National Pile Croppers (NPC) has redesigned its hydraulic Contig 600 pile cropper to reduce its width while maintaining its structural strength.
The original, award-winning Contig 600 unit was larger than anticipated and has the functionality to crop 750 mm piles. While this was a good problem to have, it also caused issues addressing a 600 mm contiguous pile with 150 mm pile spacing.
So, NPC reduced the width, but maintained its structural strength while keeping the overall dimensions tight to a 600 mm pile. The weight and centre of gravity of the new Config 600 has also been moved to improve maneuverability.
“We have always stated we are constantly improving the equipment we manufacture, so, the launch of our new Contig 600 Cropper is just one development we are justly proud of,” says National Pile Croppers Managing Director Simon Price.
“Over the years we have continually refined and developed our offering, and we now are pleased to announce the release of the very latest in state-of-the-art pile cropping of contiguous piles.”
The 1,495-kg Contig 600 is built to reduce piles in a contiguous or secant wall formation where only two sides of the pile can be exposed and spaces between adjacent piles is tight.
The pile cropper is designed to include two hydraulic rams that are mounted at opposing 180 degrees to provide the ability to position the cropper over the wall to reduce the piles. The wall thickness of the cropper allows it to slot between contiguous piles with spacing as close as 50 mm.
Contig 600 field testing
It was recently used to by Churngold Construction on a development in England. The concrete piles used in the development had to be dealt with efficiently and safely, with the resulting concrete residue reprocessed in an environmentally friendly manner.
“Churngold invited us to the site to see the difficulties faced with cropping of the piles. I must admit the complexities of the site, and the way the piles have been laid out, presented a challenge. Fortunately, we had been working on an updated version of our Contig 600 cropper. This would prove to be the ideal tool for the job,” explained NPC director Lee Aston.
The design and the development of the new Contig 600 overcame any issues related during stress analysis while attempting to achieve the optimal jaw to pile interface angle. NPC eventually achieved the ideal balance, and the latest version is now on site with Churngold cropping 600 mm and 450 mm diameter augured piles in a contiguous wall format.
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These were installed leaving a nominal spacing of 150 mm between adjacent piles, which has proven to be the perfect scenario for using the new Contig 600 V2.
“Feedback from (Churngold Construction) on site has been highly complementary, stating the cropper is performing better than expected, and it was expected to do well,” Aston said. “The change in width dimension (of the new Config 600) had a major impact resulting in piles in the middle of the wall being able to be reduced where other croppers would foul on the adjacent pile resulting in the need for further cropping from the end of the wall of piles.”
The new Contig 600 is now available in the United Kingdom and will be introduced globally in the coming months.
