Slow week in the office

Birken Vogt · Jul 19, 2018

Kiwi-truckwit said:
Don't get me wrong, I understand these guys have a process to follow and I'm not about to blast then for doing their job, but I do think there's sinc streamlining that could be done when it's a minor injury accident and a state highway is blocked.

Un-heard-of here also. California Highway Patrol's #1 concern seems to be to get the road open. Back in the day if you were the fire department and scraping somebody off the pavement was taking too long you could bet the man would be standing there with his Stetson hat looking at his watch, tapping his foot and frowning. They are a little more lenient in cases of safety these days but even in cases of fatalities, total closure is rare and then only as long as absolutely necessary. I think they have struck a reasonable balance these days.

One thing they have done that makes some sense in the larger cities, is to have government-paid tow trucks that drag any disabled vehicles off the freeway to the nearest off ramp as quickly as possible. It makes better financial sense to do that than to force thousands of people to wait, secondary accidents, etc.

Kiwi-truckwit · Aug 3, 2018

Long day Friday. Travelled a couple hours north to put up a digital billboard.
It consists of 2 40'x10' screens, set at about 90° to each other, sitting on top of a 20' riser.
The first truck with the framework was there when I arrived at dawn. The second truck with the screens had a blowout the day before, which took out the wiring for the trailer lights. He was only about 2 hours late in the end.
We got it assembled on the ground, then once the techs had the wiring completed, we lifted it on top of the riser.
10 ton altogether, only supported at the intersection point of the 2 screens. I bet it's gonna rock around a fair bit when it gets windy.

Kiwi-truckwit · Aug 3, 2018

By the time I left that job, it was already dark. And then a 3 hour drive home.

I quite like this picture that I got last night though.

Kiwi-truckwit · Sep 6, 2018

Been a while since I posted. Been flat out, but nothing really interesting enough to get pics of.
Here's a new petrol station site I went to this week. Some of the top brass of the gas company were there to watch, so I'm glad it went well. 3 plastic tanks were installed below ground level, with less than 2 inches clearance on each end to get past the whalers on the sheet piles. It was also pretty windy, just to make it that little bit more interesting.

Kiwi-truckwit · Sep 10, 2018

Not to be outdone by crane operators multitude of awkward sites, I went out looking for one of my own. This site required backing down an alleyway not much wider than the crane, with only just enough room for the front to swing around with the boom raised. Just to make it a little more difficult, we set up in the evening, so it was dark by the time the crane was set up.
At the end of the alleyway, it opens up just enough to set up.
The 43m of full boom is just enough to reach without becoming boom bound on the scaffolding. There's a penetration in the shrink wrapping about 40' into the building, through which we're lifting structural steel. All on the blind, so thankfully they have a good radio man.

Kiwi-truckwit · Sep 10, 2018

A couple more pics

kshansen · Sep 10, 2018

Kiwi-truckwit said:
A couple more

Did you grease the sides of that crane to let it slide in there?

Hope you don't get a hot spell while sitting there or the heat might expand the crane enough to make it to tight to get back out!

Kiwi-truckwit · Sep 10, 2018

kshansen said:
Did you grease the sides of that crane to let it slide in there?

Hope you don't get a hot spell while sitting there or the heat might expand the crane enough to make it to tight to get back out!

Once I managed to get the front around square, it wasn't too bad. It was just getting lined up at the beginning that proved tricky. Rear wheel steering is certainly a necessity on sites like these!

CM1995 · Sep 10, 2018

Good job Kiwi!

Reminds me of one of our storm installs a couple of years ago. 60" CMP detention system. The 3 phase power transformer was hot as well as the 4- 5" conduits going into the building underground. Our pipe passed over them with around 1' of cover.

We had a little more room than you did Kiwi - gotta love those tight spots.

Kiwi-truckwit · Sep 10, 2018

Just had a conversation with the client....I may have to swing the fly later this week, for a lift 36m (120ft) away, at capacity. That's gonna be a struggle

crane operator · Sep 10, 2018

I have before dismounted a jib, and carried it to the crane with a telehandler forklift, or mounted it with another crane, when I didn't have room to swing the jib. It's not ideal, but sometimes there's no other way.

To bad your crane is in such nice shape, you'd hate to scratch it on the way in. Can you hang all the weights and drive, or do you leave some on the deck?

Kiwi-truckwit · Sep 10, 2018

crane operator said:
I have before dismounted a jib, and carried it to the crane with a telehandler forklift, or mounted it with another crane, when I didn't have room to swing the jib. It's not ideal, but sometimes there's no other way.

To bad your crane is in such nice shape, you'd hate to scratch it on the way in. Can you hang all the weights and drive, or do you leave some on the deck?

Had considered mounting it with a truck loader crane, but I think I'll have just enough room to be able to swing it.
I can drive on site with counterweights mounted, and boom in the cradle, or on the deck, with boom up over the front. In this case though, we loaded them on a seperate truck and brought them in, because to get into the site you need boom up, to get around buildings, and then boom down, to get under an overhead light.
I certainly don't want any more scratches, it'll be a cause for a few beers if I get it out again unscathed!

Kiwi-truckwit · Sep 12, 2018

Got a chance today to head up the building and grab a couple more pics. You can see in front of the carrier cab the alleyway I reversed down to access this carpark. If/when I come back to reach the far stuff, I'll need to wiggle around 90°, reverse hard up to the chain link fence you can see, and swing the fly. Gonna be tight!

Kiwi-truckwit · Mar 31, 2022

Been a while between posts, but here I am back in the seat again. Installing round culverts for a stormwater retention system.

crane operator · Apr 2, 2022

Running a little bigger rig than last time too. Still with the same company?

Tones · Apr 2, 2022

Kiwi-truckwit said:
View attachment 182679 Some mancage work today on a 220kV transmission line. The lines closest to the crane are dead, but the far side is still live . The guys who climb these towers have some serious balls, its a nope from me.

My stepson works on the construction of the Towers and stringing the conductor and has been for 15years. With the labour shortages he is earning 1mil in under 4 years in wages with a 15000 increase over 3 years. His favourite job was on a trolley out between the Towers fitting spacers between 2 parallel conductors. The fun has been taken away from them, they sit on choppers now in the wind.

Kiwi-truckwit · Apr 2, 2022

crane operator said:
Running a little bigger rig than last time too. Still with the same company?

Somehow I've ended up in the office, not quite sure how that happened. So these days I end up running counterweights more often than pulling levers, but it's nice to jump back in the seat every now and then.

Kiwi-truckwit · Apr 19, 2022

Back in the crane today, installing tilt slab.
This isn't something that's done much here any more, usually they're cast off-site in factories and trucked to site.

CM1995 · Apr 20, 2022

Interesting how things are done different around the globe.

The last tilt up we were part of they poured the interior slab up to 5' off the strip footing, dug and poured the footings then cast the walls on the slab. Raised the walls on the footers and filled in the 5' strip. This was a 50K SF warehouse 100' wide and 500' long so no plumbing or electrical in the slab to be in the way of casting.

Another smaller tilt job we were part of they poured thin casting slabs then flew into place. We had to demo and haul off the casting slabs. It seemed like a lot of work for what it was.

Kiwi-truckwit · Apr 20, 2022

CM1995 said:
Another smaller tilt job we were part of they poured thin casting slabs then flew into place. We had to demo and haul off the casting slabs. It seemed like a lot of work for what it was.

I agree, which is why we probably don't see much of it any more and why factory cast panels are most common. Heated steel beds means you can cast as many panels as you can fit, every day. Once the site is established, footings poured/whatever the methodology might be, panels are trucked to site, craned in, and onto the next stage. Much, much faster than casting on site

Slow week in the office

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