Hi Chris, After watching your video on the drag line, I thought you might be interested in this story about a couple of draglines in Corby Northamptonshire UK: The first of Corby’s giant quarry draglines was imported to the UK from the USA in 1950 and put to work in Brookfield Cottage Quarry. The machine was a new Bucyrus-Erie 1150 - B being fitted with a 215 ft long jib and capable of digging overburden down to a depth of 75 ft. Years later Sundew was a large electrically powered dragline excavator used in mining operations in Rutland and Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom. Sundew remained until operations at the quarry ceased in 1974 and plans were then devised to relocate the machine to a recently opened British Steel Corporation quarry near Corby. At a cost of £250,000 and taking two years to complete, it was decided that dismantling, moving and reconstructing the machine was not a viable option, and so over an eight-week period in 1974 Sundew walked 13 miles (21 km) from its home in Exton Park near the village of Exton in Rutland to a site north of Corby. During the walk the dragline crossed three water mains, four water courses, 13 power lines, ten roads, a railway line, two gas mains, seven telephone lines, 74 hedges, and the River Welland before reaching its new home.
🛎🛎🛎269 comments and Only I know the answer to the mystery of the long cable! The clamshell is setup correctly, its user and or situation error. you are meant to dig out deep holes, ponds, river, whatever below the level of the machine not an elevated surface. the spoils pile height is the only limit of the cable being long! the longer the cable, the more open the clam is allowing more material to be scooped. 🛎🛎🛎
To fix the short lift issue, you might want to take the extension cable completely off and run the drag line all the way through the pullies and attach where the extension line was. Cheers, EJ
It might even be better to use the main hoist for the clam.as it is the clam line that does the lifting. The "drag" line then only have to lift the empty bucket.
Yes, there should be no reason you need to have a connection to the two cables. That only limits its use. Just use one cable all the way. ALSO, you need an extra wedge, where the cable attaches to the bracket on the side near the top pulley. Right now it is simply run through and over the side of the bracket. Stress and rust will cause a crimp and then a wear point on the cable. That is why it is designed for a wedge in the first place But of course you probably have already noticed that.
_"It's tired, it's old, it does move but it doesn't move well. I guess if you were 64 years old and was ran hard you'd be like that."_ Words of wisdom right there! ... I'll be 65 this coming February, have been ran hard and feel exactly as you described! 🤣
I'm seventy and I was like that at fifty but we just keep trucking along. Started swinging a hammer as a carpenter apprentice at 12 so I wore out early. Lots of years roofing did in the knees, and some years drywalling did in the back. Add car accidents over the years and the whole body hurts. Life such as it is.
Helloooooooooo fellow creeky-boned commentators! haha ha!@@railroad9000 and @markpashia7067 and @Curtislow2 ... and hats-off to @railroad9000 for his 82 years!
I am 67, soon to be one more year. It isn't the age, it is the mileage. Some days I feel as old as Methuselah. To be honest, in my minds eye I feel in my late 30's or early 40's, but every time I look in the mirror there is an old man stairing back at me. LOL. She ain't doing bad for the her years and mileage. It is good to have friends like Kyle. Thanks for sharing.
Gotta agree with you all, but wouldn't change a thing, even if it wasn't perfect by any means, and there were definitely mistakes made along the for sure. We're all slow to get started, and some days definitely don't make work as well one direction as we might the other. Yet the day after might be totally opposite of the day before, and the third day everything is running 100%, only to have major systems issues for next week. So the young lady is just telling you your gonna have to work for it, because she's not going to just give it up to just anyone, and your gonna have to treat her right before she does. Bout sumes it up don't y'all agree with that analysis of her up to this point gentlemen.
Chris, the clamshell cable is to save the machine cable from damage through continuous use through the clam shell sheaves. It is easier and cheaper to change the short cable than the complete machine cable. To get more lift we aways had the boom at around 75 degrees. Depending on the ground you are digging you use the number of sheaves to suit conditions. We nearly always used only 2 sheaves. We were digging in light soil mostly but a few times we dug well shafts into clay where we used teeth to help penetration. Our machine was an Australian Jaques J15 1 fitted as clam or dragline, the other as a drag shovel [cable excavator]. We loaded into trucks and farm tipping trailers many times. I some creak/drain cleanout we had to use pads as you do with the excavator even though we had 18" pads on a 10 ton machine. Good luck and have fun we always did.
Aw Hell !! Look at ya ... Man , you got it now !! Can you imagine the Old Timers, how long it took to move dirt back in the day ?? You know after a day of running one of those, you would be slick wore out, I bet !! lololol... Great as always Chris !! Have a Great Evening, And, On too the Next !!
Chris, the closing cable is not meant to have a short piece in it. The line from the drum should be threaded through the pulleys of the clam and dead end at the becket on the tower. What you have is a "cheater" line so clam can be quickly installed for a small job. As you see, very limited in lifting height. Correct installation would be cabled directly to the drum.
If you don't want to put it straight to the drum could you not shorten the anchor cable that is attached to the bucket ie the other end of the cable you have already shorten 😊
At 74 I can relate the old, tired, don’t move so well, but, my swing brake still works, sorta, if I don’t move one way or the other to quick, notice I didn’t say fast, cause there ain’t no fast in me anymore🙄😏😂😂 thanks for the drag line update sir, fun to watch.
The saying "don't saddle a dead horse" is helpful when attempting to recall that the saddle of the cable clip should typically NOT go on the dead end of the cable coming from the eye...if you want it to achieve greatest holding strength. The saddle should stay on the working side of the eye. U-bolt should crush the dead side. Clips spaced by at least 5 cable diameters (more is better). 2 clips minimum up to 1/2", then add an additional clip with each 1/8 of cable diameter (gets you close if you don't have a table from the clip manufacturer). For max lift range with all the clam pulleys used (you usually only need all of them for hard stuff), you have to reeve the cable straight from the drum. But you can use less clam pulleys and make the pendant work well enough in a lot of cases. When running the drag or the clam, the working part of the cable takes a lot of wear. So if you had good operators (that could keep from bird nesting the drums), it was often cheaper to spool a lot of cable on the drums and keep dropping worn out 50 or 100 ft sections off the end as they wore out. If you "right sized" the length on the drums from the start, each time you wore out the end you had to also throw out the other good half from the drum side with it. Of course if the new guy bird nests a full spool on your day off because a "brake slipped", that math goes bad on you....
I was telling Dirt Perfect when I worked oilfield we melted the ends of the cables with a torch like you do with nylon rope. Doesn't fray and stops the strands from sticking your hand through your glove and causing you to say a bunch of bad words. One of the most painful things for such a little wound. You tie off with bailing wire too to keep the large braids together if they separate
OK Chris, looks like you officially have bragging rights to being the first TH-camr to use the clamshell bucket, have not been able to find anyone else to have posted this yet. 👍👏👏
Criss you can clean that pond out with that clam shell. You can sling it out there from a distance. I used to run a link belt crane with a clam on it gettin sand out of a creek I would slide it way down the creek.
When you are digging a hole that's below the level of the dragline tracks (probably the normal scenario) that is going to work perfectly since you'll have more distance between the boom head and the clam so that cable position as it is at 38:18 is fine. As someone else has suggested remove the existing cable from the clam and feed your drag cable into it assuming there is enough length. That way you don't have anything to get in the way.
When you said you were putting the clamshell on, I thought "Kyle needs to be there." And then there he was. You two had me laughing so hard, my husband had to see what was so funny. This was fun to watch you figure it out. Thanks for sharing this, Chris. It made my day.😁
Hi Chris, being an old timer on 22 RB's you'll find you're better to take that cable off the clamshell and feed your dragline directly through your pullies. If your loading trucks or hoppers and need height it's the only way. All the best.
Let me be among the first of your fans, Chris, on congratulating you on your success with the clamshell. It does work a lot better than the dragline. 😊
I'm 68 years old and I identify with the drag line lol. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the two of you messing around with the clam shell change. Looked like you had a lot of fun.
Chris, the number of pulleys you go around are tied to the closing force. The way it is set up seems for digging in original ground. Digging in loose fill would only need one pulley. Digging in harder material might take two. Just needs to be set for the job. Also that "quick attach" system limits the lift like others said. Normal would be to direct cable and wrap as many pulleys as the job site calls for. Imagine trying to cut hard clay twenty feet below grade and that is what it is set up for now. Most of the time, these were hauled to a job site, set up for the job and worked there for months if not years, so how much rigging you want to do is up to your needs. My guess is for your needs as a toy at home you might want to rig it like it is but only one pulley so you can quickly change buckets and uses. That would shorten the close function cable by a lot but also would limit the closing force to the minimum. Maybe test it by direct cable one time to see how many pulleys suit your needs and then rig it with the cheater after you know what you need. Pain in the butt one time to test it but quick change once you figure it out.
That is why I began to read comments was to see if anyone else thought like me... your thought struck me quickly after watching this... I use pulleys all the time... and the more pulleys, is the more force in exchange for cable going further distance... less force is less distance... less pulleys is less distance travelled by cable. Pond muck and wet soil shouldn't require much force to close clam, it will close I guarantee. How full the bucket will determine how many pulleys involved. Good call Markpashia.
Chris the opening and closing cable is to go around the pulleys on the bucket. That is how it is rigged on the clam shells used to unload gran from the ships The clam shell should be dropped from the top of the boom to dig with. So take off all that excessive cable and wrap the drag apple around the pulleys.
As a kid, I had a nylint truck clam shell lattice boom crane. I believe nylint modeled them after Michigan units. If I ever see a clam shell in my travels, it brings back great memories as does your BE
You will like the Clamshell if you need to dig deep in a small area. 95% of the time I use the Drag bucket on my Unit 514. At 75 years old she walks about like yours which is pretty good considering the age on the undercarriage on these machines. I set up my clamshell with a loop on the closing line that is just above the hoist line attachment when the teeth or bottom of the clam bucket is vertical to the ground. So the teeth dig straight in when you drop the bucket while digging. If you are working with a loose material then I think you would want to open as much as you can. Just what works for me YMMV.
You kinda have it figured out. The best way would be to have a second cable devoted to the clam. When you change over the clam cable comes off the drum entirely and the drag cable is rigged to the drum. Expensive but if you plan on changing over often, it will be the easiest. Now visualize a log grapple instead of the clam and try to high deck 32 foot logs. Cheers.
Chris when you cut your cable ends you can take your torch and pretty much cut/melt (weld the ends together so they stay bunched together) with the torch, if you have to tap the melted ends to make sure the cable will pass through your shivs. They won’t unravel any more!
Better still, heat the cable far enough from the end so you can grip it with something and once it's red hot twist it to tighten the twist of the cable, it will neck in, keep twisting and keep it red hot, it will make a neat, sealed end, better to thread the sheaves and shouldn't unravel. I would think a good MAP gas torch should do it.
I had an old boy once tell me never saddle a dead horse when it come to cable clamps so the saddle should go on the load side of the line if that helps at all and I would agree with the comment of reaving the line through all the shives even though it's a pain and it'll give you the desired affect, nice job though I enjoyed the effort thanks for sharing
Use half as many pulleys in the clam shell to wrap that cable around and that will make it close a LOT quicker. It will still pick up all the mud you want to with each grad.
If this was going to be set up as a dedicated Clamshell machine then running the closing line through the bucket makes sense. If he wants to shift back and forth then it is a PITA to change over. The other thing is that on many draglines the drag cable is not especially long, because you normally don't have to reach that far out to drag the bucket in. So if you use it to rig the clamshell you risk the chance of not being able to dig very deeply because all your cable is tied up in the clam bucket. Primarily clam work is digging below the level of the ground so being able to lift the bucket really high is less of an issue, as several people have pointed out. Depending on the material you are digging, using fewer pully sheaves can work but you sacrifice the closing power of the bucket. Trial and error is probably the best teacher, just like it only took one try to figure out that you really want to use the automatic tagline with the Clamshell.
I've been asking Matt in comments if he was gonna convert one of his drag-lines to clam-shell. Maybe you beating him to it will make him think about it. GOOD JOB !
Thanks for the continued content and the varied machines and goings on with what you have If you had a plastic tube from the controls to the air cleaner,and spray the starting fluid from there
What you can do is reduce the number of falls in the grab end from six fall to three fall. Six fall is usually used when the grab has teeth fitted and digging hard material.
Hi Chris. The dragline is coming along very nicely. You might want to check your cable clamps though. It looks like you install a number of them backwards. The saddle goes on the long cable, the u-bolt goes on the short cable. To remember which is which, Never saddle a dead horse.
I don't have the first clue about drag lines, but, if you raise the boom higher, it will increase the distance of the boom from the ground. That should result in a longer drag line to the bucket. I know, your gonna need a piece of paper and a sharp pencil to follow my logic. Good luck and I love the channel!
A lot of good advice has already been said but take the line out and put your drag line in Direct to the bucket,maybe the bucket was used on a larger machine as in longer stick ,all the best as you go forward with this project 👍
The dragline is really impressive for sitting for a while,fired right off.close enough.boys playing with their toys.great video as always continue on doing what your doing.👍👍👍😎😎😎
Thanks Chris! my wife just sprayed me with coffee when you said "If you were 64 years old and ran hard" she is still laughing and said she thought you were talking about me. :)
Great job criss ,I think that the ol'girl needs to be treated to some dry ground to rest her feet wonder if she would benefit from being out on a slightly raised bed of gravel or crushed rock pad plus she'd sure look good without grass and weed around her toes
If the open/close cable was removed entirely and the main dragline cable you are using was run to replace it then, assuming there is enough slack on the winch drum, you would not have a lift height problem as it could wind until the top of the clam frame hit the tip of the jib. Rats - just seen others also saw the same answer haha.
I really miss those old draglines. They were part of my childhood summers for years. My dad had a Northwest 95 and that thing was a beast. The job I always disliked was breaking it down to move it to the next job site. It took a full day to remove the boom, the counterweights, and the tracks, and another day to put it back together.
Hi Chris, you are getting there and lots of guys are giving you advise which is great !! Anyway, this machine will do the job of that long Volvo you had to drag the mud out of that council pond some time ago and then can do it with your own machine, safe hiring that Volvo. Greetings from Australis
I am looking forward to seeing you clean out some more of the dam and fixing the swing brake surely there must be an old drag line operator near you I am in Australia and I ran into a 16 year old running one the same like a veteran blew me away he was moving mountains of sand in a wet quarry
Just take the cable on the dragline spool and weave it thru the pulleys on the bucket, unless you plan to be swapping back ne forth between the buckets all you need is that cable instead of the “quick connect cable” already on the bucket
Chris you really need a building to put the drag line in so you can do some work on it over the winter. Them tracks are really lacking lubrication and some serious cleaning and or replacing the really bad pads and the linkages.
You're going to need to run the secondary cable though the clam and lose the short cable if we are to see the dragline load Barney next time he's home. I'd also do one less loop through the pullies on the clam to as it will give it some more speed.
Thanks for setting me straight on the pond dredgings. I had hoped that some such material sometime could enrich field soils. It did once, when you took truckloads to fill in a field swale on a pond reaming.
Chris just for safety you should remember never saddle a dead horse. I was told that when rigging our scaffolds. Your buddy put the clamp on the cable the wrong way. You're supposed to put the saddle on the main section of the line so the u bolt will bite into the stub end section of the cable to keep it from sliding out of the clamp. As you said work safe.
You seem to have more control over the clam-shell bucket. If you add teeth to the bucket, you could use it in your pond! Also you could run the cable strait through the pullies and tying the end of the cable to the side of the clam-shell bucket.
To reduce the slag of the cable, you could reduce 1 loop from the pulleys in the bucket. It now goes around 3 times, you could make it 2. I think that would reduce the cable by 2 times 4 feet. I'm not a drag line operator, just mechanical insight.
It looks much more funner with the buckey buckey on it! But I'd put the boom down. Just... could you put the boom down? I just love the jolly bickering between you two!
Maybe you're supposed to opperate it with the boom in a more vertical position? That will give you more space to pull that cable up higher and close the bucket.
The extra cable was add to make it easier to inter change. you are spost to run the cable thro the pulleys to get full use off it it does not take that long I change the hook and clam back and forth all the time on my crane barge hope that helps
if I had to guess, you remove that cable totally and feed the drag cable through the buckets block/tackle fully… so there is NO connection point. though it appears that the wedge is missing on the bucket too as you can see the way it’s clamped isn’t right.
worked in arctic building islands for drilling ris . the manittowac 2600 operators would swing cast the clam 50 yards and drag fill to fill island . islands were rings of woven ripwrap bags ,4yds. each ,filled with dredged gravel..all this on barges.
The secret is to boom up more. There is supposed to be a wedge in the dead end of the closing line on the bucket. Generally, these things are configured to raise the clam enough to load a truck. If you want to work high or at a longer radius with it, take that little cable off the bucket sheaves and reeve the closing line through the bucket sheaves or add another boom section. That's what demolition companies do as they may need to go many stories high to wreck a building. If they need to use a wrecking ball, they set the closed bucket next to the rig and use the holding line on the ball . This is also done when you occasionally need to use a headache ball or block for lift crane service. While we're chit-chatting, it looks like you put that Crosby Clamp on backwards, again.
What you have at the clam shell is basically a block and tackle. You gain a 6 to 1 mechanical advantage but to gain this advantage you have to pull the cable 6 times the length. If you have 4 feet between your pullies you t have to pull 24 feet to move the block and tackle 4 feet- 4x6=24. You need to feed the main cable through the block and tackle.
Good ol' lightning bolt box and thunder maker spray. I'm so grateful to see this old equipment have a new lease on life. This is the equipment that built this country.
Good video Chris, I'm surprised you don't have a noco boost jump starter , there light an you can carry them in your hand easy, I got one in my jeep, I've jump started a semi truck before, they start 24volt stuff easy, thanks for sharing Chris, best channel on YT
Most of the time when closing the clam it would be much lower in the water which will give you more headroom for cables. If you are dredging you only need to be clear of the water to swing and dump
What a couple of rookies😂. You better figure that clam out or the rest of the boys are going to be sitting around laughing at you, taking notes....but definitely laughing😊 love the channel
I put a block pully on the clam shell run the cable thru the block back up to the main center block on the boom and then back down onto pully and tie off your cable to the block pully. At that point should give you twice the distance It's for the boom to raise. Basically you're making a block and fall.
Chris - my wife and I watch your channel every night... (that alone should tell you that we are party people!). But we were thinking we'd love to come up in the spring, and we'd sand that drag line down for repainting. #ahhyeah #weshallsee
Well not to sound silly but it’s the only reference I have, my Tonka clam shell used the direct line from the barrel to the bucket pullies 😂 I recall restringing it many times and it’s the same principle 🤷🏼♂️
Nice view (36:43), the slight smoke column from the kitten sixpack against the sunset and a dragline that isn´t a drag(ger) anymore. It looks now very much like I´d imagine an old excavator, seems much more useful, now. Certainly it´s nice to have the clam in not too bad condition and the scraper attachment- I bet it will be useful but most work seems to favour the clam. It´s more a crane than excavator, I can see multiple uses for a machine like this. Maybe it´s possible to figure out kind of a quick connect to make changing attachements easier and quicker? Give the old girl some love, she sounds unhappy when cold. I bet it´s a pretty good digger when all is gone thru. No more sloppy levers, secure winch brakes, maybe there´s some better feedback to feel when all joints and bushes are good again and move freely. Maybe You gain customers with this very useable flag mast carrier wearing Your firm logo in a style like the sixties.
The boom needs to be higher so pull it into about 55 degrees to the machine. The clam bucket is designed to dig in a hole that is lower than the machine. You were digging from an elevated pile.
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Hi Chris, After watching your video on the drag line, I thought you might be interested in this story about a couple of draglines in Corby Northamptonshire UK: The first of Corby’s giant quarry draglines was imported to the UK from the USA in 1950 and put to work in Brookfield Cottage Quarry. The machine was a new Bucyrus-Erie 1150 - B being fitted with a 215 ft long jib and capable of digging overburden down to a depth of 75 ft. Years later Sundew was a large electrically powered dragline excavator used in mining operations in Rutland and Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom. Sundew remained until operations at the quarry ceased in 1974 and plans were then devised to relocate the machine to a recently opened British Steel Corporation quarry near Corby. At a cost of £250,000 and taking two years to complete, it was decided that dismantling, moving and reconstructing the machine was not a viable option, and so over an eight-week period in 1974 Sundew walked 13 miles (21 km) from its home in Exton Park near the village of Exton in Rutland to a site north of Corby. During the walk the dragline crossed three water mains, four water courses, 13 power lines, ten roads, a railway line, two gas mains, seven telephone lines, 74 hedges, and the River Welland before reaching its new home.
🛎🛎🛎269 comments and Only I know the answer to the mystery of the long cable! The clamshell is setup correctly, its user and or situation error. you are meant to dig out deep holes, ponds, river, whatever below the level of the machine not an elevated surface. the spoils pile height is the only limit of the cable being long! the longer the cable, the more open the clam is allowing more material to be scooped. 🛎🛎🛎
To fix the short lift issue, you might want to take the extension cable completely off and run the drag line all the way through the pullies and attach where the extension line was.
Cheers,
EJ
It might even be better to use the main hoist for the clam.as it is the clam line that does the lifting. The "drag" line then only have to lift the empty bucket.
Was thinking the same.
I agree 100%
Yes, there should be no reason you need to have a connection to the two cables. That only limits its use. Just use one cable all the way. ALSO, you need an extra wedge, where the cable attaches to the bracket on the side near the top pulley. Right now it is simply run through and over the side of the bracket. Stress and rust will cause a crimp and then a wear point on the cable. That is why it is designed for a wedge in the first place But of course you probably have already noticed that.
@jacquejecker4435 100%. If everything is done as per above suggestions by everyone it otta work like a hot damn.
You two are doing the work of three men, Mo, Larry, and Curly!
_"It's tired, it's old, it does move but it doesn't move well. I guess if you were 64 years old and was ran hard you'd be like that."_ Words of wisdom right there!
... I'll be 65 this coming February, have been ran hard and feel exactly as you described! 🤣
I'll be 82 in March and some days I feel the same way!!
I'm seventy and I was like that at fifty but we just keep trucking along. Started swinging a hammer as a carpenter apprentice at 12 so I wore out early. Lots of years roofing did in the knees, and some years drywalling did in the back. Add car accidents over the years and the whole body hurts. Life such as it is.
68 here, but my constant 12yr old mentally is why the chassis is all worn out.LOL.
Helloooooooooo fellow creeky-boned commentators! haha ha!@@railroad9000 and @markpashia7067 and @Curtislow2 ... and hats-off to @railroad9000 for his 82 years!
71 and still moving. Just not too fast.
I am 67, soon to be one more year. It isn't the age, it is the mileage. Some days I feel as old as Methuselah. To be honest, in my minds eye I feel in my late 30's or early 40's, but every time I look in the mirror there is an old man stairing back at me. LOL. She ain't doing bad for the her years and mileage. It is good to have friends like Kyle. Thanks for sharing.
For me it was the poor maintenance plan!
Methuselah was a Patriarch whose life span as recorded in Genesis 5:27 was 969 years. I know your pain
Gotta agree with you all, but wouldn't change a thing, even if it wasn't perfect by any means, and there were definitely mistakes made along the for sure.
We're all slow to get started, and some days definitely don't make work as well one direction as we might the other.
Yet the day after might be totally opposite of the day before, and the third day everything is running 100%, only to have major systems issues for next week.
So the young lady is just telling you your gonna have to work for it, because she's not going to just give it up to just anyone, and your gonna have to treat her right before she does.
Bout sumes it up don't y'all agree with that analysis of her up to this point gentlemen.
Chris, the clamshell cable is to save the machine cable from damage through continuous use through the clam shell sheaves. It is easier and cheaper to change the short cable than the complete machine cable. To get more lift we aways had the boom at around 75 degrees. Depending on the ground you are digging you use the number of sheaves to suit conditions. We nearly always used only 2 sheaves. We were digging in light soil mostly but a few times we dug well shafts into clay where we used teeth to help penetration. Our machine was an Australian Jaques J15 1 fitted as clam or dragline, the other as a drag shovel [cable excavator]. We loaded into trucks and farm tipping trailers many times. I some creak/drain cleanout we had to use pads as you do with the excavator even though we had 18" pads on a 10 ton machine.
Good luck and have fun we always did.
Boys and their toys, men never grow up only the toys get bigger. This channel is a good example for this. Love it.
Aw Hell !! Look at ya ... Man , you got it now !! Can you imagine the Old Timers, how long it took to move dirt back in the day ?? You know after a day of running one of those, you would be slick wore out, I bet !! lololol... Great as always Chris !! Have a Great Evening, And, On too the Next !!
Chris, the closing cable is not meant to have a short piece in it. The line from the drum should be threaded through the pulleys of the clam and dead end at the becket on the tower. What you have is a "cheater" line so clam can be quickly installed for a small job. As you see, very limited in lifting height. Correct installation would be cabled directly to the drum.
Exactly as it should be directly to the drum. Take the existing cable on the clam shell out and use direct line on drum
Huskies is right. You need to fish the cable. That's why there's a becket saddle on the out side of pulley. With the wedge you don't need to clamp it
Seems logical to me. 🤓
If you don't want to put it straight to the drum could you not shorten the anchor cable that is attached to the bucket ie the other end of the cable you have already shorten 😊
Blooming heck Chris your mate makes you look small @ 6” . He’s one tall guy!!!
At 74 I can relate the old, tired, don’t move so well, but, my swing brake still works, sorta, if I don’t move one way or the other to quick, notice I didn’t say fast, cause there ain’t no fast in me anymore🙄😏😂😂 thanks for the drag line update sir, fun to watch.
EJ you have the best answer.
A lot of people think you only need one line.....they have never seen one of these work, evidently .
The saying "don't saddle a dead horse" is helpful when attempting to recall that the saddle of the cable clip should typically NOT go on the dead end of the cable coming from the eye...if you want it to achieve greatest holding strength. The saddle should stay on the working side of the eye. U-bolt should crush the dead side. Clips spaced by at least 5 cable diameters (more is better). 2 clips minimum up to 1/2", then add an additional clip with each 1/8 of cable diameter (gets you close if you don't have a table from the clip manufacturer).
For max lift range with all the clam pulleys used (you usually only need all of them for hard stuff), you have to reeve the cable straight from the drum. But you can use less clam pulleys and make the pendant work well enough in a lot of cases.
When running the drag or the clam, the working part of the cable takes a lot of wear. So if you had good operators (that could keep from bird nesting the drums), it was often cheaper to spool a lot of cable on the drums and keep dropping worn out 50 or 100 ft sections off the end as they wore out. If you "right sized" the length on the drums from the start, each time you wore out the end you had to also throw out the other good half from the drum side with it. Of course if the new guy bird nests a full spool on your day off because a "brake slipped", that math goes bad on you....
I will be 62 years old next month and that's exactly how I feel old slow moving and worn out😊
Operating and upgrading and dismantling a dragline is a science in itself. 😆
I was telling Dirt Perfect when I worked oilfield we melted the ends of the cables with a torch like you do with nylon rope. Doesn't fray and stops the strands from sticking your hand through your glove and causing you to say a bunch of bad words. One of the most painful things for such a little wound. You tie off with bailing wire too to keep the large braids together if they separate
OK Chris, looks like you officially have bragging rights to being the first TH-camr to use the clamshell bucket, have not been able to find anyone else to have posted this yet. 👍👏👏
It’s really cool it came with everything it did.
"It's tired, it's old, it does move but it doesn't move well" You just described me, Chris!
Cheers from Louisiana.
Criss you can clean that pond out with that clam shell. You can sling it out there from a distance. I used to run a link belt crane with a clam on it gettin sand out of a creek I would slide it way down the creek.
When you are digging a hole that's below the level of the dragline tracks (probably the normal scenario) that is going to work perfectly since you'll have more distance between the boom head and the clam so that cable position as it is at 38:18 is fine.
As someone else has suggested remove the existing cable from the clam and feed your drag cable into it assuming there is enough length. That way you don't have anything to get in the way.
Clamshell bucket is so cool. You have the operation down pat. Another skill for your resume. Thanks Chris.
This gives me a whole new appreciation of what went into the huge National projects like the Hoover Dam !
Ha that drageline is as old as me! We move the same way! 👍🏻👍🏻🤣🤣
When you said you were putting the clamshell on, I thought "Kyle needs to be there." And then there he was. You two had me laughing so hard, my husband had to see what was so funny. This was fun to watch you figure it out. Thanks for sharing this, Chris. It made my day.😁
Noting like relaxing on the farm . And playing with your toys
Hi Chris, being an old timer on 22 RB's you'll find you're better to take that cable off the clamshell and feed your dragline directly through your pullies.
If your loading trucks or hoppers and need height it's the only way. All the best.
Let me be among the first of your fans, Chris, on congratulating you on your success with the clamshell. It does work a lot better than the dragline. 😊
I'm 68 years old and I identify with the drag line lol. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the two of you messing around with the clam shell change. Looked like you had a lot of fun.
Same here!
Chris, the number of pulleys you go around are tied to the closing force. The way it is set up seems for digging in original ground. Digging in loose fill would only need one pulley. Digging in harder material might take two. Just needs to be set for the job. Also that "quick attach" system limits the lift like others said. Normal would be to direct cable and wrap as many pulleys as the job site calls for. Imagine trying to cut hard clay twenty feet below grade and that is what it is set up for now. Most of the time, these were hauled to a job site, set up for the job and worked there for months if not years, so how much rigging you want to do is up to your needs. My guess is for your needs as a toy at home you might want to rig it like it is but only one pulley so you can quickly change buckets and uses. That would shorten the close function cable by a lot but also would limit the closing force to the minimum. Maybe test it by direct cable one time to see how many pulleys suit your needs and then rig it with the cheater after you know what you need. Pain in the butt one time to test it but quick change once you figure it out.
That is why I began to read comments was to see if anyone else thought like me... your thought struck me quickly after watching this... I use pulleys all the time... and the more pulleys, is the more force in exchange for cable going further distance... less force is less distance... less pulleys is less distance travelled by cable. Pond muck and wet soil shouldn't require much force to close clam, it will close I guarantee. How full the bucket will determine how many pulleys involved. Good call Markpashia.
Amazingly the sun was shining brightly when initially hooking up clam. When you got it working the sun was behind the trees! 😉
Just glad they got a few clam shell buckets dug as the sun was going down. 👍🙂🦘
Chris the opening and closing cable is to go around the pulleys on the bucket. That is how it is rigged on the clam shells used to unload gran from the ships
The clam shell should be dropped from the top of the boom to dig with. So take off all that excessive cable and wrap the drag apple around the pulleys.
As a kid, I had a nylint truck clam shell lattice boom crane. I believe nylint modeled them after Michigan units. If I ever see a clam shell in my travels, it brings back great memories as does your BE
You will like the Clamshell if you need to dig deep in a small area. 95% of the time I use the Drag bucket on my Unit 514. At 75 years old she walks about like yours which is pretty good considering the age on the undercarriage on these machines. I set up my clamshell with a loop on the closing line that is just above the hoist line attachment when the teeth or bottom of the clam bucket is vertical to the ground. So the teeth dig straight in when you drop the bucket while digging. If you are working with a loose material then I think you would want to open as much as you can. Just what works for me YMMV.
You kinda have it figured out. The best way would be to have a second cable devoted to the clam. When you change over the clam cable comes off the drum entirely and the drag cable is rigged to the drum. Expensive but if you plan on changing over often, it will be the easiest. Now visualize a log grapple instead of the clam and try to high deck 32 foot logs. Cheers.
Chris when you cut your cable ends you can take your torch and pretty much cut/melt (weld the ends together so they stay bunched together) with the torch, if you have to tap the melted ends to make sure the cable will pass through your shivs. They won’t unravel any more!
Better still, heat the cable far enough from the end so you can grip it with something and once it's red hot twist it to tighten the twist of the cable, it will neck in, keep twisting and keep it red hot, it will make a neat, sealed end, better to thread the sheaves and shouldn't unravel.
I would think a good MAP gas torch should do it.
I had an old boy once tell me never saddle a dead horse when it come to cable clamps so the saddle should go on the load side of the line if that helps at all and I would agree with the comment of reaving the line through all the shives even though it's a pain and it'll give you the desired affect, nice job though I enjoyed the effort thanks for sharing
Use half as many pulleys in the clam shell to wrap that cable around and that will make it close a LOT quicker. It will still pick up all the mud you want to with each grad.
If this was going to be set up as a dedicated Clamshell machine then running the closing line through the bucket makes sense. If he wants to shift back and forth then it is a PITA to change over. The other thing is that on many draglines the drag cable is not especially long, because you normally don't have to reach that far out to drag the bucket in. So if you use it to rig the clamshell you risk the chance of not being able to dig very deeply because all your cable is tied up in the clam bucket. Primarily clam work is digging below the level of the ground so being able to lift the bucket really high is less of an issue, as several people have pointed out. Depending on the material you are digging, using fewer pully sheaves can work but you sacrifice the closing power of the bucket. Trial and error is probably the best teacher, just like it only took one try to figure out that you really want to use the automatic tagline with the Clamshell.
I've been asking Matt in comments if he was gonna convert one of his drag-lines to clam-shell. Maybe you beating him to it will make him think about it. GOOD JOB !
Yes you needed the "SPINY THING WHEEL" or Tag-line guys lol!
Thanks for the continued content and the varied machines and goings on with what you have
If you had a plastic tube from the controls to the air cleaner,and spray the starting fluid from there
Love the dragline videos and the "stack cam" shots are gold!
"child holding a bear back..." -- too funny!
What you can do is reduce the number of falls in the grab end from six fall to three fall. Six fall is usually used when the grab has teeth fitted and digging hard material.
Try taking out one of the loops on the bucket itself to lesson the pull ratio. 👍
I wish Chris could employ Kyle full time for assistance and comic relief. He makes a great sidekick for the show.
Hi Chris. The dragline is coming along very nicely. You might want to check your cable clamps though. It looks like you install a number of them backwards. The saddle goes on the long cable, the u-bolt goes on the short cable. To remember which is which, Never saddle a dead horse.
Congrats on getting the bucket to work. 😮
Awesome, another greatvideo, thank you for sharing 👍👍👍👍
I don't have the first clue about drag lines, but, if you raise the boom higher, it will increase the distance of the boom from the ground. That should result in a longer drag line to the bucket. I know, your gonna need a piece of paper and a sharp pencil to follow my logic. Good luck and I love the channel!
A lot of good advice has already been said but take the line out and put your drag line in Direct to the bucket,maybe the bucket was used on a larger machine as in longer stick ,all the best as you go forward with this project 👍
once again, great content with old machines
Have a good one Chris! Take care and God Bless!!!❤😊
The dragline is really impressive for sitting for a while,fired right off.close enough.boys playing with their toys.great video as always continue on doing what your doing.👍👍👍😎😎😎
Thanks Chris! my wife just sprayed me with coffee when you said "If you were 64 years old and ran hard" she is still laughing and said she thought you were talking about me. :)
Love watching old Iron work!
Watching you work those leavers reminded me of Fred Flintstone :-)
Great job criss ,I think that the ol'girl needs to be treated to some dry ground to rest her feet wonder if she would benefit from being out on a slightly raised bed of gravel or crushed rock pad plus she'd sure look good without grass and weed around her toes
If the open/close cable was removed entirely and the main dragline cable you are using was run to replace it then, assuming there is enough slack on the winch drum, you would not have a lift height problem as it could wind until the top of the clam frame hit the tip of the jib. Rats - just seen others also saw the same answer haha.
Chris great video,looks very complicated to operate! Thanks for sharing! Kevin
I really miss those old draglines. They were part of my childhood summers for years. My dad had a Northwest 95 and that thing was a beast. The job I always disliked was breaking it down to move it to the next job site. It took a full day to remove the boom, the counterweights, and the tracks, and another day to put it back together.
That dragline is awesome😊
Hi Chris, you are getting there and lots of guys are giving you advise which is great !! Anyway, this machine will do the job of that long Volvo you had to drag the mud out of that council pond some time ago and then can do it with your own machine, safe hiring that Volvo. Greetings from Australis
I am looking forward to seeing you clean out some more of the dam and fixing the swing brake surely there must be an old drag line operator near you I am in Australia and I ran into a 16 year old running one the same like a veteran blew me away he was moving mountains of sand in a wet quarry
Just take the cable on the dragline spool and weave it thru the pulleys on the bucket, unless you plan to be swapping back ne forth between the buckets all you need is that cable instead of the “quick connect cable” already on the bucket
Hey Chris I think you need took take all the old cable off the bucket and restring it with the cable that is on the drum .
Chris you really need a building to put the drag line in so you can do some work on it over the winter. Them tracks are really lacking lubrication and some serious cleaning and or replacing the really bad pads and the linkages.
You're going to need to run the secondary cable though the clam and lose the short cable if we are to see the dragline load Barney next time he's home. I'd also do one less loop through the pullies on the clam to as it will give it some more speed.
Thanks for setting me straight on the pond dredgings. I had hoped that some such material sometime could enrich field soils. It did once, when you took truckloads to fill in a field swale on a pond reaming.
That clam bucket may have been rigged for a longer stick. You got it figured out in the end
That clamshell doesn't look like it handles a lot of dirt but it beats a shovel and wheelbarrow. Great job on getting it going.
Chris just for safety you should remember never saddle a dead horse. I was told that when rigging our scaffolds. Your buddy put the clamp on the cable the wrong way. You're supposed to put the saddle on the main section of the line so the u bolt will bite into the stub end section of the cable to keep it from sliding out of the clamp. As you said work safe.
Equipment from that era was built to last a lifetime.
#MADE_IN_USA 🇺🇸
You seem to have more control over the clam-shell bucket. If you add teeth to the bucket, you could use it in your pond! Also you could run the cable strait through the pullies and tying the end of the cable to the side of the clam-shell bucket.
I thought You would at first need three engineers , a Forman and 6 labors to figure that rigging out. But you got it working well.
To reduce the slag of the cable, you could reduce 1 loop from the pulleys in the bucket. It now goes around 3 times, you could make it 2. I think that would reduce the cable by 2 times 4 feet. I'm not a drag line operator, just mechanical insight.
It looks much more funner with the buckey buckey on it!
But I'd put the boom down. Just... could you put the boom down?
I just love the jolly bickering between you two!
Wala!! This is how the Panama Canal was built. Crazy cool old stuff.
Maybe you're supposed to opperate it with the boom in a more vertical position?
That will give you more space to pull that cable up higher and close the bucket.
A lot of us started our dirt digging on old equipment like this very enjoyable thanks Chris and Kyle
The extra cable was add to make it easier to inter change. you are spost to run the cable thro the pulleys to get full use off it it does not take that long I change the hook and clam back and forth all the time on my crane barge hope that helps
if I had to guess, you remove that cable totally and feed the drag cable through the buckets block/tackle fully… so there is NO connection point. though it appears that the wedge is missing on the bucket too as you can see the way it’s clamped isn’t right.
worked in arctic building islands for drilling ris . the manittowac 2600 operators would swing cast the clam 50 yards and drag fill to fill island . islands were rings of woven ripwrap bags ,4yds. each ,filled with dredged gravel..all this on barges.
The secret is to boom up more. There is supposed to be a wedge in the dead end of the closing line on the bucket. Generally, these things are configured to raise the clam enough to load a truck. If you want to work high or at a longer radius with it, take that little cable off the bucket sheaves and reeve the closing line through the bucket sheaves or add another boom section. That's what demolition companies do as they may need to go many stories high to wreck a building. If they need to use a wrecking ball, they set the closed bucket next to the rig and use the holding line on the ball . This is also done when you occasionally need to use a headache ball or block for lift crane service. While we're chit-chatting, it looks like you put that Crosby Clamp on backwards, again.
What you have at the clam shell is basically a block and tackle. You gain a 6 to 1 mechanical advantage but to gain this advantage you have to pull the cable 6 times the length. If you have 4 feet between your pullies you t have to pull 24 feet to move the block and tackle 4 feet- 4x6=24. You need to feed the main cable through the block and tackle.
40:00 Clam shell works very well (after adjustments). Never seen one in operation before. Looks more productive than the drag bucket. 😂
Good ol' lightning bolt box and thunder maker spray. I'm so grateful to see this old equipment have a new lease on life. This is the equipment that built this country.
Good video Chris, I'm surprised you don't have a noco boost jump starter , there light an you can carry them in your hand easy, I got one in my jeep, I've jump started a semi truck before, they start 24volt stuff easy, thanks for sharing Chris, best channel on YT
Most of the time when closing the clam it would be much lower in the water which will give you more headroom for cables. If you are dredging you only need to be clear of the water to swing and dump
Taking 1 pulley out of the clamshell closing system will reduce the extra cabling by quite a bit.
What a couple of rookies😂. You better figure that clam out or the rest of the boys are going to be sitting around laughing at you, taking notes....but definitely laughing😊 love the channel
I put a block pully on the clam shell run the cable thru the block back up to the main center block on the boom and then back down onto pully and tie off your cable to the block pully. At that point should give you twice the distance It's for the boom to raise. Basically you're making a block and fall.
Chris - my wife and I watch your channel every night... (that alone should tell you that we are party people!). But we were thinking we'd love to come up in the spring, and we'd sand that drag line down for repainting. #ahhyeah #weshallsee
Well not to sound silly but it’s the only reference I have, my Tonka clam shell used the direct line from the barrel to the bucket pullies 😂 I recall restringing it many times and it’s the same principle 🤷🏼♂️
Send that dragline to C&C Equipment; they will fix it right up.
Clamshells run a much higher boom angle that draglines do.
That closing line is Most likely the proper length, you just need to boom up ⬆️ a lot more.
Nice view (36:43), the slight smoke column from the kitten sixpack against the sunset and a dragline that isn´t a drag(ger) anymore.
It looks now very much like I´d imagine an old excavator, seems much more useful, now. Certainly it´s nice to have the clam in not too bad condition and the scraper attachment- I bet it will be useful but most work seems to favour the clam.
It´s more a crane than excavator, I can see multiple uses for a machine like this. Maybe it´s possible to figure out kind of a quick connect to make changing attachements easier and quicker?
Give the old girl some love, she sounds unhappy when cold. I bet it´s a pretty good digger when all is gone thru. No more sloppy levers, secure winch brakes, maybe there´s some better feedback to feel when all joints and bushes are good again and move freely.
Maybe You gain customers with this very useable flag mast carrier wearing Your firm logo in a style like the sixties.
The boom needs to be higher so pull it into about 55 degrees to the machine. The clam bucket is designed to dig in a hole that is lower than the machine. You were digging from an elevated pile.
SUCCESS!! The clamshell is cool Chris. Works really well. Great job guys.