Has it really been 9 months since I last posted? I was checking Adam's blog the other day and read his post about being part of the revolution, and it inspired we to get of my ass and write "something....anything" (great Todd Rundgren record). So here goes: the job has worked out great, it was nerve racking at first, but I have discovered that I can still do electrical construction. We pulled off a 2300v switch gear replacement job in the power house at Anheuser Busch in Williamsburg. Had we failed, they could not have made beer for the July 4th holiday and they get highly upset when that happens. This was not an easy task and took some really creative thinking to get-r-done. Problem was there was no head room to get the old gear out and the load wiring all came into the bottom of the gear. The trick was being able to lift each section (1500lbs.) high enough to clear the conduit and cables. So just how did we do it? We found a "walkie" fork truck that had a very small footprint, small enough to maneuver in the narrow aisles between the gear. It also had extendable/retractable forks. (see pic at right) The problem was that in order to get the forks high enough to get on top of the gear, the mast would hit the conduit racks above. So how did we solve that problem? A jib boom! I got the idea from a gear handling website in the UK. We put the jib boom on the walkie, rigged some logging chain around the bus bars in the top of the gear, made our lift, dropped the sections on a pallet jack, and out the door they went. To set the new gear we just reversed the process. It all went like clockwork. There were those who said it couldn't be done...HA! I love solving problems like that. Especially when it works.
More later...we got a lot of catching up to do.