anyone have experience with wireless load cell use with a vibratory hammer

I am getting ready to do some heavy vibro work with a Manitowoc 1015, most of the people I've talked to are pretty vague but think the vibration will damage the load cell. As I will be in the structural part of the chart I'm a bit leery with the idea of running without LMI. I'd appreciate any input. The vibro is an APE variable moment weighing about 15,000# pulling 20,000# steel casing with unknown friction resistance

None of the operators from my old company would run them with pile or vib hammers . Just to hard on them , Others may have their own ideas

:iagree

I've driven and pulled hundreds of piling over the years and haven't ever removed the load cell. I haven't ever seen one damaged by the vibro either. Ninety percent of my work takes place on a barge so I like to know what what kind of weight I've got on the hook. With out a load indicator you don't know what kind of pull you have on the piling. It's nice to know when you cross the line of pile weight and actual pull on the piling.
The anti two blocks are another story. They need to be removed before you start. They will rain out of the sky.
I'm guessing your using an APE 250. It's a sweet hammer.

Thanks for the reply I just got done with a couple years worth of barge work down in Miami driving and extracting and bobbing and bobbing after two weeks back home I think my sea legs are gone and hope to stay on dry land from now on HAHAHA

I don't believe we remove them for driving pile.

The device shouldn't be bothered by the forces as its really a steel bar with some strain gauges and wireless telemetry. Strain gauges of all types seem work just fine on the piles themselves

I have always left the load cell on when doing vibro work.As we were always doing barge work it was just not practical to boom down and remove the load cell,and it was always good to know what your pulling.our load cell has never failed us.

OK to pull piles with wireless load cell. Lashlander is correct about taking off the A2B. Sounds like you will be boomed up pretty high. Be sure to tie off your whip (auxiliary) line to something stationary out front in case pile lets go or breaks off. That will keep your boom from going over backwards through the boom stops. Might also want to tie off vibro to something in case it comes at you wanting to hit base of boom.

I agree with removing the anti two block,they have no place around duty cycle work.working on a barge is agreat shock absorber for the crane t o a point.tieing down to agood bollard on the barge must be done ,especially pulling those rotton timber piles.ive found that duty cyle work on land puts a lot more wear and tear on the crane,with the exception of swinger shafts and frictions,all that rock and rolling of the barge seems to eat those.How about churn drilling on the water,new topic?

TuggerG said:

I agree with removing the anti two block,they have no place around duty cycle work.working on a barge is agreat shock absorber for the crane t o a point.tieing down to agood bollard on the barge must be done ,especially pulling those rotton timber piles.ive found that duty cyle work on land puts a lot more wear and tear on the crane,with the exception of swinger shafts and frictions,all that rock and rolling of the barge seems to eat those.How about churn drilling on the water,new topic?

Click to expand...

I agree. Let us know how it turns out!
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Steve Works
Dalimar

Some crane manufacturers recommend removing load pins during any duty cycle work, especially pile work. OSHA and B30 codes don't require their use when doing duty cycle work. I don't think the inline wireless links like on the 1015 are as susceptible to damage, but I have seen backhitch style load pins wrecked by pile work.

The A2B can cause you a whole pile of headaches on vibro work . Not to mention it could cause the switch to fail pre-maturely .

As far as the load cell is concerned , The vibro may cause erroneous readings,

But wrap your head around the LMI.

Lets say your running a single line on the vibro. You could plug in 10part line on the computer to bump your LMI capacity up and clear yourself of the wild readings and not have to listen to the warning going off all the time , and still have something to read weight when you set the Vibro down to unload more pile. Chances are when you boom down the gross weight will drop to accommodate the load chart ,even though its set for 10 part line.

Personally to cover your own butt, it wouldn't hurt to call the LMI manufacturer tell them what your up to and get their take on it, fax you a letter if they can and put it in with your load chart. Trust me , they will give you a simple yes or no answer with no flack and they wont brush you off. Its their responsibility to offer assistance in these matters.

Ive seen basic components of a load cell , highly reliable and extremely tough.

Good comment liebherr