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RIGGINGREVIEW
ACT
MAY 2014
“We are looking at how tomake this
ropeworkon all terrain cranes, and then
ondown the road, someotherproduct
lines,”Quinn said. “Many thousandhours
of lab and field testingwere conducted
toperfect the rope’s performance and
longevity characteristics.”
Performs as well as wire
Some24,500 feet of ropewasused in lab
and field tests in about 14,000 cycles of
reliability testing. Itwaswas sent to two
independent companies formore testing.
“We’ve constructed a rope thatmeets the
performance requirements ofManitowoc,”
Quinn said. “We are very excited tobe
entering the crane industrybyworking
in a close collaborativepartnershipwith a
company as innovative asManitowoc.”
Testinghas shown thatKZ™100
performs aswell aswire rope in every
application. Theonly instance itwouldn’t
be appropriate is in extremelyhigh
temperature applications.
“On the low temperature side, such as
below freezing, our ropes actuallygain
strengthby5 to10percent,” saidQuinn.
“But above140degreesF, basedon the
testingwe’vedone,wedonot recommend
using this rope.”
Manitowoc continues to testKZ™100
with someof its pre-productionpartners
in field trials and jobsite applications.
Both companies realize therewill be a
learning curvewhen it comes to crane
inspection andoperation. “Youwill still
need todo the inspectionbut itwill be
different,”Quinn said. “Inwire rope, you
inspect for thenumber of brokenwires.
Herewe are looking for cut strands and
certain levels of abrasion.Wehave a full
guide to inspecting this rope.”
Another area thatwill require training is
determiningwhen to retire the rope and
how todo field splicing,Quinn said.
“You can splice KZ™100 in the field in
about 15minutes,”he said. “Itwill require
some training.”
As far as the lifeof KZ™100,Quinn said
if it’shandled andmaintainedproperly,
then it has a similar lifespan to traditional
wire rope.
The advent of thenewhoist rope
could alsomean enhanced cranedesign,
especially since1,000 feet ofKZ™100 rope
weights about 210pounds and the same
amount ofwire ropeweighs some1,300
pounds.
MikeHerbert,Manitowoc’sdirector of
product planning andmarketing, said this
product ushers in anew eraof hoist rope
in craneusage.
“Weknow that dealers, customers, and
crane enthusiastswill seewhat a leap in
technology this first synthetichoist rope is
for the lifting industry,”he said.
■
KZ™100 testing regime
■
The RT770Ewas reevedwith 16 parts
of line quickly and easily to demonstrate
a lift of 255,000 pounds.
■
A battery of spooling testswere
conducted on the YB7725.
■
Pre-production partner ALL Erection
and Crane Rental field tested the
RT770E on various jobsites.
■
Pre-production partner Stephenson
Equipment, Inc. field tested the
YB7725.
■
Laboratory testing at two Samson labs
and two third-party labs.
■
Over 4,000 hours of machine and
sample preparation time completed.
■
Over 4.6miles of rope used during
testing and field trials to ensure
uniform quality and consistency.
BUILTTODOTHE
HEAVYLIFTING.
Movingaproject forward iswhatBarnhart does.Whether your project
requiresMachineryMoving, CraneService, SpecializedRigging, or
HeavyTransport,Barnhart isup to thechallenge.
800.587.3249 // barnhartcrane.com
