intensive. Pneumatic motors were used as well, but those
required a dedicated operator.
Earlier machines required a lot of manpower. “Originally,
we’d need a crew of four or five people: two guys taking it
off and putting it on, one guy running air for the pneumatic
motor, one guy watching and one on the controls,” said
Huckabee. By constantly refining the process, Pilecap has
now pared it down to just one operator, and the cost savings
to the end user are considerable.
“We’re presently on our fifth iteration and it is controlled
entirely above water from a laptop. The fact that we don’t put
anyone in the water is a huge, huge safety factor and is definitely
our biggest selling point.”
Ease of repair is a further benefit of the current iteration.
Huckabee said, “We’ve also purposefully designed it so that
it can be repaired on site in case of damage. This was done
to reduce downtime. We designed the system so that even a
relatively inexperienced operator should be able to go to a
nearby hardware store and get the machine up and running.
We learned through experience that it’s best to keep custom
parts to a minimum.”
Still, in spite of the many advantages of Pilecap’s cleaning
machine, getting business has been challenging. Certain clients
like oil companies or companies operating in corrosion
prone Alaskan waters may require yearly inspections and
repairs. For the most part though, pile inspection, cleaning
and repair are the last things on people’s minds. It’s one of
those “out of sight, out of mind” sort of situations and clients
don’t usually approach Huckabee until they are faced with
imminent structural failure.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Before cleaning and jacketing
After cleaning and jacketing
North America’s rental house
for the foundation industry
You have the skills.
We have the tools.
Rental of:
Segmental casings from 750mm to
2000mm drilling tools, augers,
core barrels and buckets.
Provider for:
Wear parts, bullet teeth, cutting
teeth, casing joints.
Repair of:
Kelly bars, drilling tools,
segmental casings.
Asset management:
With our systems we increase the
revenue of your assets.
1.416.770.8471 1.647.444. 2736
fds-tools.com
PILING CANADA 53
/fds-tools.com
