Tower Cranes!!!

[adriandamagicia]

hey gostr8r, i'm probably sure you got some safety officers fired out...

 

[BridgeCraneJen]

gostr8r, my heart stopped when I looked through your pictures!!! SO crazy awesome.

 

[gostr8r]

I resemble that remark! I like to think I have outgrown the antics in the air now tho!

ghost, i looked through your pictures.
YOU ARE FRIGGING INSANE!!!

 

[BridgeCraneJen]

Ghost, have you ever had any close calls? Or moments when you were scared out of your mind? What did it feel like being on top of those cranes?

 

[gostr8r]

Yes I had my son up there with me about 27 years ago and was taking big loaded boxes [on wheels] of material out of the side of a building. We had outrigger platforms for this, but it was my first day and I didn't know the idiot on the radio wasn't using them. I also didn't know the layout of the structure we were building either. He had my load lines up against the building in the blind side over the edge. He kept telling me to 'Get up on it, come on getting up, getting up!' I knew it was a fully loaded box that would be heavy so I kept hoisting. The jib dipped down pretty far and I stopped and asked what the problem was. He said' You got it op' trolley out and take it to the ground' I trolleyed out a few feet and just then he and he's partners in stupidity pushed the load off the side of the slab. They had caught my load block under the floor above the one they were working on, right as the rigging got really snug, and when the load didn't go up after a while they just pushed it out of the building. I thought my kid was going to fly out the front window in mid air because we shook so far back then forward again. And again and again before it settled down, and he then admitted his mistake like it was nothing. That was just one of the many things on that job that could have cost lives. I will include a link to a pic of another stupid mistake by these morons. It isn't obvious at first but it a deadly error! http://s1029.photobucket.com/albums...ration/?action=view&current=Scan111410137.jpg This went out 250' over a loaded deck of workers! I took the photo and it wasn't on my hook.

 

[gostr8r]

Here's a link to some vids and pics on my current job. This has been a GOOD one too! Love the guys and our customer and the rig is sweet! http://s1029.photobucket.com/albums...ideo-2012-03-30-09-09-27-iPhoneBlastdoor3.mp4

 

[Hard Nocks]

Good grief Gostr8r... If it isn't my eyes playing tricks on me, I am sure glad that wasn't on my hook... Don't riggers ever test lift and then check their loads? I know silly question but WOW... Sure happy it didn't go bad!

 

[gostr8r]

This meat ball for brains rigger/signal man didn't do anything by the book and barely could speak at all. I should have quit that job and moved on to something else.

 

[MattW]

Can Anyone Tell Me What Make These TC's are?

They were being used for the new JW Marriot Hotel here in Indianapolis a few years ago.

Matt "W"

 

[gostr8r]

They look just like Terex SK-415's [Pecco's or Peiners to some]. The only difference I see in those and the ones we own is that our's have white mast sections not blue and ours also each all have the small Davit assist crane on the back near the hoist drums too.

 

[RNI Excavate]

What you doing trying to train up and take my work?

If you squint real hard you can see the arch in the last one!

Some of those look like the hospital project in Mt. Vernon, IL.

 

[Keller]

Some of those look like the hospital project in Mt. Vernon, IL.

Good eye. I was on the short one for the first 4 months.

 

[voila]

breathtaking views! it's going to be quiet up there, just you & the comms chattering on the speaker. are they allowed to use spectacles if their sight is not perfect?

used to wonder how it get high up there, till i watched this video. maybe someone will find it helpful having their questions answered in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB91Sm-kGJ8

cheers!

 

[robin yates uk]

you have my respect and admiration, no way on this planet could you get me up there or down a mine, Thanks for some amazing pictures

 

[The Peej]

this maybe dumb question but what powers a tower crane? diesel or electric and how do they get the fuel or power up there if there always jumping sections?

 

[gostr8r]

Most of the ones in these shots are electric. They have electric hoist, swing and trolley motors running from a large thick power cable that comes up from the ground. It can be supplied by a large enough diesel generator which is usually setting at ground level, or by city power if you have access to it. The chord must be long enough to reach the final working height.

 

[CABLE_UP]

ghost I LOVE the pictures!!! I would have loved to have been born a few years earlier (am only 24) as I would love to have been able to have done that crazy stuff! :naughty However I would now never be allowed to look at a crane again if I even thought about trying that.:nono Thats ok though, keeps me out of trouble with my sweety! Thanks for the pictures! And thanks for this awesome site everyone I cant wait to do some more exploring!!! And good luck with the training BigIron25!

 

[gostr8r]

You’re welcome CABLE_UP! and welcome to the forum too.

 

[rabia]

i also really like tower cranes it's very easy to use and quite comfortable....

 

[Trojax]

im not sure if ive overlooked where it might be posted, but i would really love to become a crane opperator. Does anyone have any suggestions as to a school that i might try to attend to learn and get some form of certificate. i know that getting any kind of technical job out there without one is a major pain in the ass (ive tried to get hired on with a few different firms, and they all gave me more or less the same answers. Go to school and get a certificate and then MAYBE i could get hired on as a peon). If anyone has any suggestions or information i would love to hear it. I live in New Mexico, but I honestly hate this state, and would love to move.

The kind of cranes i would really like to get into using are those in ports, but i know i have to work my way up from somewhere.