MEWP or Climb

[Jason James Gairn]

dont understand

 

two chaps working together, one an operator the other the cutter, or one holding and chucking and the other operating, can in Johns eyes be very efficient. Or two people in a cage built for one can get the mewp rocking.

Does anyone know LEE at universal? I dont want to get anyone into trouble, but we've had some proper wrong times in one of em big ones.

[Rod]

i see in that case i aggree with john it is quick and easy

 

and if you get a real big un that comes with a driver it can also be good, one cutting, one holding, one driving.

[John Hancock]

If you know your workmate, and you trust each other you can get such a rhythm going it great. It’ll be such a pain to be up there on your own - cut, put saw down, break section, throw, pick saw up again, cut……..what a pain!

[Rod]

it is IMO,

 

whenever possible i always work with the same blocke in the mewp, i drive he cuts (dont like his driving) but we can go so fast and hardly have to talk

 

nice when things work well

 

but put a different guy in there and it just dosnt flow right

[Dean Lofthouse]

There was a debate a while ago about two people being in a MEWP. We were using two in a basket today and its so much quicker…cut a section, pass it, throw it – cut a section, pass it. Throw it…..and so on.

 

Much better with one person John, because you have an extra 90kg to play with for cutting and holding, then slewing into the dropzone whilst holding

 

One thing I wouldn't do is cut and hold with two up, not enough weight capacity left to play with and the basket can be easily over loaded

Edited March 28, 2009 by Dean Lofthouse

[John Hancock]

Much better with one person John, because you have an extra 90kg to play with for cutting and holding, then slewing into the dropzone whilst holding

 

One thing I wouldn't do it cut and hold with two up, not enough weight capacity left to play with and the basket can be easily over loaded

 

 

Mate, your only saying that because no one will get in the basket with you – can’t think why….

[Peter]

IMO you want a three man basket to make two up worthwhile and safe.

 

However, how do you get around your safe working distances? However you do it the holder is to close to the cutter.

[Big 'Ammer]

Interesting discussion, this.

 

I don't like two in the basket, I like to work alone.

 

However, something we have done on several occasions, and quite a bit on the last job, is climb the tree and do the cutting, mewp man holds the branch and chucks to the drop zone.

 

We have just finished topping 677 yards of conifer hedge .

 

We have cut a 257 yard stretch entirely off the mewp because it was quicker.

 

The other 450 yard stetch was taller and we have cut about a 1/3 off the mewp and 2/3 climbed to cut.

 

There was a ditch down one side of it for half the length, so tops all had to go one way.

 

So where we were fighting the wind a bit, Dave climbed and cut and I held from above and chucked. Much safer and much quicker.

 

Where the going was good, we leap frogged each other. I would put him up the trees full r/h stretch and he would set off cutting r/handed. I would cut back l/handed and then move the mewp and set up again r/handed of where he would finish, cut some more and then pick him up and swing him to the other end of the strech to start again.

 

Worked very well indeed.

 

Did all the awkward stuff with the mewp where it was too wide for the climber to safely reach and where it was a bit gappy with nothing strong enough to tie into.

 

Also, in light of the other accident thread, we had about as good a set up as you could hope for in the event of the climber needing rescue.

 

Cut the side and top with a hedge cutter from the basket, and also reached up and over and cut what we could of the other side.

 

Trimming it any other way would have been a pain, as there was a small bank and a post and rail fence which went from close up to 10 feet away from the bottom. Steps or a small tower were out.

 

Its been a good job and the client's delighted, but very boring ! we had to knock off for a couple of days felling and stump grinding to break it up a bit! The end result was worth it.

[Stephen Blair]

IMO you want a three man basket to make two up worthwhile and safe.

 

However, how do you get around your safe working distances? However you do it the holder is to close to the cutter.

 

i have only worked out a big basket, the operator was excellent but a bit too keen to help. i had to rebrief him explain about chainbreak, safe working. once we both got in the way of it it was excellent, he also briefed me in letting him do his job, he could manouvere it that well i never needed to stretch or work at awkward angles. a bit of mutual respect for each others job. the tree i did would of taken me 4 hrs easy to climb and rig, with 2-3 groundies. i had it down in about an hour with 1 groundie and all he did was watch. i like climbing trees, but mon-fri is about money for me. i did that job cheaper with the mewp and made more profit on it, as i managed to save on labour and get another job done in the afternoon.:001_smile:brogans have a monster mewp just for trees, it has a knuckle on it for getting over houses and the operator is caged in.

[Jason James Gairn]

Much better with one person John, because you have an extra 90kg to play with for cutting and holding, then slewing into the dropzone whilst holding

 

One thing I wouldn't do is cut and hold with two up, not enough weight capacity left to play with and the basket can be easily over loaded

 

Depends on the size of the machine, the ones mounted on million ton lorries are good for a party in the cage.