Most of you will remember the Hanix or should I say the S&B x1 I bought in the summer 2009. Well so far I'm adding it to my collection and decided that our British weather is infact crap all year round and therefore needs an all year all weather cab. I've designed, repaired and manufactured many cabs over the years but this was the ultimate challenge . I't's zero tail swing and has the added complications of having the controls fixed in front of you while the boom knuckles towards the cab but also comes right back to end up parallel with the cab. Also the engine access cover hinges upwards towards the cab so a hinged rear door was required also.

Had it done in my head in 5 minuites but construction took just over a week after much futtering about. Heres some pics of the progress. (incidently using the ROPs frame as a template turned out to be a waste of time as it only was suitable as long as no glass was involved. Attaching glass to this frame would have just resulted in breakage everyday due to the angle the boom comes up )

My D5B at work is an open cab as most machines Ive run but we have mild winters here for the most part. The coldest Ive worked in other than 2 weeks ago with an open cab was on the side of the Tennessee river in Barton Alabama. I was on a D66E Komatsu loader in winter. Any rain we got followed the river right to our site and the fan pushing out the back pulled all the cold damp air right through you. The Warmest i was I was on the same site and running a 5299 American crane. It was cold and the old cab was spacious I a heat box over the radiator with a 6 inch pipe bringing the heat to me and also had a diesel jet heater run off the batteries with the use of an inverter.
The D5 I run the company had their door shop build a set of windows for it and a door. They are flimsy rattled and the window track frames were on the outside meaning they would fill with chips and dust from the rubbish and not open. They didnt seal off either. What dust we caught in the cab stayed there in a haze. And only one door made for a miseralbe time. I hated it. Dad would want it on when he ran it a bit in ther winter I finally took over full time and leave the whole mess off. Im waitng for an aftermarket cab company to send me a quote at the moment. Our homemade compactor had spaces in the skidder cab for window inserts and they work out fine.
The cab on my grey market PC50uu-1 Komatsu mini ex wasnt designed for a 6foot tall redneck like me lol. Its cramped as can be. It also looks like a phone booth on tracks. The first job with it I was digging at an Rv factory we landfill for and a contractor with a little cabless Terramite backhoe made fun of me and the cab. Till it started a cold winter rain and I had to take my coat off because the heater was too much.

I never liked working with cabs...OROPS is the way to go for me.
I hate airconditioners & most cabs have too many blind spots....or long cracks in the glass.
In our climate,you need to be able to work WITH the breeze,not against it....or you end up with more topsoil in your eyes/nose than is healthy.
If I lived in the UK,I'd definately want the cab & heater.