Cory, i bet the plastic sheaves also cause negligible wear to the hoist cable, so that's a plus too. An 80 ton is going to be using a block 80 percent of the time too, and sheave wear will probably cause a very large portion of the wear. My guess.
August Hunicke Videos
- Thread starter August Hunicke
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Lol yup. They have to heavy enough to keep all the line taught so it will reeve on the winch right, and will actually descend. If you reeve the block wrong, aside from damaging the hoist line, it can twist and lock up. Major pita to say the least.
At cat, you used a 100 ton overhead to position the welds in a v, so you could carry the 1.5 inch fillet weld in a single pass using 3/32 dualshield. You obviously had to put an insulator in the rigging, so the welder didn't ground thru the crane. On the d10 line, an idiot forgot that, and forgot to hook up the welding ground. It burned out the brake, and the part fell, with him luckily standing in the middle hole, where the huge fan goes. And then here comes the block. I don't know how, but it hit the side, and bounced outside the part. If it went the other way he would have been both cut in half and then crushed. Wasn't his turn that day.
At cat, you used a 100 ton overhead to position the welds in a v, so you could carry the 1.5 inch fillet weld in a single pass using 3/32 dualshield. You obviously had to put an insulator in the rigging, so the welder didn't ground thru the crane. On the d10 line, an idiot forgot that, and forgot to hook up the welding ground. It burned out the brake, and the part fell, with him luckily standing in the middle hole, where the huge fan goes. And then here comes the block. I don't know how, but it hit the side, and bounced outside the part. If it went the other way he would have been both cut in half and then crushed. Wasn't his turn that day.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
When I worked offshore I was amazed by the cable room for the crane. An entire big room devoted just to the crane's cables. Unbelievable - several YUGE YUGE spools of cable!
That's f'g incredible, Kyle.
More crazy CAT stories.
Hey I noticed CAT started advertising during football games etc, I've never noticed them advertising like that to a general consumer audience, what do you make of it?
Speaking of keeping the line taut, the picture I posted earlier was a 55t crane job, when he picked 1/2 that butt off the ground (11k lbs) I sighted up at the cable from behind the winch, first time I can recall seeing that line totally straight, no sagging, whoah!!
More crazy CAT stories.
Hey I noticed CAT started advertising during football games etc, I've never noticed them advertising like that to a general consumer audience, what do you make of it?
Speaking of keeping the line taut, the picture I posted earlier was a 55t crane job, when he picked 1/2 that butt off the ground (11k lbs) I sighted up at the cable from behind the winch, first time I can recall seeing that line totally straight, no sagging, whoah!!
Hard to beat the 3/32 stuff!
Have you had mis-weaved blocks lock up on ya or just heard about it?
Well, who is going to be watching football games? Hillbillies that use equipment. Oftentimes a decision of which equipment to rent is left to the foreman on the job. Prejudices lead to expensive equipment decisions lol.
3/32 (.094) wire is quite large compared to .035 or .045 that most here have run in a mig gun. 1000 amp machines. Needless to say it was a warm job. Remember if you double the diameter you quadruple the material. We would burn 1000 pounds plus a week between 3 shifts, of both .052 and 3/32 wire. That's literally pouring metal lol.
I've never done it, but I've seen it done. Got in an argument with the operator about it before it happened too lol. I've messed about everything else in life up before, just not that thank God!
3/32 (.094) wire is quite large compared to .035 or .045 that most here have run in a mig gun. 1000 amp machines. Needless to say it was a warm job. Remember if you double the diameter you quadruple the material. We would burn 1000 pounds plus a week between 3 shifts, of both .052 and 3/32 wire. That's literally pouring metal lol.
I've never done it, but I've seen it done. Got in an argument with the operator about it before it happened too lol. I've messed about everything else in life up before, just not that thank God!
Didn't take long for our boy to figure that one out!
Makes perfect sense, but beyond that, I wonder if it means CAT is feeling a pinch from the competition and needs to try new methods to build sales?
Edit - btw,no sarcasm meant re sentence #1
I may have asked you earlier after other CAT discussions, but if you had to buy an excavator now, money was a factor but not the only factor, and you wanted the best overall machine for performance, production, quality, reliability, durability, what would you buy?
I'm guessing Volvo for top of the heap and maybe Doosan for something quality but more affordable
I'm guessing Volvo for top of the heap and maybe Doosan for something quality but more affordable
They run a bunch of Deere where I'm at now, but i would guess Cat. I'm not really up on equipment on that level, but there's a reason why that's all you will see on most jobsites. Me personally, any iron is good iron lol. If you want to talk welding machines, i can direct you better. Carl is the go to guy here for that stuff. If i was to buy something tho, it would be at auction, so i get the most bang for my buck. Richie brothers to be specific. You in the market? And if so what size?
Stumpshot
General Purpose
Some guys I know just picked up a Kobelco excavator and a Hitachi mini excavator for doing septic installations. Of course, Kansas is full of green & yellow gear, but that's probably a slanted opinion. Caterpillar should be pretty tops for equipment quality and corresponding costs.
August Hunicke
TreeHouser
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4,066
Thanks.
Kyle I’ve re read your stuff a few times. Actually everyones...Pretty impressed this place is such a hole in the wall vault.
If I’m quiet it’m working on another vid
Nah, not at all. Was just curious about your take on it having spent time at CAT. Also kinda surprised you would opt for CAT, if buying new, based on what you have said that back in the day CAT was CAT and run by seasoned, knowledgable folks who created superior products but now accountants and finance people are the driving forces there, and the bottom line is king, not the quality of the product.
I assumed CAT tends to dominate big job sites because they are the biggest and have the most inventory and parts so that big construction companies don't have to futz around with smaller manufactures who, although they might have superior products, don't have the resources necessary to quickly fill the needs of big companies on big projects. Kinda like CAT charges more because they can, not because it is worth it. Does that make sense?
Mick!
TreeHouser
Everything is run by the bottom line Cory, or else it’s history.
I’ll enlarge on that.
Stihl and Husky make the best saws right? No real argument there. Their bottom line is based on that, by continuing to make great pro saws they sell 100 homeowner ones for every 1 they sell to you and me, but once joe bloggs stops seeing us pulling up in our trucks with those two marques in our trucks they stop buying the shit versions of our saws in Home Depot or whatever, which makes them feel like pros.
Bottom line is for the big two, keep making better saws or end up like McCulloch.
I’ll enlarge on that.
Stihl and Husky make the best saws right? No real argument there. Their bottom line is based on that, by continuing to make great pro saws they sell 100 homeowner ones for every 1 they sell to you and me, but once joe bloggs stops seeing us pulling up in our trucks with those two marques in our trucks they stop buying the shit versions of our saws in Home Depot or whatever, which makes them feel like pros.
Bottom line is for the big two, keep making better saws or end up like McCulloch.
Fair statement, but in the case of CAT discussions here, CAT is an inferior product compared to what it used to be.
So I was going to write 'it would be better off if it were still the superior product' but then I thought wow, there are, I think, a fair number of examples of things that were superior but disappeared anyway.
So I was going to write 'it would be better off if it were still the superior product' but then I thought wow, there are, I think, a fair number of examples of things that were superior but disappeared anyway.
Mick!
TreeHouser
Re. Cat, I’ll take your word on that.
Cat is not what they once were. But the sad reality is that none of them are any better. They still have a killer product, that can do some pretty amazing things. Like about all manufactured products however, they are made by cutting corners. Kinda brings me back to me wanting to build stuff myself and pushing others to do so as well. It might not be cheaper, but it will be better!
August Hunicke
TreeHouser
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4,073
I'm really looking forward to showing you guys this next crane vid. It's been a blast edit. It's Hollywood a bit but it shows the whole job well.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
Finish it up! 
SeanKroll
Treehouser
We're looking forward to seeing it.
