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Well I did it by carefully cutting out the center section of the bracket using a machine shop band saw, leaving two holes 10cm on center and then welding the bracket back together which worked as far as mounting the bracket ... BUT 1. This affects the swing geometry (moves the upper hydraulic cylinder pin closer to the bottom pin) so I can't retract the thumb much past the 90 degree mark; and 2. the factory grease nipple on the upper pin is not accessible and 3. there are no grease fittings on the other two pins/axles. I tried to fix point 2 by rotating the hydraulic cyl 180 about its axis but now the hookups are reversed and not sure what that will do, have not tested that yet. I will fix 3 by drilling and tapping holes for grease nipples in the appropriate places. There is no fixing problem no 1 but it remains to be seen how much of a problem this is. Best to have it completely out of the way when you don't need it, but I have seen other excavators where it rotates about the same as mine. There is an advantage at the other end of the arc ... I can close my thumb with the bucket extended more. Instead of washers, I got a piece of 1" ID DOM steel tubing with thick walls and cut spacers for the 4 pins that need them on the lathe. From memory, two were .700, four were .420, and two were .250 in length.

It helps that the blade is on concrete

Why are you selling it???

Why do they call them 1 ton?

I have the same excavator and the same thumb. To fit the thumb support plate with 7cm hole spacing to the excavator bracket which has 5cm hole spacing, I plan to simply cut out the center hole and surrounding metal taking out 4 cm, and then weld it back together on all 4 sides. I will then have 2 holes 10cm on center. There isn't enough meat in the right places to weld up the top hole and drill a new hole 10cm from the bottom hole. Am I missing something?

ANYONE FIGURED OUT A BOLT-ON HYDRAULIC THUMB FOR THIS L12 THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE ENGINEERING?

Great video. i have a L12, and i’d like to see how you fabricated the thumb bracket.

shorten the chain, the arm is up to high.

Johnie cash had a song , got it 1 piece at a time/

I also have an AGT L12, unfortunately the control is very jerky. Does anyone have any tips?

I really like that model. Sometimes, i wish I'd gotten that over the qh12r. I have that same thumb, and it seemed long. After putting a quick coupler on, it made my bucket stick out farther, and the long thumb works much better. Nice video!

Do you have any thoughts on adding a hydraulic filter or a hydraulic oil temp sensor?

Ok, thanks for the info, I picked up my new mini excavator yesterday, it’s the same model as yours, I bought the mini excavator with an attachment package, I added the hydraulic thumb and tilt bucket. I’m looking forward to trying it out! Looking forward to seeing more of your videos! Big shout out to you from Mississippi!

Question, about what percentage rpm do you operate your mini excavator?

I’m looking at buying the same model, thanks for the info and video.

I'm an octogenarian and when I think of what we could have done with a rig like this way back in the 1960's, I certainly chuckle! You young folks have a lot of fun times ahead of you. Best of luck!

Wow that was actually pretty cool

Also if yoy get a pressure test gauge will show the power is low on hydraulics and need to be turned up to where they should be

lower the chain fool you not loading anything 12" off the grounf

Hey, Congrats on the new to you VMax. 173 at the rear wheel, sounds like fun. Njoy.🍻

Trusted as far as the hole in your bucket

Glad to see you finally found a use for them weights! Nice job.

Money is what you spend. Value is what you get. chinese rubbish

Can you do another video with the tracks 90 degrees to where they are in this video?

Did well pulling out those bushes!

I also have an L12 and can't find a hydraulic thumb kit that will work out of the box. I wish someone would make a bracket with the correct hole spacing that we could buy separately. Good job making it work.

How much did you pay for it

Love your channel’s name, thanks for sharing for those of us seeking info and enjoy seeing what these machines can do.

Nice video mate, I've just started putting mine to work good little machine.

I've got myself an L12 nice machine can do a lot. Did you change the hydraulic fluid yet? I've done about 10 hours and think I should get rid of whatever they put in there and replace it with new stuff. I've heard it can give the machine more power. Looking forward to more videos!

if fisher price built an excavator this would be it

Thanks for an interesting video. So what is the maximum weight range do you think you can work out comfortably with?

There was another guy that recently did this and he was able to pick up 656 pounds

Some of these are built backwards, meaning the lifting cylinder is between the boom and the cab, (instead of the boom and the work, cylinders are pulling vs pushing, they are stronger in 1 direction than the other direction), and these having different geometry have different capacities. Also, some of these different units have different diameters of hydraulic cylinders, and that can make a gigantic difference, even with the same name & model number, they are built different with whatever parts they could find... Maybe some more technical details like system hydraulic pressure and cylinder diameters should be included if you are trying to do a "Mini Ex Benchmark", like in a computer benchmark report.

I have an L12 too, looking forward to more videos!

I think if you had the arm low it could lift more weight. The arm extended all the way out puts all the weight of the arm for the boom to lift, like a giant lever. With the arm low there is no giant lever effect. But how you did it shows how high the max weight can be lifted.

cool demo, thanks! your house gear has a lot of play in it, you may want to check its tight and properly aligned to the gear or it will easily break

Lot stronger that i thought it would be. Do you know, or could you test it lifting capacity over the side of the tracks.

Great video! Mini excavators are so handy!

I too own a AGT L12. So far, I used it to remove some turf and make a level pad for a small greenhouse and dug holes to plant small fruit tress and berry bushes. My ground is extremely rocky so I wish it had a little more digging power, but you get what you pay for. If you find a kit for the hydraulic thumb, let me know also.

If you find a hydraulic thumb for it definitely post a video. I am a L12 owner also and have yet to find the correct thumb for it.