Hey everyone
           I know I promised more information on the 60 meter placing boom but after a few long weeks in the Nevada sun, we thought we deserved a day off and went golfing instead. It was a great day on the course until Young rang a bullet off an unsuspecting ladies bar cart and Terry nearly punched a hole in a golf bag belonging to the golfers in front of us on the 13th tee. After a few refreshments in the clubhouse we agreed we were better at building pumps than golf. (Tiger, you're safe for now).
 
        Anyhow, lets get on with more pertinent stuff
 
    THE TOWER
     
          Starting at the base, there is simply a slewing bearing mounted to four hydraulic outriggers. It is basically a 60 meter base with the slewing bearing still attached and no pump kit. The outriggers are all equal in length of course and have massive up and down cylinders. (See Todds post pics 3 and 4). Each of the outriggers are fitted with a bracket to fit deadman weights to allow the system to free-stand.  
 
   On top of the slewing bearing we attach the huge counterbalance plate and weld the eyes for the tower to bolt on. On top of the counterbalance plate are two large concrete weights. These are to help remove deflection from the tower when the boom is extended, through the pendant lines and counterbalance arm on the back of the boom. The pendant lines are tensioned with hydraulic cylinders after assembly. The tower is a typical 2.2 meter crane tower. We chose this system so that the customer can add sections and purchase from almost anywhere and not have to wait to have us manufacture them. Various length pendant lines are available for various heights. The deflection of the tower is so minimal the only restriction in height is wind load. The extra large slewing bearing is capable of carrying several times more load than we can possibly exert with the complete system.
 
     On top of the tower is a four pin detachable horse head with dowel pins that can be easily moved from tower to pump in minutes.  The valve bank is attached to the horse head and is powered from hydraulic hoses and quick connect fittings from the pump. Electrical power is also supplied to the valve bank from the pump as well as the boom lights and horn. We thought this was one of the coolest parts of the design. CC Myers asked us if we could come up with a system to make it truly independent. They felt that if they didn't have to use a separate power source and power pack, it would eliminate electrical permits, generators and operating costs. (Young didn't sleep that night.)
 
      I apologize to everyone for not having more pictures when in operation but most of the pours to date have been at night. There are two large pours scheduled this week, and I will have film crew on site to do some filming. We would like to have the premiere of the film on concretepumping .com.  

 
       We are currently working on drawings, safety and operation manuals, so some actual specifications are not yet available. We can however answer any questions you have on concretepumping.com, or you may call me direct (Terry)@801-564-1729 or (Mr Young) @ 778-866-1729.
      
       I would like to personally thank the crew at CC Myers for the help and support in this project. Without people like them, masters of engineering like Mr. Young would never get the chance to flex their minds. Also thanks to Todd and his crew at Concretepumping.com. This is truly the best form of media for operators, pump owners, manufacturers and all their customers to voice their opinions and learn about the pumping industry and to inevitably make it better and safer. 
 
Thanks again,

Pump safe,
Terry Holmes, KCP America

Wind load is a real issue in some parts of the country. I do not know how important it is in this particular area.

As best I can tell from the pictures, the pendant lines would not clear the formwork if the boom was rotated away from the structure. [I would like to know if that is the case, please]

Is there a manual device, like a Schwing 42m placing boom uses to release the brake and allow the boom to ‘weathervane’ in a high wind condition?

Does the ‘detachable’ hardware increase the overall height of the unit in its road ready configuration?

Your project and equipment is the most innovative thing to hit the concrete pumping industry in some time; congratulations.

This should go a long way to convincing some of the doubters.

Mr. Young and the KCP team are out there getting it done!

So, does the boom split for fly away and what is the total weight of the boom? How high can you go with the tower, that seems important since it would seem there is no way to tie off the tower to achieve extreme heights.

Joey.

    Good question Bob. Reno, (particularly in the mountains) has very high wind speeds. They can experience speeds of over 120 miles/hour. The placing boom is designed to withstand 120 when not in operation, but over 100 mph the customer will tie the boom to the deck. The contractor can not pour at any more than 30 mph to prevent concrete cracking. The falsework on the bridge is engineered for 88 mph. So presumably the bridge would go before the tower. The tower will be moved up to 40 times over the next 18 months, and each set up may be slightly different. In this case they wanted as much reach as possible so the tower is very close to the bridge deck. Therefore they can only slew about 230 degrees. In other situations(where they are set up between two bridges) they can slew 360 degrees. There are slewing stop switches that can be set at any angle, but yes in this case the pendant lines would touch the bridge deck.

    Our boom does not weathervane. When not in use, we point the boom away from the wind as much as possible. Tower cranes weathervane partly because of high wind loading as there are always fully extended. When a boom is folded up it creates much less load.

    The detachable horsehead is exactly the same height as the origional piece, still under 13 feet 6 inches, but 1200 pounds heavier.

    The boom and pendant arm are 59,000 pounds and are designed to fly together. Unless you don't have enough crane, you need not split the boom. The tower right now is at 45 meters and capable of 65 meters in height. Thanks for your question Joey

          Have some fun with this:

      A bug is flying down the road at 12 mph and hit a cars windshield head on travelling toward him at 70 mph. How long does he actually stop before changing direction?

                                            Terry

great project terry, this is what we call innovation!!!