Capital Equipment News March 2016

LIFTING

NEW TEREX ® AC 700 all terrain crane erects tower crane

A compact design and powerful perfor- mance characteristics – this is the combination that makes the compre- hensive AC all terrain crane series by Ter- ex the best choice when it comes to work sites with limited space. This was clearly the case when Wiesbauer GmbH & Co. KG erected a tower crane at a work site in the Swabian town of Kornwestheim, a project for which the company used its brand new Terex ® AC 700 crane in order to take ad- vantage of precisely these assets. The decision to use the latest acquisition in Wiesbauer’s fleet for the project was not only based on the AC 700 crane’s technical characteristics, but also on logistical con- siderations: “We had the crane stationed at our headquarters in Bietigheim-Bissin- gen precisely at the right time, and Bi- etigheim-Bissingen is only an hour away from the work site in Kornwestheim,” ex- plains General Manager Thomas Wiesbauer, who manages the company together with his brother Jochen. This meant that travel- ing to the site with the AC 700 crane was relatively easy, requiring only the appropri- ate travel permit and what in Germany is re- ferred to as a “BF-3 third-generation escort vehicle.” In addition, the unit was accom- panied by an assist crane and four trucks. Just like the trip, setting up the AC 700 crane at the work site took a short time: The seven-person Wiesbauer team, as-

sisted by two Trinac employees, required only five hours to do so despite the tight space conditions. “Like every other Terex crane, this unit was clearly designed with ease of assembly in mind, which is crucial to our ability to deliver when it comes to short assembly and disassembly times. In addition, this ease of assembly also plays an important role in the outstanding cost effectiveness of the model, as it makes us more competitive,” points out Jochen Wi- esbauer, who definitely speaks from expe- rience – after all, the AC 700 crane he is talking about is the fifth crane in the series in his company already. In order to reach the lifting height of up to 70 meters required to erect the tower crane, the Wiesbauer assembly technicians configured the Terex AC 700 crane with an LF main boom extension measuring 26.40 meters, an SSL system with a 30° offset, and 100 tonnes of counterweight. Once set up this way, the AC 700 crane was perfect- ly prepared to lift all of the tower crane’s components. These components included not only a large number of relatively lightweight and com- pact mast sections, but also significantly more unwieldy elements, such as the slew- ing unit, the two-piece jib, and the counter jib. For example, the lift for the largest load, i.e., the 20.5-tonne slewing unit, required a hook height of 70 meters and a radius of 24

meters. Meanwhile, jib unit 1 was slightly less heavy at exactly 20 tonnes. However, its overall length of 40 meters made it much more difficult to handle, requiring it to be perfectly balanced. The lift for this unit re- quired a hook height of 70 meters as well. In contrast, the hook height when lifting jib section 2 was slightly lower at 66 meters. And although this 8.5-tonne component was considerably lighter than the first jib section, it was also longer at 45 meters. In addition, the corresponding lift was per- formed with a maximum radius of up to 40 meters. “When lifting loads with these types of dimensions, it’s not enough to just rely on the crane operator’s expert touch. You also need a crane with extraordinary precision. And with its easy-to-use and tremendously responsive controls, the AC 700 proved to be the perfect machine for the job,” reports crane operator Günther Mühleck. This was one of the important advantag- es that enabled the Wiesbauer team to complete the job on schedule within the required time frame of five days, which included setting up and disassembling the AC 700 crane. “Of course, we’d already as- sumed that we wouldn’t be running into any problems – after all, we know exactly what the Terex cranes in this series are capable of,” summarizes Thomas Wiesbauer, who is more than satisfied with the debut of his company’s latest acquisition. b

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