Well I received my results today on the small, large hyrdraulic and lattice boom. I passed the squirt booms but failed the lattice. I tested on an older bucyrus erie 30B 50 tonner. The only motion I messed up some, was on the forward zigzag by knockin over 4 cones and 3 tennis balls. Every other motion on the test was smooth and flawless including the reverse zigzag. Any other stories out there we can compare results to?
I sweated taking the practical test but passed on the first time. Saw two guys before me wipe out the course. I took the large hyd and the lattice boom tests. got a 100 on the L hyd and an 90 on the lattice boom. I knocked off a tennis ball but not the cone and I went over the 3 min on the return through the zig zag. Took the test on an old P&H 80 ton with s--t swingers. I think there would be better results for the members if the union had some newer rigs for the testing. Us older guys are having more problems on the written tests. Hell, I haven't taken a test since HS. I don't like the policy on not being able to use a calculator for the math. My math sucks. If I was that good I'd have been an engineer not an operating engineer. Tater
I agree with having the Unions upgrading their rigs. Some Locals simply cant furnish it due to low membership. My local barely has 900 members. I could go down to New Jersey, 4.5 hrs away and take the Lattice boom practical on a 222. The calculator is another issue, I would agree up until I took the written exam for all four cranes small hyd, lg hyd, crawler and AT lattice boom. The math was pretty simple arithmithic as long as you could remember all your deductions. I've never been on a job that wouldnt allow calculators, or a 3 min time limit to float a load and land it. Going through the 40hr class preparing for the written I was nervous about all the math, but the instructor went above and beyond. We were def over prepared for the written exam. I felt really confident upon completing those exams on that long saturday. 8 hrs of testing...:Banghead
Where did you take your test? If Richfield, I feel your pain.
When I first took mine in '96 I think it was, I had the highest scores on all the tests and so won an all expenses paid thrip to the Manitowoc factory from my company. A way cool place to visit.
Here's a shot of the welcoming sign that they had for my boss Alan Ashlock and I when we arrived at the Manitowoc factory in '96. While I was there that few days I got to run a prototype of the newly built 777 on the pad too. These guys up there are soooo cool and roll out the red carpet for their guests! http://s1029.photobucket.com/albums...n=view¤t=MytriptothefactorywithAlan.jpg
New rigs for all of our union training sites? Ehh, two schools of thought on that one. Its good to have newer cranes so we can all be familiar with the setup procedures and not to mention the computers on these things. But if you can run an older hydro or friction rig in a smooth manner, it'll make you a much better operator when in comes to the new stuff. So in my opinion we should keep both old and new cranes around. Now my CCO story. Passed the small hydro and lattice crawler no problem. Went to the large hydro, did everything just fine. However, when it came time to go the reverse direction back through the corridor I just couldn't quite find where she would boom down nice n easy for me in the foot pedal. Ended up jumpin and running on me a few feet, knocked three or so tennis balls on the ground as I had a pretty good vortex going with the weight. Now I was actually able to recover and pass, but I was so mad at myself. Lol
Old rigs too? I agree with you about keeping the old rigs around for training and qualifying. The ones that can get on 'em, figure them out and make the job go well are a dying breed. We still have quite a few friction left in our inventory of about 100 cranes but yes they're being phased out and replaced with the latest and greatest, with all the bells and whistles. Today's rentors are requiring the new stuff more and more as time go on, so we have to adapt. I recently did a 5 month project hanging red iron on Harry Potter's Castle with a Manitowoc 4000 tower. Not a fun job or a fun rig to do it with but was glad to see it sold after it came off the Universal Studios Orlando project. It had some feel to it and feed back, but after being in this game since 73 I now am in recovery from a total knee and knee cap replacement. I'll settle for the new stuff now!
It's crazy that there is not one HYD. Lattice boom crawler in the state of Ohio. The union spent millions on these training sites but the equipment is pretty old and in a lot of cases junk. You have to spend time learning how to run a friction rig so you can take the CCO and that is probably the last time most of us will ever be in a friction rig. When I took my CCO's I did good on everything except tower crane practical and I failed LBC written first time.
catkicker, if you learn friction and get good at it it's a great way to do good hook work, because of the instant sensory feed back from their clutches and brakes. The down side is the wear and tear on your hearing and knees. I understand the difficulty on the T/C Practical, because of the looking downward view point makes the hook look like it right over the target, when you're really short of it. It takes some getting used to and adjusting your perception of when you think the hook and trolley is over a target. That, plus the torque delay in the upper tower sections takes some time to bond with too.
Well I'm fortunate that I have never regretted not operating friction rigs. Pretty much all HYD. on the jobs I'm on. Finally building wind farms in Ohio
gostr8r Hey guy, you work for Alan? Is Magnum (Mike) still working safety there? Say hi to my friend JR.
I've heard the Magnum name. We had Craig Baker for several years, then in the last 6 years or so, it's been Mike Smith. Is THAT the Mike you refer too? It sounds like him, and he does have a history in draglines and even owns a small one at home if I remember correctly. I'll pass on the hello. I saw him at one of our big company safety meetings 2 nights ago and he was doing fine.
gostr8r Mr. Smith is the guy, we worked together a lot of years ago at FCS at Brooksville. I lost touch with him while I was in the middle east a while back. I got my June issue of International Cranes and Specialized Transportation magazine yesterday. It has a list of the top 123 Crane owning companys in the world. You guys are listed and it shows your largest crane as a Manitowoc 18000???? I tought you guys purchased a new 31000 a couple of years or so ago??
We've been on that list before, but in the top 50 worldwide, and the reason the 18's are listed as our largest rigs is likely that we STILL haven't even taken delivery on our 31000, which was bought about 2 years ago, then built, and is now STILL on the test pad, in Luffer now, at the factory. I should be going up there this coming week to make some lifts with it. So maybe that list only includes rigs in the inventory being rented as of press time. JMO. Here's the link showing our new 31,000 from the big 5.5 million lb test lift, back into the assembly stage as it was when I was at the factory the last time in '09. Check it out Donns, you'll like the pics. http://s1029.photobucket.com/albums/y355/gostr8r/Our Manitowoc 31000 making a 5500000 pound lift/
Rental company list I see they have you guys listed at position 775 for 2011 (down fron 68 in 2010) They also have Beyel listed at 78 - do they have that many Cranes? I don't even see Ray Anthony listed. I never take much stock in these reports there are a few foreign companies that I have dealt with that are up there in the top but not even mentioned in the article. Maybe they don't want to be listed who knows. Thanks for that link. Mike Smith sent me some pictures of it a long time ago as well. I imagine that will be a pleasure to operate. I've run some big floaters years ago in the North Sea but never anything on land nearly that big. I was involved with moving that Manitowoc 7000 series back to Texas from Scotland about 10 years ago. She was just big and ugly, not a particular heavy lifter as compared to today's lineup.
Sorry I hit one to many 7s when I typed that, should be position 75 - old fingers tend to do things on their own.
75 sounds better! Whew!! Beyel Bro's do have a bunch of stuff and is still buying bigger rigs now. I have several friends that run crawlers for them and a couple mechanics there to. They also have a barge department as well, which we don't have. Never wanted to work for them tho, since I'm very happy working for Alan! There's a big investigation going on right now with them, and we still don't know what's going to come out of it. Yeah, the 7000 wasn't a pretty rig at all in the flier I saw cuz it didn't seem to have any real sheet metal covering the drawworks and slewing ring Maybe it was just out there making test lifts and got the final body treatment afterwards. It still seems like Manitowoc has done a lot like Hyundai and other car brands. Over the years the models have become MUCH better products and far better looking too! JMO tho. I also think I heard Ray Anthony sold or just out of business as of last year.
Manitowoc Sheetmetal You know who made some really nice looking cabs and house replacements for Manitowoc was Lampson in their shop up in Washington. When I was with F&M MAFCO a few years ago we had a 4100 Ringer on a Barge that we brought back from the Beruit Airport job in Lebanon. It was really eaten up from the saltwater exposure. I bought almost a complete house from them and had it delivered in 7 days. (they had it ready for another crane but let me have it). I think I heard once that they were redoing houses on a lot of old 4100s n Australia a while back. The 7000 was 1 of 2 that they made and both were exported without being certified to US standards, as far as I understood. When we brought that one back we had to get it certified to US standards so McDermot could use it in their yard in Texas. Quite a job that was. All the newer Manitowocs are pretty nice looking machines. By the way, have you ever run into Jimmy Karus at Manitowoc? He used to be in their service department but maybe has retired by now, also Ron Schumaker used to run their rebuild facility in Little Rock. I've lost touch with about everyone lately.
Yes I like the Lampson stuff! I had the great pleasure of meeting Neil Lampson himself in '96, at the Con Expo in Las Vegas, just before he passed away. The NCCCO was getting started as a testing criteria around the nation back then. He told me the story of how he couldn't sleep and would think, in bed at night, about a way to make the basic crane weight itself work as c/w, not just the rear chunks of c/w's. Then he sent a primitive looking pencil sketch to his engineers in the middle of the night and asked if what he invisioned could be built, and if so, could it possibly work. They said 'Yes in theory' to both and he said use one of our 3900's and build me one. They then were able to get the little 100 ton rig to pick and carry 400 tons, and so the Transi-lift prototype was born and the rest was history. Hey Donns, as an F&M MAFCO employee and world traveler, did you ever get any time around the Kulakoomba, I think that was what it was called? The unique and rare electric 1400 American Steel Erector rig that had an 8 o/r beam pedastal lower. The fully dressed out rig was rail mounted and moved down the tracks on a traveling bogie system. It eventually was set up for Wellstream by F&M MAFCO at the Port on a custom built concrete pad in Panama City Beach? Yes, the one that had 620' of Luffer and could still pick 120,000#. It was a urban legend for years, till it was rediscovered, pickled and crated in a remote jungle deep in South Africa? I was going to run it full time in our Florida panhandle, but the war and some questionable politics involving Haliburton brought my chances down to zero. They ultimately used an F&M MAFCO operator, on an on-call basis as needed, so my full time op' position went down the tube. I wouldn't be surprised if you were involved in that beast too.
1400 American Boy does the mention of that bring back memories. That Crane was originally purchased by a friend of mine who was VP of a South African company called GENREC. They used it on a power plant up north around Pietersburg. At the same time they were doing this job they were erecting a Marion 8200 for me about 2 hours drive east of J'oburg near a town called Middleburg. I lost track of the machine for a long time. When I came to F&M MAFCO in 2000 I was walking around the back yard and saw all this rail and boom and couldn't figure out what it was. I asked one of the owners who said it was extras for a Crane they had brought over from South Africa. I had a service guy out once for Wellstream on that machine but I never have actually seen it. I guess the idea was for Wellstream to provide heavy lift services for the port of Panama City. I may still get to see it sometime.
That's exactly what it would do for Wellstream and they do send op's ups there when called. They just decided they didn't need a fulltimer in the seat, which was the position I went up there for in interview. I had already made some arrangements to relocate, the car was packed and I was ready to drive up there on that day that they ultimately changed their mind about the position all together. Would have been loading full reels of deep sea underwater hoses, fabbed completely on site, at about 500,000 lbs each on to a service barge that would then take them out to sea just a bit, then the crane ship there would reset them on the final ship for transport around the world. Then would also reload the empties to go back inside to be rewound with new product. On the off hours the rig was to be leased out by the PCB Port Authority to assist their small ganrty mounted port crane that was on rails next to Wellstream's property. I wanted the job soooo much. It all worked out tho, cuz I've been very happy working for CRC and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else now nor work for anyone else either. I went back up there in '02, but it's only possible to see it from the base section and up because of the obstructions in the way and the high security there too. Can't get very close at all. The only thing on the rig that I could find that wasn't electric were the Maxi-brakes on the big roof mounted drums. There was a picnic table right under the center pin, and with the huge power chord coming right out of that concrete slab up into the turn table slip ring. Wellstream gave her a new paint job and it looked great too. The color was much like the mustard yellow that is on the forum window on this page. The big 40 something feet high cab had 2 a/c units and a tv size drum monitoring screen. I remember it had a 67' tail swing. I think it ran 1.5" extruded wire rope on the load hoist drums and 1.36" for the bh drums. It had a real long sleek profile design that was very clean and simple. A fine looking rig. Someone I know has all my pics of it and hasn't returned them, I can't get any more off the web, nor anything from F&M MAFCO either. Dang it!
Sounds like you have been through it all and back around again...lol what advice could you give a beginner like me. I'm starting to get alot more seat time and gradually transitioning from dirt to hoisting. I should be running a grove full time as soon as this fall
The reason you didnt see Ray Anthony on the list is that we went out of business in april, lost most of our iron by then. I worked out of the pompano yard and was one of the last operators out, we had some good times when he first went back in the crane business 7 yrs ago but as work started slowing 3 yrs ago things got tight, After **** Ferchek left things changed and while we had some good months the handwriting was on the wall. Ray seldom came to the pompano yard (I saw him once in last 2.5 yrs) and cranes sat idle waiting for parts much longer than usual. Oh well such is life, I moved to my place in the palatka area...Don P.S. anyone hiring in the Palatka area?
dmconstruct Hey guy, I think I owe you a reply. Sorry I wasn't ignoring you, I've been in the Lakeland hospital trying to get some old parts back into operating condition. I remember when I was starting out in the construction game. I got on some dozers and scrapers and some equipment that you probably never heard of. (ever heard of a Koehring 34E Paver) It didn't take me long to see that most everybody looked up to the crane operators and they were the center of attention so naturally I had to be one of those. Once I got to be one it was Ok but I found out that I wanted to be the project manager so I got to be one of those. Pretty soon I wanted to be a freight Pilot so I got to be one of them. At the end I never have yet figured out what I want to be when I grow up but running a crane is pretty high up there in status as far as I'm concerned. I'm probably a bad one to get advice from just because of the above reasons but there are some things that will always get you in solid with your employeer and just as important with your coworkers. Be consistant and be very detail orientated. Don't talk down to the guy out there trying to wrestle a load in to place on a really hot day when everything is going wrong. Try, within reason, to make other people's jobs easier for them. I've swung around and boomed down 50 feet to keep from making a guy drag a sling to the load. Many oldtimers wouldn't do that, they would just sit there and wait while the guy struggled. Respected operators always respect others. If the guy out in front is doing something you don't understand or like, stop and talk with them and work it out, then you will both be on the same page. Be safe and always watch the other guy's back. Don't ever be afraid to read the book before you do something if you have a doubt. If someone doesn't like it tell them you are just making sure, nobody can be expected to memorise it all. Come to a new machine early, sometimes before other people get there, make sure you can set up the computer and make sure you know exactly what every switch does. Nothing so embarassing as to be hunting for a switch or control while people are watching and waiting for you to figure it out. You already have the desire, that's the biggest thing, so go get them and I promise you will do well.
gostr8r Hey my friend, I've been completely out of touch with life for a while (but I've seen a lot of hospital ceilings and drip tubes from where I was laying). did you ever get up to Manitowoc and test run that new 31000 yet. Did you se any pictures of that new MAMMOET twin boom ringer? There is a great piece in my July issue of International Crane and Specialize Transport Magazine. 200,000 Tonne-Meter rated. I think they are calling it a PTC200 DS. Main hoists can lift 3200 tonnes to a height of 120 meters in 12 minutes Verticle reach with a jib is 235 meters and horizontal reach is 205 meters. Complete Crane shipps in 250 containers. (mixture of 20 and 40 foot units). Erection requires a pair of 300 tonne crawlers. Some of the containers get filled with ballast material (sand I think) so you don't have to transport ballast. Seems to me I read that it takes 700 tonnes of ballast. Operator sits on the left facing the center pin. That way he can watch the hoists and look to the left to see the load. I know a lot of people at MAMMOET, I have to get some more information on this monster.
I think Id have to be considered an old timer and I tell everyone I work with not to drag anything that they cant pick up with one hand unless its under the power lines! the whole reason Im there is to make there job easier. I do however let them throw me drink whenever theyre closer to the cooler than me.....OCG Oh, almost forgot, I got lucky on my practicals, Had a fairly new 340 terex for my large hyd. an old junk 440 p&h for my lattice and an even older austin-western neckbreaker for my small hyd. I did all 3 without hitting anything but that neckbreaker had me sweatin....wasnt pretty!
Donns, I just got back from a great, but short, vacation so haven't been online till tonight. Yes, I saw some stuff on that big monster and it is very impressive too. No haven't made it back up to the factory yet, but should fly out this weekend for 2 weeks of classes on our 31000. Can't wait to see it again and this time it'll be assembled. You can bet that when I get the chance I'll post about everything I can on it. Won't be taking a laptop or netbook but might be able to get in on a hotel computer. The only down side there is that they aren't able to upload pics or vids. Hope you're doing much better now too!
gostr8r, good to hear from you. I'm on the mend or at least trying to get well enough to have surgery to make me better. Nothing like sitting arouns home with a garden hose hanging out of your side - but in past times I would have gone to the great Boom Point in the sky so medicine has advanced. If you don't mind would you introduce yourself to my friend Mike Smith. He really would like to hear a bit about the 1400 in Panama City and you are probably the best one to tell him about it. Have a good one.
I'll tell Mike about you Donns. I'm sure he'll remember you right away too, he has a good memory. I might see him tomorrow in fact. Hey, I just found my whole set of 1400 American pics that I took over 12 years ago in PC. Wow, I was worried I had lent them out to someone that never returned them.
Donns thanks for your advice. I hope all is well with your visit to the hospital. I will stick to your words. I have always tried to make others job easier, Must've been from 10+ years in the trenches with a shovel. Now that Im in the seat I can tell what the guys on the grounds next move is. Productivity moves right along. Im going to be assigned to a Grove RT 855 in the fall. Anybody have any advice / experience with this rig?