Just some work pics

[crane operator]

Replaced a wood walkway early friday morning before heading out to the deck job. 25 ton, they said only a hour, but couldn't wait till monday, so I squeezed it in before I headed out to the deck job. Of course it took more than a hour.

 

[Tags]

Oh it makes my skin crawl when a customer says "It'll take longer to unload the machine than it will to do the job!" I typically find after those words are put out in the atmosphere that the job quickly turns into a solid one to two days of miserable work.....

 

[crane operator]

Got to spend some time with the fire department last night. There's a bungie ride/ launch thing here in town, and they got two people stuck on it last night- 100' up or so. The winch that lifts them jumped the cable off the drum, and wrapped it around the outside flange of the drum. Essentially a bird cage on the drum when they released the brake.

Fire dept. couldn't reach them with the ladder truck, and were worried about transferring from a swinging cage to their ladder, so they gave me a call. I thought I might be bringing crane and manbasket up there in the dark, which didn't sound like much fun at 10:30 at night.

I installed a cable choker parallel with the lifting line- cable clamping it to the load line, then installed a chain hoist between it and the winch frame, to release the load tension off the winch. We were then able to walk the cable back around the drum, and get it wrapped back right on the drum. Then we just let them down with the winch like they usually do. They were up there about 2 hours.

They called me about 10:00pm, I asked the fire department guys a couple questions on what it was like, and I stopped by the shop on my way over there to load up the big chain fall and some rigging. I was back home by 11:30.

Nothing hard, but it still different when there's two people stuck up in a cage with them on the end of the line, and there's no real manual on how to do it.

The picture is one I stole off the interweb, but it shows what the ride is like. The cable winch is mounted in the base of one of the towers. It runs to the top of the tower and attaches to the bungee on the cage there.

We did all our rigging inside the tower, right by the base. They were stuck basically between the two towers. Talked to the husband of one of the ladies stuck in the cage afterwards, he came over and thanked me and the firefighters for bringing her down safely.

 

[crane operator]

Looks like I even made the news

The worst part of the whole thing- my phone rang at 5:37 this Sunday morning, it was a reporter wanting to confirm that we helped with the rescue. I think they were trying to make their 6 a.m. news slot. I wasn't my usual jovial self on the phone.

http://www.ky3.com/content/news/Two...-the-air-at-Branson-attraction-490669121.html

 

[crane operator]

Firefighters got some good pictures of it. Fortunately they just got the good side of me in one picture- that's me in the red hard hat in the third picture, trying to get it respooled on the drum. Yes- I know no safety glasses, but all I had at home was the tinted ones, didn't want them on in the dark, at least I had my hard hat and my mittens on.

https://www.facebook.com/bransonpro....1534087695./1713043995460145/?type=3&theater

 

[Tradesman]

Looks like I even made the news

The worst part of the whole thing- my phone rang at 5:37 this Sunday morning, it was a reporter wanting to confirm that we helped with the rescue. I think they were trying to make their 6 a.m. news slot. I wasn't my usual jovial self on the phone.

http://www.ky3.com/content/news/Two...-the-air-at-Branson-attraction-490669121.html

That’s awesome. It’s obvious your the go to guy in Branson. That’s the stuff that makes it worth getting up every morning, and a great outcome. Good job.
I’ve been on a ride similar to that, but just three of us in a harness and we had to pull a release cord and swung in a pendulum motion, if I remember correctly I think we were supposed to be going around 80 kilometres a hour on the first swing “ cool stuff”

 

[Junkyard]

Good job man. That’s precisely why you’ll never see me on a ride like that! I’ve seen too many crane and drill rig winches get fubar’d!

When you said good side I was thinking to myself why in the hell does he have his hard hat on his a$$.....

 

[Tugger2]

Good job ! It looks like something that happens to me sometimes if i get carried away chucking the grapple around. Frightening thought if they had parted that cable trying to go ahead on it. It looks to me like there should be some drum guards or maybe a spooling roller.

 

[crane operator]

It looks to me like there should be some drum guards or maybe a spooling roller.

On the opposite side of the winch there's a flat nylon bar that rests up against the cable like a guard/ guide. You can see it in the picture where we are trying to respool it on the drum, the white flat bars on the right side of the winch. They said for some reason it slacked when it went to cable down, and I could see it jumping around the drum. That winch actually runs both sides, its a double drum with the other side running flat across to the other tower. A spooling roller might help, but a VFD on the drive for a little slower start would really help.

We had to slack the motor a little to get enough cable to get it straightened out, and the motor when it first starts- is really fast. I could see it easily snarling it up if the pulley up top is slow. There's no variable speed on the motor/winch, its all or nothing, and it really goes.

I did check the cable out really well when we had it slacked, and I didn't find any broken wires. I thought if there was broken wires, we could slack the drum some more, and cable clamp a second cable to the bad section of the load line to get the people back down, just as a fail safe.

I’ve been on a ride similar to that, but just three of us in a harness and we had to pull a release cord and swung in a pendulum motion

This one anchors on the ground, then the cables pull the bungee toward the top of the tower. When you release, it shoots straight up, then down, then up , then down, then --- well, you get the idea.

 

[hosspuller]

Good job … Especially asking the right questions on the telephone. That's quick thinking, instead of using the crane (as the fireman were likely asking for )

Remember about a "saddle on dead horse" (center clamp)
I'll allow some slack...He's a fireman not a crane guy.

Looks like the, kinked over the flange, winch cable is FUBARed anyway.

 

[crane operator]

That’s precisely why you’ll never see me on a ride like that! I’ve seen too many crane and drill rig winches get fubar’d!

When you said good side I was thinking to myself why in the hell does he have his hard hat on his a$$.....

I'm kind of the same anymore with the rides, I've seen too much mechanical go bad, it kind of takes the thrill out of it. That and I'm not much for being strapped into something that I can't steer or run the throttle on, and am just along for the ride.

And as far as "good side" discussions, I was talking about the back of my head. If that's the first part of me you think of when I said "good side", that might say more about you than me.....

 

[crane operator]

Remember about a "saddle on dead horse" (center clamp)
I'll allow some slack...He's a fireman not a crane guy.

I actually had him clamp it that way.

If you think about it, we are taking the "live" line, and connecting it to the choker. Then I'm pulling on that choker with my chain fall, to slack the load line below my choker. Making my choker "live" also. In that situation, you don't want either side to have any movement, so I alternated one of the clamps, so that neither cable could slide, they each had a "grip" on them from one of the clamps. Usually you take a cable and wrap it around a pole etc., and then are clamping it off to the dead side of the cable, but on this one we don't have any dead horses.

It would have been nice to have one more clamp to have two going each way, but we used what was available, meaning what I found in the shop on the way out there.

But you are correct that we didn't have to worry about damaging the cable, I was just worried about one more cycle, then they can wrap that cable up and pitch it.

 

[hosspuller]

Crane Op … all's well that ends well.

But a cable clamp discussion. I thought the purpose of the saddle on the live line was to prevent u-bolt damage to the wires, not slippage. In a pull, which line slips ? in the saddle or under the bolt ?

 

[Junkyard]

I'm kind of the same anymore with the rides, I've seen too much mechanical go bad, it kind of takes the thrill out of it. That and I'm not much for being strapped into something that I can't steer or run the throttle on, and am just along for the ride.

And as far as "good side" discussions, I was talking about the back of my head. If that's the first part of me you think of when I said "good side", that might say more about you than me.....

Touché! Lol

 

[crane operator]

The key here is we end up with the splice going from dead to live and back dead again.

In my experience in a hard pull, the clamps can/will damage both sides. The saddle won't kink/ crush as much as the u bolt.

My experience is the saddle will grip the cable tighter than the u-bolt.

This page shows crosby's version of a splice.

http://www.fdlake.com/wrclips.html



The only real way to grab a line without damage is in a becket, and even those will make a cable take a "set". I could have used one of the electrician/ linesman cable grab/pullers, but I felt the choker was a much safer solution. As tension comes on and off the linesman pullers, they "slip" just a little, and I had two people 100' up.





I also had them put the top clamp in the assembly right next to the swage on the choker, the idea being that it would act like a stop on the line if it started to slip.

Another thing to remember is as tension is applied, the cable will stretch, and you need to retighten the cable clamps.

I have just a 3/4 ton chain come a long, and it would have been much lighter and easier to handle in the tower, but I wanted everything to be slow and easy so we put in the old chain fall, I figured the ladies up there were nervous enough as it was, I didn't want it jumping around.

 

[crane operator]

I didn't even know I could quote myself (what a forum), and not that I'm quote worthy, but this is on my mind today. This is about the duck accident we had in town a while back.

I read a article the other day that said they shouldn't have been on the water because there was a thunderstorm watch issued at 8:00 that morning. A lot of july and august weeks there is a thunderstorm watch every day. Nice in the morning, heats up , and the thunderstorms roll through in the afternoon. If you didn't run every time there was a watch out, you'd never go out.

That said, I saw it coming in and went and boomed down the 70 ton. The captain could have just said "sorry folks, it looks like that storm is moving in, we aren't going in the water, you can all come back tomorrow with complimentary passes"- or something like that. Of course there would be one PO ed person who would leave a bad review on trip advisor- "they said it was too stormy out so we didn't even get to go on the water and we were leaving the next day- so what good would a voucher do us? It looked fine out to me." And all those resort/ tourist activities are scared to death of a bad review on trip advisor.

Now this morning I'm cruising through trip advisor for the local amusement park, and this is a quote from a visitor from yesterday:

"Silver Dollar City is a nice park; however, park hours are way too short for the price. Also, the ride shutdown policy seems way too restrictive. Lightning was spotted 10 miles away and even kiddie rides were shut down for hours. Definitely did not get our money’s worth out of our day passes or Trailblazer passes. On the plus side, enjoyed the atmosphere, the awesome coasters (especially the Powderkeg), and the Marvel Cave."

This is a 3 star review from yesterday. So they had a good time, but not spectacular. How dare they shut down the rides. Kind of explains the no win situation for the boat operators.

The week after the incident, we were discussing it on the jobsite. My customers comment was this. " Its 90plus degrees out, water temperature is 82 degrees. They were all of 100 feet offshore, closer to the branson belle dock. As soon as that water started coming over the top, I'd have life jackets flying out of that boat like a clay pigeon thrower, and I'm throwing the kids and the wife out, and I'm following. You wouldn't have to tell me to abandon ship, its not like they were in the middle of the artic ocean."

I think, sometimes people think everyone else is going to take care of them. Stickers on the lawnmower to not put your hands under it when running. Don't inhale the paint fumes, or eat the paint. The cops will come protect you from a criminal.

I sound like such a grumpy old man sometimes.

Sorry, just was thinking about it today.

 

[hosspuller]

The key here is we end up with the splice going from dead to live and back dead again.

In my experience in a hard pull, the clamps can/will damage both sides. The saddle won't kink/ crush as much as the u bolt.

I just learned this site allows one to just quote a portion of a post. Highlight the desired text and click the pop-up …

Crane op.
In a bigger picture of your successful rescue, the live line was always the winch line. It was supporting the basket. If any of the chain fall, choker line, clamps, or anchor were to fail, the winch line would still hold the basket... being last to part.

You were prudent to inspect the kink over the flange. Any damage to the winch line is to be avoided.

So, in that thinking (and that's all this is... not criticism) the saddles would be on the winch line. as you wrote ... "The saddle won't kink/ crush as much as the u bolt."

 

[kshansen]

Good work Crane Operator!

 

[Welder Dave]

I used to work at West Edmonton Mall. About a dozen people or so were stuck on a ride half upside down for over 2 hours... because of a blown fuse. Couldn't be rescued because the position they were in. This is the same mall where people were killed when the roller coaster came off the track. Apparently the designer of the coaster had a heart attack when he heard people were killed on his coaster. Major contributing factor was they never bothered to convert to the German maintenance manual to English. They were running late on inspecting rides before opening and didn't do a full inspection of the coaster. Had they done the full inspection they likely would have seen bolts that came out of the bogey wheels laying on the ground. Standards and inspections are much higher now and covered by the same group that inspects elevators and escalators. I've also seen what I thought was unacceptable wear on rides when the fair comes to town.

 

[crane operator]

Still dealing with the 3rd members on the 70.

Spent two hours this afternoon trying to get a call to go through to new zealand. My cell phone won't international call- wrong phone plan. Landline business won't international call- I'm dialing it wrong, and our service provider no longer has a operator service. We've been just emailing back and forth.

Ended up using skype, and dialing his cell phone, and of course I got his voicemail.

He got my message, and called me back. They probably do more international calling in new zealand than we do here. Or he's just smarter than me- but that wouldn't take much.

Anyways, I'm looking at if I can have them remove all the internals from the third members, and then air freight those parts, and use my housings. 42 days is a long time to ship the whole third members by boat, if it gets hung up in customs, I may not see the parts for 2 months.

I would then have to use all his internals in my housings, essentially rebuilding them here. But I may be able to have the parts all in a week and a half or so, rather than a month and a half. It would be easier to just get the whole housings (for my installation), but I hate to wait that long.

He's going to try to come up with a air freight cost for all the internals, and I guess we'll go from there.