To find out more about this key product in the Sandvik range and its ongoing relationship with the Caterpillar engine team, Peter Haddock caught up with product specialist Ville Siekkinen.

The Sandvik Leopard DI650i is one of its most popular range of Cat powered equipment. Being both compact and powerful, the tracked machine can be easily moved to job sites and travels across construction, mining and quarrying sites with ease, as seen in this video. 

This makes it ideal for end users and contractors engaged in presplit and regular production blasthole drilling. Powered by a Cat C13 328kW rated engine (Peter also covered the latest Stage V C13D engine launch at Conexpo here:    • Cat launch new C13D 13 Litre engine a...  ), the Leopard rig is equipped with a 24.4 m³ compressor delivering airflow at 24bar pressure. 

This combination perfectly matches the Sandvik 5" DTH hammer, with all power fully utilised in the drilling process, translating into low energy consumption, operating costs and high productivity. 

Ville: "The Leopard DI650i is a very versatile machine that can also be used with our 4" and 6" hammers. We have designed a very comfortable operator station to support rig operators, combining the latest technology to support accurate drilling with an incab touch screen and joystick controls.

"Our latest models can also be connected assets, with over 1000 machines currently benefiting from our remote monitoring technology. This allows customers to see how a piece of equipment is performing and can also send engine health data to a local Caterpillar dealer to support best practice maintenance, ensuring high uptime across the globe."

The Leopard DI650i certainly packs a lot of power into a small rig, and Peter hopes to see it in action on site in the future and visit the team in the factory to see how it is all put together.

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