Riding The Crane Hook

[Steve Bullman]

And to this, all of that aggro could have been avoided if you just used the helicopter instead 

[monkeybusiness]

11 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

And to this, all of that aggro could have been avoided if you just used the helicopter instead 

I did ask but the owner wasn’t keen!! 

[Mark Bolam]

36 minutes ago, monkeybusiness said:

This was yesterday’s job - 3 trees (including a mature oak) to be removed and one reduced in an immaculate garden with relatively tricky access into the property from the road. Obviously no mess to be left anywhere in the garden/on the drive. There is a stack yard at the property that is rough and ready and is where the logs were to be stacked

 

As ever, first thoughts turn to a crane (this is our second crane job since I was called out as a fibber on this thread, but hey ho!). Where can we safely position a crane? Where are we landing the material? How big a crane can we actually get to the job? All of these questions need answering to be able to understand if a crane can be deployed safely, and a lift plan subsequently drawn up.

 

The only suitable crane pad was the gravel drive - the Indian stone driveway behind the crane wouldn’t have taken the weight (well, it might have but I certainly wasn’t willing to find out definitively one way or the other...). It was possible to position the crane’s slew ring 40m from the centre of the furthest tree (we would need more than that for the far side of the crown) providing the crane was backed in to position and also right over to one of the lawn edges. No problem - bogmats and crane pads on the lawn to allow outrigger deployment on that side. (This crane wouldn’t have reached if centralised on the gravel, but we knew that before the booking was made as the crane specs were referenced during planning). We were limited to this particular 100 tonne Tadano due to its size (it’s only 4 axle and is basically an 80 tonner on steroids) - nothing bigger would have got in the drive.

 

So - we got our site measured up, our lift plan drawn up, the site prepared, the crane positioned and rigged, the trees removed to the stack yard and processed (70m from the furthest tree to the stack yard incidentally - a pretty decent lift) and everything packed down and away, with only minimal sawdust to tidy up from around the trees. Zero mess, zero fuss. And the whole purpose of me telling you this is because we had a decent sized crane working on its absolute limit and not once did the alarm go off (which I put solely down to correct planning and execution).

 

Oh yeah, and there was a helicopter too (which is the real reason I wanted to put this pic up!). 

 

 

I hate working in shitholes like that.

I hope you kept your tools well locked up.