Hymac Excavators

[sean]

Another three sheets on hymac to come
sean

[Jeremy Rowland]

Sometimes, just sometimes dreams do come true and today the little boy inside me was reborn again after I climbed into the cab of a Hymac 880 for the first time in 32 years.
It was great to hear the Cummins Vee8 burst into life and good to feel the machine as I tracked her into the middle of the yard for me to be able to take some pics.
I must say a very big thank you to Paul McGuigan who owns this machine and has gone to great lengths to restore it.
Paul like me is a massive 880 fanatic and searched far and wide to obtain this machine which incidently used to belong to Conny Kolso a Maskinisten member.
I will add more info and pics of this machine latter, Paul still has quite a bit of work left on her to complete the restoration. As you can see from the pics the 880 was a large machine for its time and tipped the scales at over 22 tons.
Thanks Paul for today very much appreciated.

Jeremy

[Martyn Henley]

Oh well done Jeremy well worth the trip

Do you know if the undercarriage is original ?

Martyn

[bsbplant]

GREAT ! photo's of the 880 ! more please !! Well Mr. henley are you going to build us a 1/35 scale model of this ? or will i still have to DREAM !!!!

[Martyn Henley]

GREAT ! photo's of the 880 ! more please !! Well Mr. henley are you going to build us a 1/35 scale model of this ? or will i still have to DREAM !!!!

You know Brian, i don't think it would fit in my moulds, it was on the edge when i did the Mustang ..however 1/50th scale

Martyn

[Nick Drew]

Great photos Jeremy!!

I would love to do a post on my blog about this cracking machine Can you send me some shots and a short bit of info on it

Nick

[sean]

Looks in great nick,a sight to behold without doubt.
sean.

[Jeremy Rowland]

Well I knew this would get all the avid Hymac enthusiasts going a little bit more info for you on this machine, incidently this is one of only two surviving members of this model (to my knowledge anyway).
The boom and dipper arm have actually come off an 880C which there are pics posted of earlier in this thread by Chris73 (down at South Wales) Paul told me the original boom was in poor condition and the machine was also fitted with a short dipper stick, which Paul didn't want as he was trying to re-create the machine his father had once owned and he had loved as a lad.
The undercarriage is the original but both Paul and myself being Hymac geeks spotted a few aesthetic detail differences.
Paul has even had the strengthening plates removed from the boom and dipper to re-create the machine his father owned.
Likewise all Swedish 880 machines were fitted with Volvo engines as standard but Paul has gone to great lengths to obtain a Cummins vee8 and put it into this machine.
There is still much work to be done but it was fantastic to sit in and move such a machine once again, I can plainly recall walking down Penns scrap yard to look at the 880 they had just bought and as a young lad I remember thinking what a huge machine it appeared and how splendid it looked having a fresh coat of paint on it, boy was I excited.
A few more pics for now although I will be going to take many more of this machine and will try and get camcorder to get some film of it in operation.

Jeremy

[chris73]

Hi Jeremy,great pics . Do you know what became of the 880c that the boom came off? Cheers.

[Jeremy Rowland]

Hi Jeremy,great pics . Do you know what became of the 880c that the boom came off? Cheers.

Yes Chris its being used for spare parts, sadly both machines had seen better days so Paul built a good one from the two machines, it was of course the 880 that he wanted and not really the 880C.
I do know of another one that still survives or certainly did so until last year but the chap who owns it is a bit awkward and when I approached him to ask if I could take a few pics he flatly refused, I was told on good authority that somebody had wanted to purchase that machine but the awkward owner suddenly decided to hike up the price at the last minute and the deal fell through?
No pleasing some folk, I will be in touch with my contact regarding that machine soon and see if there have been any new developments, the same owner also has a 690 which is also a rare machine.

Jeremy