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A few projects I have done recently

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Ouch. I bought a new Deere 35g in January with two buckets, thumb, cab, long arm for $53k out the door.

That’s what a new 303.5 runs here which is the same size as a 35. I wanted a larger 305 but didn’t want to spend $75k.
 

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
This is a sanitary sewer line and 1,000 gal grease trap for the private school we also ran the primary conduits on last week.

6" existing PVC gravity line, cut in a wye right before it goes into the lift station.

IMG_0186.jpeg

4" SCH 40 PVC rounding the corner of the building towards the grease trap. The wiggle in the line was straightened out before it was backfilled.:D

The WYE stub before the clean out is for a future storm shelter lift station line.

IMG_1940.jpeg

Grease trap set, vent tied into the building and main line backfilled backfilled. The WYE in the pic is for a future food truck setup in the parking lot. We don't get paid to design it - just install it.

#57 stone bedding for the pipe and GT, recycled concrete for backfill around both.

IMG_1942.jpeg

One of the R&C's for the GT set to grade and wiped with water plug.

IMG_1371.jpeg
 

JLarson

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We've delt with worse plumbing on interceptors lol. Sch 40 or sdr pipe?
 

JLarson

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Nice, everyone around here uses the lightest SDR they can get or even sometimes that real thin drainage crap from like HD.

We fixed an interceptor a while back where they came in with the drainage and made the inlet and outlet tees with it too, the pump guys finally busted the outlet off, and of course the outlet side was tucked tight too a concert retaining wall lol
 

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Nice, everyone around here uses the lightest SDR they can get or even sometimes that real thin drainage crap from like HD.

We fixed an interceptor a while back where they came in with the drainage and made the inlet and outlet tees with it too, the pump guys finally busted the outlet off, and of course the outlet side was tucked tight too a concert retaining wall lol

Of course! it wouldn't be any other way would it?

The normal spec here is either SCH 40, SDR 35 or ductile for sanitary. 4" is either SCH 40 or ductile, 6" and above is usually SDR 35 or ductile.
 

AzIron

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Here I usually see building side as sch 40 a few might do abs up to 4 inch then it's all pvc but the civil side for sanitary is almost always sdr 35 I have only seen ductile a few places for sanitary and it's only one city that allows it
 

JLarson

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When I was a kid we did a lot of stuff in sewer coated DI, I tightened a lot of mega lugs and soaped a lot of gaskets lol.
 

JLarson

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Of course! it wouldn't be any other way would it?

Lol, we gave em the option of me turning the boys loose on their wall/loading dock thing with a ring saw and a mini or my plan B. We had one of our pump companies come in before the restaurant opened drained it, then we fabbed up two 4" 316ss tank bukhead fittings and sealed them to the insides of the interceptor with Sika and SS epoxy anchors. Not perfect but even I didn't like the idea of tearing into a 4' wall and slab then having to put it all back lol.
 

CM1995

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The reason the muni's and engineers here spec DI is because we have 3 ductile iron casting plants in the metro area. ACIPCO, US Pipe and McWane all have plants here so the money gets around.

Personally I think DI is a terrible choice for sanitary sewer. SCH 40 for 4" and SDR 35 for 6" and larger is a better choice with the proper bedding and trench backfill.
 

Landclearer

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I agree with you CM. Ductile is a pain. I have no idea what they use it as much as they do. They will bury 16 inch ductile in the marsh around here instead of C900 which will never corrode from the salt but what do I know.
 

JLarson

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...ACIPCO, US Pipe and McWane...

Lol I forgot about their plants down there, that'll do it.

I don't mind using DI in certain applications, high hydraulic surge, need joint deflection or even moment with the ball/socket joints. We do try and avoid the small sizes tho cause of the higher cost and availability.
 

CM1995

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Lol I forgot about their plants down there, that'll do it.

ACIPCO and McWane are both founded and headquartered here so it even goes a little deeper into the business fabric.
 

CM1995

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We've been slammed and short on help - it seems like no one want's to work anymore but that's another story.

4" fireline for a private school in preparation of the demo and rebuild of their main dining hall. The art building's fire service line came out of the basement of the dining haul and needed to be re-routed prior to demo'ing the existing dining hall.

This was my project since we are short handed. Dug the main 6" fire line up with our new to us 305 and then hit rock. Rented a Next Gen 308 with hammer to break out the limestone pinnacles in the ditch line.

Pic gives a good perspective of the size difference between a 305 and 308.

IMG_1984.jpeg

The whole campus is low swampy area underlain by solid limestone. The limestone basically rolls up and down with nasty yellow clay filled in between. No need for a saw cut as all this asphalt will be removed for the new build.

IMG_1982.jpeg

Lead in inside the storage area of the art building. As my luck would have it not only was there a 2" plastic gas main to go under that was sitting on a solid pinnacle of limestone. Dug around it without a ditchman and hammered on.

IMG_1987.jpeg

Ugly assed ditch but the 4" ductile fit and the whole area will be reconstructed. Did I mention the 3 force main lines and gravity sewer that had to stay operational? All in a days work.

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Last edited:

DGODGR

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Glad you were able to swoop in and save the day (labor shortage and all) ;)
I would think that the lack of decent labor (maybe even any labor) would have been posted in this forum ad-nauseum by now. I know that I have been experiencing this for years now. I actually just hired a new young man last week. I am hopeful that he will work out well.
I am also a bit surprised that you were able to get through that limestone with such a small hammer. The limestone that we encounter will often tell my 5,500# breaker "No thank you" (to put it in the far more polite "PG" version) when I try to persuade it to move.
I recognize a tube of hammer paste on the floor of the mini in the last pic! That's what I've been using in my hammers and I find not only that it is very pricey, but also not readily available at my local dealer either. I also find the environmental warning label (individual chemical warning pamphlet adhered to the outside of each tube) a small annoyance when trying to install the tube into the grease gun. I am glad that the label/pamphlet is there though... because I was planning to dump whole tubes into lakes and streams until I read that the warning labeled instructed me not to (insert sarcastic emoji here)! The dealer often struggles to sell me an entire 10-pac even when I order it in advance of need. To be fair, I am likely the only customer who uses it-save for maybe the dealer rental fleet. Still, you would think that a dealer that serves a large portion of the Rocky Mountain West region (probably 10-15 stores, plus Mongolia!) would have enough of a demand for hammer paste that they would keep more on hand.
I've been looking to buy a new 325 next gen and it has a 10" monitor in the cab. Has all sorts of features, including 360 deg. overhead view. Pretty nice feature though most monitors seem to be hard to view due to dust and glare (in my experience anyway).
 

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
DG the little hammer on the 308 performed very well for it's size.

As far as limestone goes we have an abundance of it in Central AL with too many quarries to count making everything from aggregate to calcium for all sorts of products including food. I don't understand all the chemistry but there is a local haul that the dump truck companies run on a daily basis taking one type of stone from a Vulcan that Carmuse needs chemically to produce a certain calcium and then the same dumps take a load back to Vulcan to sale as aggregate. Big business I guess.

Our big hammer has the auto greaser on the hammer and we use the screw on tubes of Cat hammer paste. Haven't had an issue with getting any. This was a rental so they put 3 regular tubes in the cab.

The Next Gen Cat's are really nice. So far I've rented a 330 and 308 with also running a 320. All new versions are much better than the older ones. Next hoe might be a 335.

LC it was. Luckily the limestone in these lower areas where the campus is rolls in knobs with yellow or red clay filled in between. These knobs can be knocked off by using the hammer in not exactly the way the books says too but can be done. We have a 12' pre-fab fiberglass sewer lift station to install for the new dining facility which will require our big hammer and some time. It should be interesting and frustrating all at the same time. We'll see.

This was pre-construction work in advance of the main dining hall construction. The grease trap and sewer line for the temp dining hall up thread was also part of this advance work. The estimated cost of the new dining hall is $8-10M which means it'll be $12-14 before it's over with.
 

ih100

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Feb 27, 2009
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Peterborough UK
I was working for them in that time frame. I have a feeling that some snoot probably stuck their nose in maybe. In that time frame we had plenty of contractors working in Tukwila on the yards in the back that used all manner of iron to get the job done. I'm pretty sure the corporate people wouldn't have cared unless some mucky muck from Caterpillar came around. All the corporate people cared about is money and who gets credit for something for the owner to hear about.
The Perkins engine plant is near me, and a guy I know who does similar contracting to CM got on their list of preferred contractors. One condition was he had to use Cat equipment, and if Cat didn’t make it, it had to have a Perkins engine. Another outfit turned up with a Komatsu 210 with a tree shear, it got turned back at the gate. JCB have a similar policy. They had a fire at the Rochester factory and at the time the only demo shear in the UK high enough to do the job was mounted on a Cat high-reach. It was only allowed on site after every Cat logo was taped over, which only drew attention to the job.
 
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