silk purse out of sows ear

[tinydigger]

Been meaning to start a bit of a blog on here so you can see some of the fun stuff I get to deal with as a lifting fitter. Most of the time it is dull boring stuff like a bent hook or a stretched chain leg but some times you get the odd job that makes you think WTF and this will be the thread for them lol. Will start off with this little beauty a few of you on here might recognize this already but for those that don't it is a mace shifta basically a 4.5 metre conveyor for rubble muck and in this case cement. It was brought in to me by one of our customers who had it out on hire to a few of there's over the year or so. Apparently it had been though a few of there hire yards and never cleaned before it got to the one who brought it in to me. to get it to this state so i could quote for the parts I would need took over a hour as the bolts had seized and my little impact wouldn't budge them and also had to cut the axle off the sodding thing as it had been mushroomed before i got to it. So far with out labour it is will be around £900 in parts as needs a new belt all new rollers new axle and all the nuts and bolts replacing have told my governor it will be at least another 2 hours labour maybe more depending on how nice they want it in the end

 

[Monkeybusiness]

How old is it and how much is a new one?...

 

[doobin]

Maybe your guvnor should buy you some proper tools.

 

[Gunners]

I've never hired one of those that worked perfectly. They get run into the ground, the hoppers get bent up by poor excavator drivers, rollers seize up from being left outside all their lives - this one must be bad for someone to actually spend money on it. And @Monkey they are a fortune to buy new for what they are IIRC £3.5kish?

 

[Grahams]

When they work they are great (these are the electric conveyors I was on about in another thread), but hiring them is hopeless so I own mine. Only light use and not much of that and always stored inside, but still need regular servicing. The design allows fine material to work its way round the belt and into the mechanism. Obviously they were not designed for wet concrete.

 

[V8Druid]

the drive roller on me belt grinders had a curious habit of collecting grindings ... needed to be scrubbed clean with a wire brush at least once between belt changes .. the belts run quite tensioned and you wouldn't believe how much stuff manages to get between the belt and the drive drum. a loose belt like on a conveyor must be a nightmare to keep clear of tish, especially with it all falling off the belt edges onto the back of the lower flight

 

[Grahams]

the drive roller on me belt grinders had a curious habit of collecting grindings ... needed to be scrubbed clean with a wire brush at least once between belt changes .. the belts run quite tensioned and you wouldn't believe how much stuff manages to get between the belt and the drive drum. a loose belt like on a conveyor must be a nightmare to keep clear of tish, especially with it all falling off the belt edges onto the back of the lower flight

Gives plenty of extra grip on the drive roller!

 

[tinydigger]

How old is it and how much is a new one?...

Its around 11 years old a nice 2009 mark 1 model and the newest one we could find on our system was valued at around £2850 but that is with our discount and all that

Maybe your guvnor should buy you some proper tools.

That would be nice of them but no chance of that most of the tools i use there are my own from my home workshop. Am fighting them at the minute for a pay rise as even though I am the fitter and do the tic work site inspections and cover the hire desk at times I earn the same as the driver (just over minimum wage)

I've never hired one of those that worked perfectly. They get run into the ground, the hoppers get bent up by poor excavator drivers, rollers seize up from being left outside all their lives - this one must be bad for someone to actually spend money on it. And @Monkey they are a fortune to buy new for what they are IIRC £3.5kish?

Sounds about right for most of them not sure if you use my company (Scottish hire group same name as the clothing brand) or where you are based as some depots really let them go had some in that as soon as they come off the truck it is a right let me look at them job. This one is a tp hire one and been around a few depots by all accounts so the price for the work will be spread out. To be honest I am hoping it doesn't go ahead as got to much to do at the moment and this would just eat up to much time. I wouldn't say you where far off the price

When they work they are great (these are the electric conveyors I was on about in another thread),but hiring them is hopeless so I own mine. Only light use and not much of that and always stored inside, but still need regular servicing. The design allows fine material to work its way round the belt and into the mechanism. Obviously they were not designed for wet concrete.
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Oh the mark 2 model not a great fan of the idler roller tensioning on them find the cams can move about a bit if they are not looked after also the tabs snap off. Tbh even with what I do and who I work for there are time when I say why hire the sodding things as they cause me so much hassle. they used to make a sieve unit to go over the top of the belt just a basic vibrating screen really and poxy things would shake them self's apart after a few hours work the welds where rubbish and if you didnt set them right they would shake the belts to bits as well. Not sure if you have ever priced mace spares up but they know how to charge for them

 

[craig]

Cleaning is chargeable
If someone was charged for cleaning they where ripped off,
or got away with returning it caked.

 

[tinydigger]

Cleaning is chargeable
If someone was charged for cleaning they where ripped off,
or got away with returning it caked.

Most probably let off with the old well we got it like this so you cant charge us line to be far that is the worst one i have ever seen and should think it is a few time out on hire and just left each time