Seeking Aerial Lift? We Would
Like To Become Involved
As Your Advisor Concerning
Lift
Bucket Repairs, Upgrades And Options To
Best Serve You And Your Equipment
Even though you are investigating
Aerial Lift, this
area that has become visible
to so many others
(which may become a focus of attention for the
industry as a whole)
is worth considering on a personal ethics and
professional level:
While a
non-certified or
specifically-experienced
body shop or a custom molder
of fiberglass
medium-to-large shell type
structures like a boat hull or container
make a
repair look
tolerable, trustworthy or
at the least unblemished,
often the group
can't guarantee the
aerial
lift components truly safe. Nor will they likely have the
product liability insurance.
[Added
note:
Understandably, even
though the priority is for
Aerial Lift,
the information below should
be passed on to your service-repair
organization.]
Looking at the situation , these are some of the
issues that this type of repair requires:
What the official
specifications are for making sure the upper boom is
dielectrically separated from the lower boom, and how
this separation can be compromised.
The structural strength requirements for
fiberglass upper booms and lower boom insulators in
view of the special stresses to which these items are
subjected.
The real insulating
capabilities provided by the fiberglass bucket
itself.
A certain component for
preservation of human life is the 100% dependable linkage of the
bucket and the boom.
You Have Considered Aerial Lift,
So Now How Do You Restore A Lift?
Given these important
considerations, here is a potentially life-saving
checklist on aerial lift
restoratio
n:
Is there an adequate amount
of fiscal protection, against any unanticipated risk
exposure by the group, specifically for
doing aerial lift repair?
Have the
workers been adequately trained and experienced for this type of work,
with a bonified record of testing and/or
credentials
such as those proffered by the ACMA?
There are other steps that
should be taken, if one was serious about this potential
problem. A competent selection process for any
supplying repair/restoration vendor of this type should
also cover:
Is the company familiar
with the special needs of fiberglass components in aerial
man lift units?
Insulation continuity
can be disturbed by the repair process itself. Therefore
a post-check must be performed, again by an approved
testing device that itself has been calibrated. This
of course presumes that Aerial Lift-related needs have
electrical insulation properties. If you are unsure,
the official owners manual is a great place to start
checking.
Further Than Aerial Lift: Repair Scenarios And The Right Way
To Deal With Them
Look here to see how this might play
out.
Sometimes You Have
To Look A Bit Deeper
Scenario: The repair facility is shipped the
upper boom section that connects to the worker
basket for basic rehab . Most shops should include a cleaning, particularly if there is noticeable dirt buildup inside
the actual boom. This enables correct dielectric
testing, which should be done. If problems crop up, further
operations should be done with
such equipment as a conductivity meter. Even though they have not
been specifically asked to do this, the boom
should be inspected to see if any type of cracks or dents or if it has suffered any type of noticeable harm. The specifications for that particular boom section
should be pulled from the manufacturer guidelines and the
damage evaluated against those guidelines. If there
are specific remedies suggested by those
guidelines, the
customer should be consulted. Structural testing is next. If no other issues are found, a
final waxing to protect the boom should occur.
It should then be sealed and protected for shipping with tamper-proof certifications with the results from the testing phases.
We will continue with
boom repairs since a failure at that level can be
catastrophic. Looking once more at the uppermost member of a structural support boom. It has fractures confirmed by an initial visual inspection. There
is usually a cosmetic and visual coating on the boom
itself. This protective layer should be
stripped off and a full end to end inspection made
both on the outside, and also on the hollow
inner core of the boom itself. At this point the
potential harm from the fissures need to be determined if
they can be repaired and the boom
restored to full and safe operation. This is done by
consulting what the manufacturer has declared proper, and
also comparing the damage to the capabilities of the
repair materials. These typically include physical
reinforcement, using similar OEM products and suitable
bonding materials which are impregnated into the repair
base. There will be a suitable timeframe for these
materials to setup and reach their full operational
resistance and use. At that point in time, a full
mechanical stress/tension test needs to be performed at
over the rated loading for the boom section.
Appropriate electrical testing would follow the same
pattern, but this is done
after surface finishing or layers are restored. Full
documentation needs to accompany the device back to its
owner/user.
Using An Instructive
Example To Illustrate The Dangers Of Proceeding With
Improper Repair And Returning A Component To Full Field
Use
1. A bucket is received for
repair.
2. The bucket mount consists of a
number of studs protruding from the bucket wall. One
of the studs is coming out of the side wall.
3.
The bucket probably should not be repaired because of
concerns about the possibility of the bucket later coming
loose from the boom.
A Similar Problem, But
This One Involves The Fiberglass Mounting Holes
Themselves
Another
situation is when the
enclosed platform that holds the operator is formed into reinforced arches
that in turn
are used to connect the boom arm. When these mounts are cracked or badly worn, it
can compromise the actual boom mounting assembly. If
this is the case, it is more than a concern for the
safety conscious operator. While there are repair
techniques that can be used, the recommendation to the owner would be for replacement rather than remanufacture.
So, there are cases where competent skills can be applied on an aftermarket basis with good results such as in this case:
Bucket comes in
with no problems with the boom coupling
mechanism.
Yet you can see fissures, cracks or
other issues elsewhere.
Yes, this can be
saved. Question: Does the department in authority want to have something that merely works and can be serviceable from the perspective of the operator, or do they wish to go further and have a cosmetically appealing effect as well?
So it is very appropriate for the repair
group to essentially ascertain it is safe to restore this component
Tags: Aerial Lift
