July 24 - Florida headquartered Beyel Brothers Inc. recently purchased a new Terex AC 350/6 all terrain crane, and its first mission was to complete a heavy lift project to support the NASA Space Shuttle Programme at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, USA.
Beyel Brothers has a long history with the Kennedy Space Centre, installing an overhead crane in the late 1970s in the shuttle vehicle assembly building (VAB) - a crane that Beyel has disassembled using the newly acquired 350-tonne lifting capacity AC 350/6.
Beyel Brothers mobilised the AC 350/6 crane, boom and 116.7 tonnes of counterweight on seven trucks and quickly made way to the VAB project site.
Once inside the VAB, the AC 350/6 was setup and ready for deployment within four hours. "The boom pinning system made its easier to telescope the boom," said Beyel, adding that further time was saved due to the AC 350/6's self-rigging counterweight system.
Crews worked with 40.7 m of main boom to remove the overhead crane from the 160 m tall building, the largest single story building in the world.
A critical pick was to lift a 45.4 tonne drum and cable trolley assembly. Working at a 12.2 m to 13.7 m radius the AC 350/6 was able to safely lower the assembly to the VAB floor.
NASA employs stringent lifting safety standards that required the crane to stay within 75 percent of its load chart; the AC350/6 was able to perform all the lifts without the need for a Sideways Superlift system.
"Being able to do the lift without the Superlift structure saved us an extra truck load, four to five hours of setup and two extra laborers," commented Beyel. "Not only did it save us time but it also saved us money."
The crane crew also had to uninstall two massive girders weighing 22 tonnes and 18.1 tonnes respectively. The crane was able to safely lower the 24.4 m long beams to the floor without incident.
Four further picks were completed using the AC 350/6 before it was de-rigged and moved out. The entire project was completed in only six days.
Beyel Brothers added that the company looks forward to performing tandem lifts using its AC 350/6 and a new 250-tonne capacity class Terex AC250-1 crane, which was also acquired recently by the firm.
