I work at the Port here in Victoria exporting logs out of here to China and other places. We do 12 hr shifts with "hot seat " change overs running primarily brand new Hitachi 16 T machines the one I use has 800 hrs on it and there is about a dozen machines down there and its super heavy hard core work on the machines, if one blows a hose or has a problem it is lifted off the ship by the ships crane and another one is on the wharf ready to take its place in about 5 minutes. Soon I will take a video and pic and show everyone just how hard this work is on the machine and operator, basically a ships crane lifts a 28 Ton lift of logs onto the ship and down the ships hold we are then responsible for "stowing" the load and leaving NO void spaces pushing and banging around logs to fit and stow in the hatch. My question is we constantly blow hoses and I was wondering can someone tell me where the isolating valve is to isolate the hydraulics from the boom so the machine can track away from the logs with out making a huge mess of hydraulic fluid, our mechanic could tell us but his such an old whining women that no one wants to ask him where it is I guess he gets so annoyed fixing so many broken hoses that he has to vent to someone and he said and we know the machines are not designed for what they are doing but massive company s with heaps of money this is what they use and how they do it.
I would and I`m sure a lot others here would love to see this operation, sounds interesting. As for your question, not only have I never heard of Hitachi having such a valve you asked about, I`ve never heard of any make machine having one. If they do, It`s news to me.
No valve. You should make block of plates for flange fittings, and get plugs and caps for threaded fittings.
Thanks for the reply's, yeah I was not sure if there was an isolating valve or not. The machines have the buckets removed and we use a triangular shaped beak which we push with the flat plate and use the pointy ends for digging logs out from others and rolling the logs. The machines do have covers around the rams and reinforcements in areas to protect things but as is the nature of the work things do get damaged, I will post some vids and pics sometime next week when i get a chance to video some footage, I do have a bit of footage on my cell phone here taken at night but don't know if it would be worth posting as a bit grainy.
I'd like to see a pic of that beak. I had something similar for pushing things off a barge to make reefs in the ocean, but it got stolen and scrapped out of my yard. I have to make another before next season, and I'd like to see that one.
Yair . . . Orlando . Sounds interesting, I too would like to see some pictures. Any idea what sort of timber and the final purpose? If it is mill logs and going to be sawn up into timber don't that beat all with sawmills here closing left and right. Cheers.
Yep I will post a couple pics of the beak for sure, when at work next. Hey Scrub puller totally agree with you about the mills closing and exporting the timber and plenty losing jobs in the mill as a result but this has nothing to with me I just work at the wharf loading the logs, the truck drivers still have plenty of jobs as they have to cart the logs and the contractors harvesting out of the forests still have plenty of work. The timber is primarily soft wood pine and half pulp wood and some K I saw logs which we try not to track over to much or damage with the bulk, the pulp we just smash around. The markets are mainly China and Korea with some plantation grown blue gum which are super slippery to track on. Today on my day off I am out on my own machine cleaning out extending my dam.
Yair . . . Orlando . Gotcha mate. Didn't mean you to take offence. I was just interested as to how the system works. That wood has to be unloaded and trucked at the other end and you would think it would work out pretty spendy. Cheers.
No problem Scub no offense taken but it has been a very touchy subject around a lot of mill towns but like I mentioned earlier it makes no difference to us as we have no control over such things but I am hearing you for sure. Took a lot of pics today just trying to download
some pics from today.
Yair . . . Orlando . That is really something, thanks for the pics. Do the logs below deck go in through hatches, how does that work and all? I would be very interested if you have time to post. Cheers.
Interesting pictures. Where does the lift chain attach to the excavator?
Yeah mate I got a few more pics today when I got a chance, it was a hot day 38 degrees Celsius and we were flat out on a 12 hr shift. You can see the plate and big D shackle in one of the pics for the lifting, the big red steel things on the side of the hatch are the hatch lids and they come down and close the hatch off to make it sea fastened and secure for fumigation. The hatches mostly are 19 m deep and then the lids close and we start doing above hatch like shown in the first pics.
Th big Hatch Lids on the Ship
The D shackle on the boom
That D shackle looks like trouble if a swing gear pukes.
Not to sure to be honest 707 we do not do any mechanical work on them at all, not even grease or fuel them up, the mechanics do that we just operate them. On some of the other models the D Shackle is up on the actual boom, will get some more pics when I get a chance next.
Yair . . . thanks for pictures Orlando Some interesting doublers and plug welds on those sticks, does anyone know if that is standard on those diggers? Cheers
I noticed that some of these machines have the stick cylinder mounted under the boom. Maybe that is the reason for the heavy reinforcement in this area.
The stick cylinder under the boom gives you more push out force than pull in, the opposite of a digging machine.
Like a log loader but without the high cab. I surprised they aren't set up with a grapple.
Hi guys, sorry I have not had a chance to get back I just posted this one pic of the lifting point for the D shackle while I was having a quick break at work the other day, I do have more pics and a video to post as well when i get a moment. Yeah good comment about the pushing instead of pulling force, we do a lot more pushing and sometimes have to assist the ships crane pushing a whole pack of logs under the ships coming. A couple of machines do have grapples and we use both, I did a 12 hr shift on a brand new 20t machine the other day with a grapple and loved the extra reach and push it had compared the 16 t machine.