Working the National 1300A

[Natman]

Due to a lot of snow this winter, this spud cellar partially collapsed, and I got a call to maybe help out. Engineers are involved (oh boy) in figuring out the best way to salvage it, I MAY be involved, we'll see. Located real close to the big airport in town, it took some communication with the tower to keep it legal, after flying there from my home strip. I text these pics to the guy who called me yesterday, IF they do need some kind of hoisting device, I will be the first to get the call. I often "get my foot in the door" on many crane jobs by using the crane. Needless to say, I also get to go flying, while brown nosing some contractor, all part of the job!

 

[Natman]

We set this 12 K stainless tank on this "truck" for the forth and last time. The first few times were to get everything fitted up/welded up, as this was a modification. And the truck was not originally set up for this tank. A nice low stress job, level ground, a couple miles from my crane yard, secure payment, I wish all my work was this simple.

 

[Natman]

The broken down spud cellar job. The ground towards the work was rock hard compacted gravel that sees a lot of heavy truck traffic, it LOOKED iffy, with a very thin layer of mud on top, but over the day or so I was set up there nothing settled, not even a little. The opposite short jacked side was a different story, but it wasn't too bad, all in all it worked out real well. We picked three of the trusses, 8' OC, and the rest of the roof went along for the ride, we didn't attempt to bring it up the original roof line, the carpenters will fine tune that. Working around tons of spuds has it's fringe benefits . You can see the center sling is up against the pin that sets the telescoping spreader bar, I didn't like it but we decided not to stress things more by messing with it.

 

[Natman]

Today's job, at the big fertilizer plant going up just a couple miles from the spud cellar job. The 110' main boom came in handy again setting the stainless chutes, this is one big building, and I was lucky enough to do about 90% of the crane work there over the winter.

 

[Tradesman]

Did the spuds push the wall or did the wind get in the building. I have worked on a quite a few potato storages and done repairs similar to what you have done, but its always been in a empty storage and we able to support off the floor. the newer storages around me are insulated pre-cast, with about a 5'-0" air chase all around the building and under the floor as well, they are a modern feat of engineering. Nice job!

 

[Natman]

It sure looked to me like the spuds were the culprit. That and a lot of snow.

This pic was sent to me by a Arizona friend who got into the hoisting business a few years after me, another ex nail bender/building contractor. His company is currently running 2 Manit ex 101S's (one I sold him when I traded up to the National) and a 18 ton Elliott. Their area is so busy he and his two helpers keep them all busy 6 days a week!

 

[Natman]

My crane shed, radiant floor heated, and just big enough (18' by 40') to park the 30 ton Nat in with room to walk around both ends. That solar array makes enough juice to totally offset my heating bill (the floor has a electric boiler). All spring, summer, and fall I produce an excess which my utility shows as a credit on my bill, come winter I start eating into the credit, all I pay is the 5 bucks a month basic service fee. Coming into a 50 degree (plenty warm enough) building when its in the teens outside and seeing the Nat sitting there, all ice and snow free, makes me think I've died and gone to heaven, compared to the way I started! I also re charge that plug in Prius while parked at the crane yard, so I drive back and forth from home (26 miles round trip) for free.

That's also my sole employee, he works cheap, is always in a good mood, doesn't steal much, and makes sure no one messes with anything in or around the yard and while on a job.

 

[Knepptune]

Noticed that manitex doesn't have the front bumper jack. Does that truck still have a 360 chart.

Nice looking crane shed. What is the cost of a solar setup like that. Just curious as to how long it takes to pay for itself. I know it's a totally different area but I've always heard that it's hard to make a solar panel pay for itself around here. Free/cheaper electricity is something I've always been interested in.

 

[Natman]

The 101's do have a 360 chart, without a front stab, as long as the front tires are in contact with the ground. Get enough time on one however, and we found that that rule can be fudged a bit. The picture I posted of my old unit with the tires 3' in the air...... I'm sure he was working off the rear that day. As much as I like my 30 ton National, if I was doing nothing but setting trusses on residential construction, the 101 is still hard to beat. Especially as properly set up on the right truck, it will go places others won't, best "off road" boom truck around, better then my 17 ton Terex's, plus i got to sit down! Crappy layout though from a maintenance standpoint, the National is much better thought out in that respect.

Solar pays, I've been doing it for decades, think of it of paying your power bill in advance. That setup I have could be duplicated for as little as 3K. 50 cents a watt for the panels, if you buy them right. So that's $1,000.00 (2000 watt array), the inverter is about $1500, disconnect and other misc. make up the rest. Install it yourself and you have free power for decades. I have panels that are over 30 years old! Here's the thing, the vast majority of people are so far behind the financial 8 ball, it's all they can do to come up with the monthly electrical bill, so they say "it doesn't pat." Bull...., the ones that suck it up and go solar are 100% happy they have done so, all my customers love their systems. But do it yourself, don't pay someone else, it's not rocket science. I tell a guy in his 30's or 40's "this system will be putting out power when you're my age!" It's hard to over emphasize the simplicity and longevity of these systems. You can pay the power company, or take a tax credit and pay yourself, they are a rock solid though long term investment, but once you have one you would never go back to NOT having one.

 

[davo727]

Natman which vendor do you reccomend for panels and inverters?

 

[Natman]

My wholesaler only deals direct with guys in the biz. But really good retail outfit is Back Woods Solar. Most importantly, they are not scammers or hustlers, there are a lot of those out on the internet! They, having been around for about 30 years , really know their stuff, good people. Tell them you want a package deal on a small (2to 4 KW) solar grid tie package, for the best pricing. Renting electricity is money up in smoke, like renting a house compared to buying one!

 

[Natman]

WORKING FOR THE MAN?

Ha ha, my area has a very large FBI data center here, one of only 3 or 4 in the US, so heavily secured. Even though I've worked there before i still had to go through another new round of security clearances. When I pulled up to the double trap entrance, guys with mirrors checked under my rig, I told them to look for any leaks! You surrender your drivers license once on site, the security just never ends, cameras everywhere, I felt pretty safe. For better or for worse they are doing a big addition, make of that what you will. I DID NOT take any pictures, but did set a 18,000 lb concrete vault while there, after doing some fairly serious tree trimming to get in. I carry nippers and a tree saw, always, my rig is too pretty to just barge through low tree limbs. As heavy as the vault was, a bigger crane would have been nice, then again a bigger crane would have torn up the lawn I drove over and probably broken up the sidewalk.

My very next job is on the new addition they are putting on the State Trooper barracks, about 1/4 mile from my crane yard so I guess I'll cut them some slack on travel time. Lifting a cooling tower, don't know the weight or the distance, it will make Monday morning something to look forward too, or not, we'll see.

 

[Tradesman]

Next time try to get pictures, even though you might get a beating don't forget us we are simple folk and like purdy pictures.

 

[Natman]

Yeah I thought about the lack of pictures, but thought I had a pretty good excuse! I can tell you they have the largest sat dish I have ever seen "in person", easily 40' diameter. They also are tapped into the main underground natural gas pipeline in the area for powering their nat gas back up generators, it is a super serious place. Working at the trooper barracks will be pretty casual in comparison. It's fun getting into various places, under the guise of doing some crane work, we even get paid for it.

 

[Natman]

Living 20 miles out of town, I'll try to coordinate running the usual errands when I am already there doing crane work. My crane yard is on the south side of town, my home further south, and most of the work is on the north side. So, I often find myself driving down the main drag, our main street. A lot of traffic lights, and I used to hate it, until I realized it's good advertising and is just part of the cost of doing business. Sometimes I'll use the back up camera to see the faces of the people stuck behind me as I do my best to accelerate away from a red light. Here's a shot of how I use the 4 big rigging boxes the National has, a place to carry the groceries! Also,when I walk out of the store, my ride is easy to find among the other cars. My bank is also near the preferred grocery store I go (I did some of the crane work when they built it, plus they have the lowest prices in town so they get my business) so I can just walk over there also. Any further then a block or two out of the way, as I drive back to the yard, I'll park it and get the 2 wheeled dingy out, it's a lot easier to find a parking space with it. Just today, as I was getting ready to make a "special" trip into town, JUST to run errands, I got two calls for work tomorrow, so I'll put off my errand running until then.

 

[Natman]

After fabricating these solar array racks in my shop, and installing the panels, I delivered then to the job site and set them. Not my project, someone else will finish everything up, I just provided the racks and set them. The center strap goes up to the load hook, and is just used as a balancer, so the pipe socket will line up correctly. I've built and delivered nearly 50 of these now, 11 in the last month or so. My own design, I can build, deliver, and set them to my customers cheaper or for the about the same price as one they can buy elsewhere. Then they have to pay motor freight to get it shipped in, assemble it (on the pole, unlike mine that are designed to lifted with panels installed) and THEN bolt on the panels. I come in and wham, as long as the vert poles are pre set, I'm in and outa there in an hour or so. I make more money building and delivering these racks then I do selling them the solar gear, it's a win/win for both of us, especially as all the fab work is done in my home shop, when I'm not busy craning.

 

[td25c]

Living 20 miles out of town, I'll try to coordinate running the usual errands when I am already there doing crane work. View attachment 168472 Here's a shot of how I use the 4 big rigging boxes the National has, a place to carry the groceries! Also,when I walk out of the store, my ride is easy to find among the other cars. My bank is also near the preferred grocery store I go (I did some of the crane work when they built it, plus they have the lowest prices in town so they get my business) so I can just walk over there also.

That's a pretty handy set up Natman using the National lifting on the job and as a " Grocery Getter "at the end of the day .
That case of blue ribbon barley soda in the rigging box reminds me of and old Johnny Russell tune

 

[Natman]

Yeah it's a popular brew out here, a good inexpensive beer, or so tell my friend who prefers the more expensive Budweiser. I buy PBR with the money I make craning on the big Budweiser malt plant, my area is a huge producer of barley for the big beer makers.

 

[Natman]

Got a call at 9:07 from in town, a 30 minute drive away from my home compound, where I was at the time. A new Pet Smart store needed the HVAC set next week, and the contractor was setting up a time plus wondering if I could reach it. At 9:57 I sent this picture to him while circling overhead, some kind of new record for me. It can be real handy to have your own plane right at home and be in the hoisting business, apparently my local competition does not offer this aerial pre inspection service like I do. After getting the building length and width, I was able to tell the contractor that I could do the job and we good to go Monday. That unit in the middle back is going to be about 95' away, and what with the high walls of the building, I'll go ahead and jib up and should be able to hit it. The HVAC guys are "on my side", and will be prepared to hump it into place if need be. I may set up on that loading ramp on the left, short jacking the left side in order to fit in there. That'd knock 20' off the reach. I think I can do it all with two setups,

On the way there and back I took a pic and texted it to the builder minutes later of a big house I am working on, plus another job, a small castle (really). Plus eyeballed a new medical building going up (still framing walls, be a while before they need my services), and also noted several new homes going up I may or may not get the call for. Plus buzzed a farmer cutting hay that lets me land my plane on the same field, when the plane is on it's skis in the winter. A busy morning, but I'm not complaining. Any time I can fly and hustle up a little crane work is a good day!

 

[lantraxco]

Love it!