Helac PowerGrip

Here is a couple shots of the first project I did with it. The lower wall was existing, I built the wall above the planters with granite boulders and laid the sod on both levels. The boulder in the above post was not part of the wall. It was already there and didn't match the granite so I got rid of it.

Deas Plant said:

Hello, MDD.
Oh? How much more would you suggest?

Click to expand...

What else are you having problems with? :notworthy

When you assume.....................................

Hello, MDD.
When you assume.......................................................

It would appear that you are making an assumption here, that you suspect that I might need a little more practice on an excavator simply because I said that an opening bucket made it a LOT easier to pick up the last crumbs of dirt.

May I suggest that you read Brian's comment on this.

Now I don't claim to be the world's best excavator operator, never have and never will. I don't spend enough time on them for that. How-wevver, there have been a couple of times in my 'brief' career when I have made 'the world's best excavator operator' look a little slow - or silly - or both. (I think they must have held some sort of championships somewhere each year for about the last 180 years because I have met a few of them.)

I have dug trench, back-filled trench and other excavations, used compactor wheels, trimmed batters and floors, bulk-loaded, boxed out roads, cleared trees and scrub, levelled house sites to +/- 3/4", demolished buildings, hammered rock and concrete, processed scrap metal, dug holes in frozen ground (You may note that I live in DownUnder. There was NO snow or ice on the ground where/when I dug the holes in the frozen ground.) used hydraulic shears and pulverisers on excavators, ripped, built rock walls, used a continuous miner head and various grapples, cut trees up for mulching and a few other jobs, all with hydraulic excavators, AND picked up the last few crumbs of dirt on a site, both with a normal bucket and with an opening bucket. I KNOW which way is easier.

Now how much more practice do I need?

Dug in frozen ground in QLD?

Thort that'd getta bite.

Hi, Dogger.
Not in sunny Qld but not quite in Tassie either. Newcastle, to be a little more precise. If you're a real good kid, I may tell you about it someday. LOL.

Deas Plant, im not sure who your trying to impress, but your experience does not impress me one bit. If you feel you need to talk so much about it, I doubt you are worth a cr@p in the real world. Considering I dont know you at all, my comment about you needing a little more time behind the controls was more just poking fun at you, hence the smile at the end.

Not impressed.

Hello, MDD.
It really doesn't concern me in the slightest if you are impressed or not. I could care less but I'd have to work at it and I don't care enough for that. I KNOW what I have done and what I can do and that is all that concerns me.

I posted my comments on Brian's new toy and you made an inane suggestion in response, smiley or no smiley. I asked a question in response to your suggestion and got a question back from you. From what I posted in reply, does it look like I am having problems with anything much - except maybe my ego?

I come to this and other forums to help people because I can't see any sense in taking 40 plus years of experience to the grave with me when some of it might be of some use to others with less experience. Maybe some of what I have learned might stop the need for somebody else to learn the same thing the hard way. Even if it only helps to stop some skinned knuckles or bruised egos, I consider the time and effort taken to share it worthwhile.

Why are you here?

People like you DeasPlant, are a waste of time. You know it all and arnt happy unless everyone thinks your special. It was you that started this crap. Its me thats gonna finish it. go ahead and argue with yourself on this one big guy. Im out of this topic.

'Bye.

'Bye.

Digging a hole in frozen ground.

Hi Dogger.
You asked how I had got to dig a hole in frozen ground in Queensland. I replied that it was in Newcastle. It was actually in the Tomago aluminium smelter at Tomago. They wanted a 13 metre deep hole in the casting shed for a new extrusion pit. The ground there is all running sand with a moving water table, courtesy of the nearby Hunter River.

The piers of the shed also carry the tracks for the overhead gantry cranes. If one of them had moved, the repair bill would have started at around $2 mill. in 1989 prices. So, rather than take a chance on sand seeping through sheet piling and weaking the foundations of those piers, they froze the ground in the excavation area and for 5 metres all round it and we dug the hole out of the frozen sand. Two freezer units were used to pump a chilled brine solution through double-walled pipes to freeze the ground. One unit would have effectively done the job, the second was back-up in case of failure.

We used a Kato 1880 mark 2 excavator with a 15 metre front on it, a continuous miner head to loosen up the frozen sand and a normal 900mm digging bucket from a Kato 880 excavator on the end of the 15 metre front to load the loosened material out. We had to dig the hole 50 mm (2") oversize to allow for the amount the ice would grow while they were putting the reinforcing steel and the formwork up ready to pour the concrete - surveyors checked the hole twice a day.

It was 'different' wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts while digging in frozen ground. The whole job was done inside the casting shed and took around 2 weeks with 2 x 12-hour shifts.

Hi Deas plant not familiar with that part ot the country only working in rural and metro sth Australia (yes im a crow eater). I bet the form workers were happy that day. Was there a excisting pit?

By the way MDD
People like Deas plant make this forum what it is today you cant buy that knowledge these old school dirtman have. Im sure this forum is ment for all to have a good yarn about experiances we have all had. I personly enjoy old tales about the game and i sure enjoy deas presents on this site were would it be with out him. I stop spending money on magazines thanks to this site. any ways my 2 bob for today.

Existing hole?????

Hi, Dogger.
No, there was no existing hole. They had to cut a hole in the concrete floor of the shed to start with and then install the double-walled spears for the chilled brine solution and freeze the whole area for at least 5 metres all round where the hole was going to be before we even arrived on site. Then we started from scratch, digging the hole out of the frozen sand. It was 'edumackayshunnal'.

I'm glad I wasn't a formworker or steel fixer on that one.

Thank you for the kind words directed at MDD. I'd guess he has either a rather thin skin or a pretty low tolerance level, maybe both. Might have missed out on a sense of humour too. Nevertheless, if he chooses to stay away, he will be the loser.

I've passed through S.A. once, coming east from W.A. and flown over it a few times but never stopped anywhere there for longer than about 2 hours. Didn't like the whistling noise the crows made as they flew backwards to keep the dust out of their eyes. LOL.

Awake from your nap now deas?

Freezing is not a new game i hear.
10 years ago our Road departement was constructing a tunnel under one of the fjords south of Oslo.

At the deepest point they found clay, not so funny when u are down there working and have 600 feet of sea-water above clay that wants to come into your tunnel...

They widened the tunnel all around, and drilled trough the clay and into a similar room on the other side...
We are talking about around 200-300 feet....
Runned freezing pipes trough the clay and froze it.

Then digged out the clay in the middle and made a inner concrete wall against the clay.
Pulled out the freezing lines and plugged the holes...:cool2

Have to say that this tunnel has had some problems with water pressing its way into the tunnel, and the drainige pumps not working properly.
They are calculating on a amount of leakage and have installed drainige pumps..
Not nice to the drivers when u come early in the morning, down the slope u go, and uups there is a big pool on the lowest point...

Not to turn this into a mud match, and not that deas needs any defense but MDD... Deas has prolly forgot more information that most know, and most includes both you and me. Do a search on his posts and see how much he knows about old equipment, or new equipment.

Now as for if the clamping action helps load stuff faster. Take a jar of peas, and put them on a flat plate, and move the peas back into the jar using one spoon. Thats a standard bucket on a standard excavator.

Time yourself!!

Next, use a second spoon to help load the first spoon in a claming action, Time that as well.

I'll bet you will find no matter how good you are with one spoon the second one will cut your time by a third....

Not new.

Hi, MKTEF.
I know the method of freezing the ground to improve soil stability is not new. The job I mentioned above was around 1989 and that was, I think, the second time the method had been used in Australia, the first time being in Dogger's home state, South Australia, a year or two earlier, around 20 years ago. Cheez, I must be nearly fossilized.

Stumpjumper83, that is an interesting analogy. Thank you for sharing.

Hi Deasplant, any idea on what site they used this freezing methord in South Aust?

Not a clue.

Hi, Dogger.
Sorry. I cain't help you with that one. I haven't a clue. And there's people who will agree with that. LOL.

Deas Plant said:

I've passed through S.A. once, coming east from W.A. and flown over it a few times but never stopped anywhere there for longer than about 2 hours. Didn't like the whistling noise the crows made as they flew backwards to keep the dust out of their eyes. LOL.

Click to expand...

Deas Plant said:

the first time being in Dogger's home state, South Australia, a year or two earlier, around 20 years ago. Cheez, I must be nearly fossilized.

Click to expand...

Deas, I think you should come down and visit us more often, all that sun, surf and bikini clad women is ageing you prematurely.:drinkup

Rn'R.

Empty vessels make the most sound