Just some work pics

[crane operator]

Concrete portion of the silo is 100', then conveyor and airlock. Cyclone had to come all the way up out of the structure to change. Top of it was right at 130' or so, and then it had to come out of the structure, so I was kind of short sticked at 166'. I didn't really want to put stinger of the jib out, which would put me at 188' of boom, but I wanted the little more chart and less boom deflection with the shorter boom. I had at least a couple feet to spare coming out. Rusty eyeball wins again.

Cyclone was right at 5,000lbs.

 

[crane operator]

Had to do both cyclones on both tanks. The smaller one was a little bit shorter, but a little further away. A little lighter is never a bad thing.

 

[crane operator]

Nothing is fast that far up. I did have to bail out the millwrights too. They were trying to come down in the lift in the afternoon, and they were 1/2 way down and it stopped working. I had to go over and run it from the ground controls, to get them down. It didn't inspire a lot of confidence in the lift. They kept waiting for it to quit working on them again.

Finished up late Saturday. I decided late on saturday night, on a holiday weekend, wasn't the best time to travel home. Traffic would be busy and I'd be pushing dark to get back. I'll probably go get it after the first of the year, we're booked up with other stuff on monday.

 

[Welder Dave]

One of the scariest things I ever saw involved a boom truck that was run from the ground. I worked at an oilfield tank shop and during a slow period was helping block off tanks for testing. A laborer and myself were lifted on top of a large tank in the boom truck to put covers on the top flanges. We climbed out of the basket on top of the tank. We were tightening bolts and a wrench slipped and fell to the ground. There was no one around and we didn't have a radio or anything to call someone. The laborer who was allowed to wear steel toed running shoes, because they weren't as slippery as work boots, ran down the narrow boom into the back of the truck. He got a ride back up and said if we drop something else, it's your turn to go down the boom. NOT A CHANCE!!!

The boom truck was an older Dodge 3/5 ton in pretty good shape but still intimidating if you're not used to being up in the basket. Another worker was fired because he was running the boom from the ground and decided to have some fun with the laborer in the basket. He had the boom fully extended and was working it back and forth to shake the basket. Getting fired was probably a better option than the laborer beating him to death with piece of pipe.

 

[crane operator]

Tree on new years eve.

Also shop class has evidently only covered clean up on "environmentally friendly" water based paint, for my senior in high school. Somehow- I haven't covered oil base paint clean up with him yet. It is now on the list.

Will acetone take 5 day old rustoleum off a sink? (asking for a friend).

And no static about the vise grip on the hot water handle either- that vise grip is missing the spring anyways. (You guys that would give me static about it know who you are, Santa's naughty/ nice list has just started over- don't ruin next year for yourself this early.)

 

[crane operator]

Stood up a tank this afternoon in the rain. 31,700lbs- the early estimate was 24,000, so we were a little over the pre pick #'s.

Its probably around 10'dia, and 40-50' long.

 

[AzIron]

Do you do anything different when you find out its heavier I could imagine it can cause some problems

 

[Birken Vogt]

Gasoline is equally flammable with acetone and cheaper and easier to get. Your friend should try that first.

 

[Welder Dave]

Stood up a tank this afternoon in the rain. 31,700lbs- the early estimate was 24,000, so we were a little over the pre pick #'s.

Its probably around 10'dia, and 40-50' long.

View attachment 190481 View attachment 190482 View attachment 190483

That tank looks new so I'm surprised they were so much under in weight. I worked on a vessel that big but it was 2 1/2" thick with 2 3/4" thick heads so weighed over 50 tons.

 

[Impact]

Round jaw grips would not be as likely to slip as needle nose.

 

[Junkyard]

At least you’ll always know where to find a pair in an emergency

 

[crane operator]

Do you do anything different when you find out its heavier I could imagine it can cause some problems

I've always got a number in the back of my mind. Its the "do not exceed" number. That may be the size of the rigging, or the size of the crane, or how much boom I've got out, or the parts of line I'm running. Maybe the capacity of the other crane if I'm tandem picking, or how far we have to be away from the item being lifted.

Anyways, I've always got that in the back of my mind, and if we hit that number, we're stopping. Maybe we can get closer, put on some bigger rigging, put in some extra parts of line, or make the item weigh less. Doing a tank like this, it really isn't that hard to stop if you hit that #.

Most of the accidents I see, are in situations where you can't really stop and regroup. When you're taking down a old concrete plant and are hooked onto a silo, if the demo boys want to cut the legs out, you better be sure you can handle it, and any old cement left in the tank. Same with taking down trees. You aren't going to "for sure" know what it weighs until they cut the tree, and then you better have it. Probably demo, trees, and poor ground conditions will cover 80% of the accidents I see.

 

[hvy 1ton]

Tree on new years eve.

I wish that was the sketchiest trailer I've seen chunks on. There was one on 435 that I could see the axles deflecting as it bounced up and down.

 

[crane operator]

I wish that was the sketchiest trailer I've seen chunks on.

If you had seen the other side of the trailer- you wouldn't be so sure. It wasn't the best trailer in the world. The tree guy said they had just tore up their other trailer, and their little straight truck which has a dump bed and everything, they had their saws in the bed so didn't want the logs in there. Who am I to tell them where to put the logs.

 

[crane operator]

Went and laid the big fiberglass tank back down. Also fixed a leaking outrigger jack on the Mack. This one had a multi-piece piston head, all the other crane jacks I've been into were 1 piece pistons.

 

[crane operator]

Went and pulled my buddy Pete out of a muddy pasture with the winch truck. I was sliding all over even with my chocks down. He was all "just hook onto the trailer and we'll pop it right out".

Ended up doing what we should have from the start- pulled bumper to get at tow hook, then I even had to use the trailer jacks to raise the back of the truck and get some blocks under the drives and get some dirt dug out from in front of the steers.

I pulled him first straight on , then moved the truck up on the gravel and pulled him the rest of the way to the road. His truck isn't much of a "off road" machine. I always underestimate how long something like this takes.

 

[Theweldor]

Those rescue missions are always a treat aren't they.

 

[Junkyard]

Ummmmm I’m curious how he got in that spot to begin with.....

 

[crane operator]

I hate to admit it, but I've actually pulled him at least 4 times on his 20 acre place. Twice with the winch truck, once with my dodge, once with the crane, and once with the mechanics truck- wait that's 5 times.

Him and his dad get into it, on where the truck is parked, and I swear he has no rhyme or reason to where he goes to turn around. He's never been stuck in the same place twice. And I'm not the only one who has pulled him out. Sometimes it's great to help someone else out with their issues, makes your own problems seem smaller, or at least that you're not alone in having bad days.

He actually backed down the lane, to turn around so I could get out with the winch truck, and backed it right in another mudhole - with the trailer jackknifed and stuck it again before I got off the yard, I don't know what he was thinking.

 

[crane operator]

Grease line that greases turntable bearing on the National was broken/ rotted off. Was only a fabric type grease line. Only way to replace it was to pull the swivel. No other access. We had some time, and I don't like being able to not grease the turntable, so out it came.

It's all steel now up through the top plate. I hope to not go back in there again for it.