Properly compacted soil is essential for the construction of various buildings, parking lots, pavements, sidewalks and many other construction tasks. The output of the compaction process is a flat and thin ground base that is required for the construction process. Different construction machines known as compactors, are used for different soil compaction activities, depending on the type of soil and the size of the area that needs to be compacted. The most commonly used ones are: rammers, plate compactors, ride on roller, pad foot rollers, single drum rollers and the multi wheel rollers. Generally, for compacting small ground areas, two types of compactors are used: rammers and plate compactors.

Rammer

Rammers are very useful compaction machines which can be used for different soil types, but mostly for cohesive soil compaction. These compaction machines have the capability to provide around 700-800 blows per minute. They have the ability to work in narrow and confined areas where large compaction machines cannot be used. There are many different rammer models with different capabilities. The rammer is also known as a wacker rammer, jumping jack tamper, jumping jack compactor or shortly as a jumping jack. Usually, the jumping jack compactor is operated by a single person who controls the machine on the ground.

Plate Compactor

Plate compactors are another useful machines used for compacting small areas. Generally there are two types of plate compactors: single direction plate compactor and a reversible plate compactor. The plate compactors vibrate on the ground and are designed to provide around 5000 vibrations per minute. These machines compact the soil beneath them by moving either forward or in reverse. They are mostly used for compacting small areas that are covered with layers of asphalt. Some plate compactors are equipped with water tanks for more efficient compaction. The water tanks prevent the asphalt from sticking to the plate of the compactor.

So, which one is better – jumping jack compactor or plate compactor? Although both are used for soil compaction, they are quite different machines which perform similar but different compaction activities. The plate compactor generally shows best results when it is used for the compaction of clean ground materials and it provides smooth surface because of the larger plate on the bottom. The jumping jack compactor on the other hand, is more suitable for compacting small and confined ground areas faster, but it may require higher effort from the operator.