a very higher productivity and a lower
maintenance cost unlike most of the other large scale construction machines. The Loader has a large bucket
with a shorter moving arm. Large quantities of material such as soil, construction material, etc. can be moved
from this. The loader consists of four large wheels for its movement. Loaders are best suited for earth moving,
 road construction, agricultural purposes, and also in large and small scale constructions which include marine
structures. Loaders too are available in various types based on its use and brand.

USES OF LOADERS IN CONSTRUCTION

1. Laying pipe
2. Clearing rubble
3. Moving of Construction waste and other materials 4. Small excavations

4. SKID LOADER

A skid loader or skid-steer loader is a small rigid frame, engine-powered machine with lift arms used to attach
a wide variety of labor-saving tools or attachments. Though occasionally they are equipped with tracks, skid-
steer loaders are typically four-wheel vehicles with the wheels mechanically locked in synchronization on each
side, and the left-side drive wheels can be driven independently of the right-side drive wheels.

5. CRAWLER LOADER
 The crawler loader combines the stability of the crawler tractor with the abilities of a wheel loader. However,
to construct a reliable crawler loader it requires more than simply attaching a loader bucket onto a crawler
tractor. It must be considered with its specific purpose in mind to ensure. It has the strength to survive heavy
excavating.

The introduction of hydraulic excavators reduced the market for the crawler loader because it was incapable
to match the excavator’s lifting power and flexibility. Crawler loaders are capable of maneuvering across the
entire construction site under its own power, whereas most hydraulic excavators require towing or transport.
While crawler tractors are still being manufactured today.

6. BACKHOE
A backhoe, also known a rear actor or back actor, is a section of excavating equipment or digger consisting of
a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. They are typically mounted on the back of a tractor
or front loader.

The section of the arm nearby to the vehicle is known as the boom, and the section which carries the bucket is
known as the dipper or dipper stick (the terms “boom” and “dipper” having been used previously on steam
shovels). The boom is attached to the vehicle through a pivot known as the kingpost, which allows the arm to
slew left and right, usually through a total of around 200 degrees. Modern backhoes are powered by
hydraulics.
7. BULLDOZER
A bulldozer is a crawler (continuous Tracked tractor) with a substantial metal plate used (known as blade)
fitted to push large amounts of soil, sand, dirt or other materials when construction or remodeling and usually
push on the back with a claw mechanism (Known as ripper) to loosen densely-compacted materials.

8. TRENCHER
It is sometimes called as Ditchers or Trenches, are similar to excavators in the sense that penetrate the soil,
break soil and rock, and from the earth. They differ from excavators in that the soil is removed in one
continuous movement. Digging trenches for pipes used specifically for, but other machines have been
improvised in the past in order to serve this purpose.

Trenchers can come in two types

1. Ladder trenchers
2. Wheel trenchers
9. SCRAPER

The scraper is a large piece of equipment used in mining, construction, agriculture and other earth moving
applications. When the hopper is full, it is raised and closed with a vertical blade (other name: apron). The
scraper can carriage its load to the fill area where the blade is raised, the back panel of the hopper, or the
ejector, is hydraulically pushed forward and the load tumbles out. Then the empty scraper returns to the cut
site and repeats the cycle.

10. WHEELED LOADING SHOVELS

Loading shovels are loaded where it counts, pushing the front end bucket loader efficiency higher. From mini
loaders to large production machines, find the right fit for the work in load and carry operations, civil &
building construction, earth moving, waste handling, recycling, landscaping, quarrying, aggregates, block
handling, lumber yards, agriculture and more.

A shovel’s work cycle, or digging cycle, consists of four phases:

1. digging
2. swinging
3. dumping
4. returning
CONSTRUCTION VEHICLES

1. TIPPERS

A truck with the rear platform of which can be raised at the front end to allow the load to be discharged
by gravity also called tip truck. Tippers are suited for the rough and tumble of mining & quarrying
operations, as well as for carrying bulk loads in construction and infrastructure industries. Complete
maneuverability, high performance and long-term endurance are common to all trucks, resulting in lower
operational costs.

2. DUMPER

A dump truck is a vehicle designed to transport bulk material, often in construction. It has an open jump
ahead with the driver seat , and consist of a large boxlike body to contain materials. A dumper usually has
4 Wheels, where the entire load and the movement depends on. They are usually diesel engine. A towing
eye is equipped for use as a tractor secondary site. Modern dumpers have payloads up to 10 tons and
usually articulate perform in the middle of the housing. There are various sizes of dumpers in the present
construction industry. Apart from using them for construction, they are also been used in large mining
tunnels and gem excavations to remove soil and other substances.

3. TRAILER
 A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle towed by a powered vehicle. It is commonly used for the
transport of goods and materials. Sometimes recreational vehicles, travel trailers, or mobile homes with
limited living facilities, where people can camp or stay have been referred to as trailers. In earlier days,
many such vehicles were towable trailers. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for
transport of goods and materials in construction or other related field.

4. TANKER

A tank truck is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquefied loads, dry bulk cargo or gases on roads. The
largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars which are also designed to carry liquefied loads.
Many variants exist due to the wide variety of liquids that can be transported. In construction its use for
carrying concrete mixed.

MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT

1. CRANE
A crane is a type of machine commonly used in construction, generally equipped with an elevator, ropes
or chains and sheaves that can be used both to move and to lift and lower materials horizontally. It is
mainly used for heavy lifting and transport to other locations.
One or more simple machines are used to provide a mechanical benefit and thus to move loads on the
normal ability of a person.

Cranes are commonly employed in the transport industry for the loading and unloading of goods for the
movement of materials and manufacturing industries for mounting agricultural machinery, in the
construction industry.

(See specific topic of How Do Crane Works)

• CONVEYORS
A conveyor system could be a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves
materials from one location to a different. Conveyors are especially useful in applications
involving the transport of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow quick and efficient
transport for a wide sort of materials, which make them very popular within the material
handling and packaging industries.

• HOIST
Hoist is a device for raising or lowering a load by means of a drum or wheel lift to which wraps
the rope or chain. It can be operated by hand, is driven electrically or pneumatically, and the
chain or wire rope fibers are used as lifting device. The load connected to the lifting means of a
lifting hook.

Also known as a man-lift, Buck-hoist, temporal lift, builder forklifts, lift or elevator. This kind of lift
is often in large construction projects large as tall buildings or large hospitals. There are many
other uses for the elevator.

Other industries use the buck hoist for full-time operations. The purpose is to transfer its
personnel, material and equipment between the ground and the upper floors, or between plants
in the middle of a structure.
 Electric Hoist used in construction

2. FORKLIFT

A forklift truck (lift truck, fork truck, forklift, tow-motor) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and
transport materials. Forklift trucks are available in many variations and load capacities. In a typical
warehouse setting most forklifts used have load capacities between one to five tons. Larger machines, up
to 50 tons lift capacity are used for lifting heavier loads.

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT
1. CONCRETE MIXER

A Concrete (Cement Mixer) is a machine that combines cement evenly to form aggregates such as sand or
gravel and water to concrete. A typical concrete mixer using a rotating drum for mixing the components.
 For smaller volume works portable concrete mixers are regularly used for concrete, can be produced at
the site, so that workers have enough time to use the concrete before it hardens time.
Special trucks for transporting concrete produced and ready-mix concrete to the construction site. They
can be charged with dry materials and water, with the mixing occurring during transport. With this
method, the material was mixed. The concrete truck transportation of liquid mixture-maintained material
by movement or rotation of the drum to the delivery.

Manual Concrete mixture in construction

2. COMPACTOR

A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to material soil through compaction in construction

industry.

In construction, there are three main types of compactor: ▪ Plate

compactor ▪ Jumping Jack.
▪ Road roller.

The roller type compactors are used for compacting crushed rock as the base layer underneath concrete
or stone foundations or slabs.

The plate compactor has a large vibrating base plate and is suited for creating a level grade, while the
jumping jack compactor has a smaller foot.
 The jumping jack type is mainly used to compact the backfill in narrow trenches for water or gas supply
pipes etc. Road rollers may also have vibrating rollers.

3. PAVER

A paver (paver finisher, asphalt finisher, paving machine) is an engineering vehicle used to lay asphalt on
roadways. It is normally fed by a dump truck. A separate machine, a roller, is then used to press the hot
asphalt mix, resulting a smooth, even surface. The sub-base being prepared by use of a grader to trim
crushed stone to profile after rolling.

4.
ROAD ROLLERS
Road roller (sometimes called a roller-compactor, or just roller) is a compactor type engineering vehicle
used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations, similar
rollers are used also at landfills or in agriculture.
TUNNELING EQUIPMENT

1. ROAD HEADERS

A road header machine called a boom type road header. Road headers are advanced, self-forced and
extremely powerful rock cutting machines are designed to excavate roadways, tunnels and compartments
continuously without using volatile. Powered electro hydraulically, they produce no fumes and are used
extensively in mineral mining, coal mining and underground construction projects, where their capacity to
excavate the desired profile without causing damaging vibrations is highly valued for both safety
environmental reasons.

2. TUNNEL BORING MACHINE (TBM)

Bored tunneling by using a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is frequently used for excavating long tunnels.
Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) are all the time more used for tunneling with difficult and complex
geological environment, including rock and soil mixed and interfaced grounds, bursting rocks, squeezing
and swelling grounds, highly rocks fractured, shear and fault zones and grounds under high in situ stress
and water pressure. Tunnel Boring Machine may be suitable for excavating tunnels which contain
competent rocks that can provide adequate geological stability for boring a long section tunnel without
structural support. However, very hard rock can cause major wear of the TBM rock cutter and may slow
down the progress of the tunneling works to the point where TBM becomes useless and uneconomical
and may take longer time than the drill and blast tunneling method.

Construction Tools List for Building Construction

Bolster
Bolster is like chisel but it is used to cut bricks. Its cutting edge is wider than the width of brick. It is useful for
accurate cutting of bricks

Boning Rods
Boning rods are made of wood and they are T shape. They are used to level the excavated trench throughout its
length. Minimum three boning rods are used to level the trench surface.

Brick Hammer
Brick hammer is used to cut the bricks and also used to push the bricks if they come out of the course line.

Bump Cutter
Bump cutter is used to level the concrete surfaces like concrete floors, foundations etc. It is also called screed.

Chisel
Chisel is generally used in wood work and this must be useful to remove the concrete bumps or excess concrete in
hardened surface.
Circular Saw
Circular saw used to cut the wood boards, frames etc. It is used when accurate cutting is required in less time. It is
safer than hand saw.

Concrete Mixer
Concrete mixer is machine which mixes the ingredients water, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and cement to
deliver the perfectly mixed concrete.

Crowbar

Crowbar is used for digging the ground and to remove the roots of trees in the ground, nails etc.

Digging Bar
Digging bar is solid metal rod with pin shape at the bottom. It is also used to dig the hard surfaces of ground.
Drill Machine
Drill machine is used to make holes in the walls, slabs, doors, window frames etc.

End Frames
Their use is similar to the line and pins. But instead of pins, L shaped frames are used at the end of thread which
hold the brick work effectively and level the alignment accurately.

Float

Float is made of wood which is used to smoothen the plastered concrete surface. It contains handle on its top and
smooth wooden surface on its bottom.
Gloves
Gloves are required to prevent the hands from direct contact with cement, paints etc. and to avoid injury while
using machines, tools etc.

Hand Saw
Hand saw is used to cut the wood materials like doors, windows, slab panels etc.

Head Pan
Head pan is made of iron which is used to lift the excavated soil or cement or concrete to the working site etc. it is
more commonly used in construction sites.

Hoe

Hoe is also used to excavate the soil but in this case the metal plate is provided with acute angle to the wooden
handle.
Jack Plane
Jack plane is used in the wood work to smoothen the surface of doors and windows etc.

Ladder
Ladder is also required in construction works. To check slab work, to transport material to the higher floors, to
paint the walls etc.

Line and Pins

Line and pins consist a thread whose ends are connected with two solid metal rods with pin points. It is used to
level the alignment of brick course while brick laying.

Mason’s Square
Mason’s square is used to achieve perfect right angle at the corner of masonry wall. It is “L” shape. First course is
laid properly using Mason’s square then based on the first, remaining layers of bricks are set out.
Measuring Box
Measuring box is used to measure the quantity of sand and aggregate used for making concrete. It is of fixed
dimensions so, aggregate need not to be weighted for every time. The general dimensions of a measuring box are
300mm X 300mm X 400mm (length x width x depth). The volume of measuring box is generally 1 Cubic Feet, which
makes it easy to measure concrete ratio or mortar ratio.

Measuring Tape
Measuring tape is used to check the thickness, length, widths of masonry walls, foundation beds, excavated
trenches etc.

Measuring Wheel
Measuring wheel is used to measure the distances or lengths. It contains a wheel of known diameter, which record
the no.of complete revolutions from which the distance can be measured. It makes the work easier.

Pick Axe

Pick axe is used to excavate the soil. It is more suitable for hard soil which is quite difficult to dig with spade or hoe.
Plumb Bob
Plumb bob is used to check the verticality of structures. It contains a solid metal bob connected to the end of a
thread. It is also used inn surveying to level the instrument position.

Polisher
Polisher is used to smoothen the surface of tiles, wood works etc. The smoothening makes them shine and the
process is called polishing.

Putty Knife

Putty knife is used level the putty finishing and also used to reduce the thickness of finish when it is more thick.

Earth Rammer
After the excavation of ground, the lower surface may be uneven. To level the surface earth rammer is used. It
contains big square shaped block at its end with which the ground is leveled.
Rubber Boots
During construction works, legs may damage due to contact with chemical materials like cement or physical
accidents. So, for safety rubber shoes are required.

Safety Glasses
To prevent the eyes from dust, chemical actions of materials etc. safety glasses should be maintained.

Safety Helmet

The safety helmet should be necessary in construction works. Any material or structure may fall from height during
construction work. So, to protect the head from injury or any fatal accident, this safety helmet should be used.

Sand Screen Machine

The fine aggregate used in concrete should not contain impurities or coarse particles. The sand screen machine is
used to screen the sand or fine aggregate before mixing it with concrete. This screen is also used for screening fine
sand for plastering work.
Scratchers
Plastering of a surface is carried out layer wise. Minimum 2 coats are necessary for plastering. To provide the good
bond between the coats, bottom layer is scratched with a tool called scratchers.

Sledge Hammer
Sledge hammer is used when the ground is hard and contains rock layers. A large weighted metal head is provided
at the wooden handle with which hard layers can be cracked, which makes easy for digging.

Spade
Spade is used to dig the soil for foundation trenches etc. It contains metal plate at the end of long wooden handle.
Level

Spirit level is made of wood or hard plastic with bubble tube in the middle. The bubble tube is filled with alcohol
partially. So, the air bubble is formed in it. Spirit level is used in brick masonry to check the level of the surface. The
spirit level is placed on surface and bubble is checked. The surface is leveled when the bubble in the tube settles at
middle of tube.

Straight Edge Brushes

Straight edge brushes are used to provide finishing to the plastered surface especially at corners and edges of
walls.

Tile Cutter
Tile cutter is used to cut the tiles. Sometimes, normal tile size is larger than required at the corners where floor
meets the wall in that case tile cutter is useful.

Trowel
Trowel is used to lift and apply the cement mortar in small quantities. It is made of steel and wooden handle is
provided for holding. The ends of trowel may be pointed or bull nosed.
Vibrator
Vibrator is used to compact the concrete by this the air gaps are filled with water and workability varies without
adding water to it.

Wedge
Wedge is a small hard metal blade which is used to cut the rock surfaces with the help of sledge hammer.

Wheel Barrow
Wheel barrow is used to transport bulk weights of materials like cement, sand, concrete mix etc. it contains one or
two wheels at its front and two handles at its back which are used to push the wheel barrow.