Need your opinion. Machine’s or operator?

[Truckie]

Need your opinion. Machine’s or operator?

I don’t know if it is just bad luck, operator abuse, or just a coincidence.
We got a 350 FUCHS magnet crane at work that is our problem child as hydraulic leaks go.
2 different times about a year apart the seals went out on the swivel and was pouring oil like no tomorrow.
Now here is how the operator or I should say alleged operator runs the crane.
It has a 25 foot boom and a 25 foot stick. Every time he booms down to go into a pile of scrap to mag it up he slams the magnet in to the material and then all of a sudden he rips back on the control to boom back up. It shakes the machine like no tomorrow and just rocks and jars the hell out of everything.
Now he is running our newer machine which is a 944 Liebherr . It to is a magnet crane with a 30 foot boom and 30 foot stick. This same alleged operator runs this one the same way. He has been in it almost a year now and now the seals on the swing motor and swivel are gone and leaking and poring hydraulic oil like crazy.
Again he slams the magnet down in to the pile and rips back on the control to boom back up instantly and shakes and jars the whole machine. There is not a day that goes by he dose not break the magnet line or it come apart and short out from all the banging.


But my main question is, is it just the machines, bad luck or operator abuse?
What’s your opinion?

[Turbo21835]

Abuse. Ive run a few mags. One company I worked at had a Fuchs 360. Never really had any problems with it. The generator did go out after a year and a half. Other than the occasional broken mag power cable. That happens. But not daily. Yes, you do have to throw the mag into the pile with some force to get a decent load. I would hate to see what your "operator" would have done to the Fuchs I was around. That one had scales on it. That way the operator could weigh the load as he put it in the truck.

A little tip to protect that mag cable. Get a piece of fire hose. Run the cable thru the hose. The fire hose will take a decent amount of abuse. Thus saving repairs and down time on the cable.

[Truckie]

Iv ran magnet cranes for a while and I know what you mean about having to use some force with the mag to get a good load on it, but you don’t have to have the control pushed all the forward and leave the magnet smash in to the pile at full force and once it hits then pull all the way back. This Liebherr is just way to powerful not to be smooth on the controls. I don’t care what anyone says that runs or has ran a magnet crane you don’t have to do it that way.
As far as the machine you ran with the built in scale, I guarantee the scale would not be worth any more than shredder feed within a week with this operator.
He has no clue and no touch with the controls.
He thinks he is fast and good and he is far from it. He is fast and horrible.
I can come full force down to a pile and know when I’m about to hit the pile and slow it down, hit the pile and not shake and jar the whole machine.

I just find it hard to believe 2 different machines by 2 different companies and the same operator and both machines have the same problem.

As far as the fire hose goes I have already don’t that trick with this operator and it did not help. Right now I got a piece of 3 inch by 12inch think rubber hose on there, it is helping a bit. The main problem is where the cables hook up from the machine to the magnet.
I use the twist lock welding cable connectors and they work great but not with this operator. Iv done everything from tying the connectors to the machine and using 2 rolls of electrical tape to help protect them. The daily beating just jars them apart and they over heat and have a melt down.