Gallery, Projects and General > Oooops!

Left Hanging in the Air !

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awemawson:
OK, fellow has bought my Alba 3S shaper, and wants it collected on a pallet. Well, I didn't have a strong enough pallet, so I screwed some 4"x4" timber baulks to it's base, so effectively it's it's own pallet  :ddb:

Got the pallet jack out, moved it to the outside end of the welding shop, plonked it down and went and got the fork lift to put it in the stable ready for collection. Good theory. Picked it up with the fork lift, left it about 18" off the ground while I wrapped pallet wrap around the various levers and cranks to stop them coming loose in transit.

Then the engine stopped - the lights went out - fork lift half in half out of the door so can't shut the door, and the Shaper is up in the air.  :bang:

Quick bit of diagnosis needed. No fuses in this thing - battery excellent at 13.6 as it's just stopped charging when the engine and lights died, what the heck can it be  :scratch:  Trotted round with the multi-meter - earth straps, main feed to the ignition switch - all ok. Then at last, with the aid of a torch and mirror I found a multi-way connector on the back of the ignition switch the had vibrated 'almost off' - a good re-seating and off we went to complete our mission, but is was a bit of a dodgy moment  :bugeye:

Pete.:
Whoops indeed!

Back around 2000 I was working on a site where they had a tower crane powered by a big 3 phase generator. They wanted to move the generator, so they picked it up with the crane - and pulled the wires out with the genny about 20 feet in the air!

vintageandclassicrepairs:
Hi,
Having worked in a Power Generating station, heavy lifts were a regular occurrence
Having the overhead crane trip out with 60 odd tons hanging from it lost me some more hair  :Doh:
At least this did not happen :bugeye:

      (2m 20s in)

Andrew,
The shaper's new owner got a bargain ????

John

johnbaz:
Hi all

A press head that we made some time ago, It's just been pulled from the molding/casting pit, Can't remember what it weighed but the crane has a 300t lifting capacity, We also have a 200t crane on the same track (And a 60 tonner)
The two larger cranes can be joined as we have a lifting beam that fits both cranes and makes them in to one, As the beam weighs 25tonnes we can pick up castings to 475 tonnes but we make castings (In the black) to around 580tonnes so we have to burn heads (Risers) whilst the job is still in the pit until it drops within the capacities of the cranes..


A job in the pit that we were cleaning at the time..


After the ancilliaries have dug the sand away and we're burning the heads to get the weight down for lifting, By the way, We have to cut the heads at temps between 150°c and 450°c, If it's too cold then large cracks can appear, If it's too hot lots ansd lots of smaller cracks show so we have to keep within the parameters, Only trouble is that I was on the cutter standing about a foot away from the 450°c and had to get loads of leather on (As well as tin sheets against the casting) to keep me from scorching!



The years of doing this has taken it's toll and now i'm over the moon to not have to do this any more as i've been given a cushy job reclaiming sand so I sit in a bucket truck all day loading lumpy sand in to a shaker to break it down for reuse!, There was a condition though that if the burners were short handed, I had to make the numbers up, I've only had to go back on the job once for a week though in the last year!!!


A 90tonne ladle being purged and alloys added to aid running of the metal..


A 250tonne press leg ready for delivery to the customer..


This was me cleaning the nozzles of a ladle after pouring, My mate used to do this job, He must have been off that day!



Cheers, John  :beer:

SwarfnStuff:
Wow Johnbaz,
  That's some casting.  No wonder it needed a 96 wheel trailer to move it. Good photo record of what you get up to on a daily basis.
John B

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