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Your First Stop for Piledriving Technology News

APE is again called to duty in Northern Manitoba. A couple of years ago, APE did a 5000 pile job for a 3,000 man camp at Keeyask, where we showcased some of our pre-drilling capabilities. Now it is the converter station at Keewatinohk, where we are pre-drilling the seasonal frost, discontinues permafrost, and some Canadian shield with our latest achievement in drilling technology, the “Polar Penetrator.” This patented drag bit allows high pressure air to eject cuttings out of the hole as soon as they are loose, typically at least twice if not three times faster than conventional tools. This drilling technique, along with the “down hole” accessories , allows APE’s HD program to stay in the lead on today’s helical pile market.

D70-52 driving pile in Saskatchewan for KSPC

K+S Potash Canada (KSPC) is building a potash handling and storage facility at Port Moody, British Columbia. Potash products arriving by rail from the Saskatchewan-based mine will be stored on site and transported to vessels destined for K+S Group’s international clients. There was roughly 700 driven pipe pile ranging from 24” to 36” that needed to be driven. Keller Foundations opted to go with the APE D70-52 as their work horse for the majority of these pile. This 7.0 metric ton ram is pound for pound the hardest hitting hammer out there today, and its new octagon design allows for better cooling and larger fuel capacity, making hard driving jobs……just a little easier.

The APE Model 600 Vibratory Driver/Extractor arrived on a site between Edmonton and Calgary for Keller Foundation at a moment’s notice. When our technician from Edmonton, James Berg, arrived on site to lend a hand with set up, we discovered that the hammer was going to be used from a hydraulic squirt boom crane. By simply removing a few of the first stage large elastomers and with some instruction from the APE crew, the driving and extracting progressed along without a hitch. This once again proves the innovation from APE sets us apart from the rest

Preset Construction was given the task of stabilizing the Red River bank just south of Winnipeg in the small community of Morris.  The piling ranged from 7’ to 10’ diameter and from 40’ to 60’ long.  As we approached this project the concern was not driving the cans, as they were predrilled 100%.  The concern was extraction, as the clay material just above the till lens was very cohesive.  With the APE two stage suppressor capable of 180 tons of line pull, we were able to prove ourselves again even in the hard climate, as the industry leader in vibratory technology.

Dewitt Construction had few big holes to drill in Hillsboro OR.  Holes were 30” diameter and 85’ deep.  The 100K drill was just coming out of production and this was a perfect place to put this newly designed drill.  This project in Hillsboro was in one of the INTEL facilities, and was very difficult for myself and Scotto Gray, one of the designers for this Drill, to get on site for an equipment evaluation.  Speaking from experience, it is not every day you walk onto a job site with a “prototype” piece of foundation equipment and the super intendant says, with a look a complete satisfaction in his eye, “don’t change a thing, this has got to be the best drill I have ever used”.

So we watched the drill work for a couple of hours, everything going just like clockwork.  And as the drill approached the 40’ mark Jeff, the Super on site described the material from 45’ to 85’ as a very stiff clay, resembling “bay mud” as Jeff described it.  This material was so sticky and heavy that it would not carry itself up the flight, they would take 10’ bites and bring the flight out of the hole and have to remove it with a mini-excavator.  The drill has been running in APE 37 inch U leads which the customer liked so well they are buying this set of leads. There were 60 holes drilled and the 5 inch grouting system was used to pump grout at pressures averaging 1000-1500 psi.

APE was assigned the task of decorating the sea of cranes at the Port of Anchorage. This challenging task took courage and experience. There were environmental issues, huge tides, weather that varied from sunny and beautiful to snowing sideways, not to mention the 90’ to 120’ flimsy flat sheets that needed to be driven. This took the efforts of (4) APE Model 200-6 Vibratory Hammers.

Manson was faced with driving some 30″x 1″ wall pipe pile 20′ into the Pacific Northwest Glacial Till lens. The APE Model 600 Super Kong was the tool for the job. Manson geared up for the worst; bringing drilling equipment and impact equipment but neither was needed. The Super Kong was able to drive every pile to grade by simply lowering the vibration speed, this allowed the hammer to chew though the tough till lens in roughly 10 minutes.

Malcolm Drilling goes APE when challenged with driving 10′ diameter caissons for the city of Seattle in a low headroom situation. There were a couple of piles on this project where power lines obstructed headroom. At a glance this looked to be a job for the APE “King Kong”, without any suppressor. Dave Yingling, took a second look at the soils and was successful in recommending the APE Model 200-6 with quad beam and low headroom suppressor. This not only made the load lighter, but Malcolm was able to manipulate the pile while in vibration.

Please contact APE @ 800-248-8498 for your special foundation equipment needs.

West Coast Contractors has chosen APE/J&M equipment to assist in their assault in driving 16 inch and 24 inch precast concrete pile. The task of driving concrete piles with a diesel hammer is enhanced, maximizing production by using hydraulic trips and variable hydraulic throttles. APE/J&M is the largest consumer of vegetable based hydraulic oil “Terresolve” in North America, and with available alternatives such as vegetable based fuels and lubes instead of fossil based consumables, the use of APE/J&M equipment can change any jobsite as green and environmentally friendly as possible. Contact your local APE/J&M office to find out how our team can enhance your profitability and lower your jobsite environmental footprint.

The APE Model 250 Variable Moment Hammer was called to duty. Malcolm Drilling was in need of removing a couple of 24″ pipe pile filled with concrete. With APE custom built jaws that simply bolted into a APE 25″ wood clamp, then installed under the APE 250VM, Malcolm was able to make short work of this task with minimum radial vibration.

The superintendent “Chad” noticed one of the benefits of the variable moment feature. There was absolutely no crane boom vibration when the pile was removed and the hammer was phased out. That said, using a hydraulic squirt boom crane will no longer be taboo when using vibratory hammers. Allowing for quick and easy crane set ups saving time and money.