October 13 - Crane service provider Viktor Baumann, used its Terex Superlift 3800 crane for the first time during the removal of three press components from a SGL Carbon factory in Bonn, Germany.
The various elements of the crawler crane were transported to the job site by Viktor Baumann's own HGVs, trailers and trucks, and the company allocated three days to set up the unit using a comparably small 220-tonne support crane.
Three large components of the enormous press were then lifted out of the SGL plant over three days. Two weighed in 270 tonnes, whilst the third weighed 200 tonnes, and the Viktor Baumann set up the crane with an SSL configuration to lift the press components at a working radius of 26 m.
In this configuration the Superlift 3800 had a heavy 48 m long main boom and a 36 m SL mast. 165 tonnes of counterweight were placed on the crane's superstructure, with 320 tonnes on the SL counterweight tray.
The crane operator's touch and the signalman's judgment were integral to the lift: the press was located in between other plant equipment, meaning that the loads would have five - maybe six - centimetres of space around them at certain points during the lifts. "It really was a matter of centimetres" says Stefan Oerter, one of the technical field staff employed Viktor Baumann, when explaining the challenge involved in lifting three press components.
Viktor Baumann says its new Superlift 3800 crane passed its first test with flying colours in a project that required the crawler crane to put many of its capabilities to use.
