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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.

This year, American Piledriving Equipment is sponsoring a snowmobile team in the 2015 Iron Dog Snowmobile Race – the world’s longest and toughest snowmobile competition. The race is over 2,000 miles long, and parts of the race follow the famous Iditarod Trail. The race begins at Big Lake (near Anchorage), heads west to Nome, then doubles back eastward and finishes in Fairbanks.

APE is sponsoring Team 56 in the race. The Team 56 riders are Bernie Droege and Mark Ivy, both lifetime Alaskans. The drivers are on two-sled teams for safety as they travel through remote areas of the Alaskan Wilderness. In total, the race lasts about one week.

CLICK HERE for all the information about Team 56 (Please allow a few seconds for post to load).

Iron Dog Team 56

APE has had a long lasting commitment to discovering new ways to benefit the foundation market and the needs of our customers. After extensive R&D we are excited to release the Polar Penetrator series of specialized drill bits. These bits are designed to be run with air that is fed through cutouts in the bits base, the air is ushered through these ports to the cutter face in order keep the cutting plain clear and working hard to reach your final depth. The Polar Penetrator bits can make quick work of frozen dense clays and tundra, as well as tightly consolidated silts and sands of drier climates. These bits will counteract the balling effect that plugs up other forms of drilling and will show less wear due to the quick evacuation of the cuttings away from the teeth. Not to cut short the advantages presented by the traditional CFA, Drag, Tri-cone and Pressure Digger bits, but this bit will add a formidable tool to your arsenal in the war against unforgiving soils. APE’s HD line of drills are a great option to run these bits coupled with our custom Quickloc Drill Stems.

Please take a moment CLICK HERE view the attached link to find out more about APE’s new addition to our foundation and drilling tools.

In January 2013, Imco General approached me with their dilemma- On this Everett, WA Highway job, they have limited space to properly sling up and drive their PZ sheet piles. So they need to be able to pick, load, and drive the sheets in one fell swoop with one piece of equipment, an operator, and a couple of ground guys. The obvious choice? The APE RoboVibe vibratory driver and extractor. With this unique excavator-mounted vibro, they would be able to pick up the sheets from the ground with the patented side-grip clamps and drive them from either the side or the top of their sheets.  After some short talk of the advantages of the RoboVibe over the HMC SP-60 Sonic SideGrip Hammer, Imco General Construction finalized the purchase and received their brand new APE RoboVibe in early April.  This is the first and only RoboVibe purchased in the Pacific Northwest. I had the personal pleasure of visiting Imco General at their Ferndale, WA office/yard and had the opportunity to observe the RoboVibe in action as they drove some PZC-26 sheet piles in their yard with their John Deere 330 excavator. This was an interesting as well as a very educational experience as I have never had the opportunity to see a RoboVibe in action before.

Imco General was satisfied as well as impressed with the final product; and they will be utilizing it on the Everett Highway job this upcoming May. They will also be renting an APE Model 50 Vibro Hammer to remove the sheets. Imco will be hanging the 50 vibro from an excavator and follow behind the RoboVibe for extraction. I hope to make it out to the jobsite in the upcoming month and will be providing an update on this job with photos.

Nearly 400 contractors, engineers, and university research departments gathered in Shanghai this week for the “3rd China International Piling and Deep Foundations Summit 2013.” The summit showcased many new foundation techniques in the foundation industry in China. David White, Managing Director of APE China (Shanghai ZhenLi), was invited to present APE’s multi-linked vibratory hammer technology most recently used on the HongKong-Macau-Bridge project to drive 72 foot diameter piles as well as innovations for the wind pile industry foundations. David White was the first foreigner since the Piling summit started in 2001 to give a 30 minute technical speech in only Mandarin Chinese without the aid of a translator. Many design engineers are beginning to think big about what can be done with vibratory hammer technology and the brand of APE is quickly sinking into the hearts and minds of Chinese engineers who want to design huge projects. Other than branding APE as a world leader in vibratory hammer technology, many in attendance were small and private contractors interested in driving steel pipe and sheet piling using smaller vibratory hammers. Since APE CHINA (ZhenLi) manufactures model 200’s and 200-6’s in China we have the ability to supply both big government contractors and small private contractors with equal service and competitive price. Overall the summit went very well and we hope to be in attendance the for the next Piling summit. For more information on the show visit www.pilingchina.com. Thank you to all that visited us from around the world, we look forward to working with you soon!

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our Vice President, great friend, and colleague for the past 20 years, Dave Yingling. Dave had been battling cancer for the past many weeks. Our sincerest condolences go out to Lindsey Joy and the rest of Dave’s family.

Obituary
David Alan Yingling, 45 years young, resident of Auburn, Washington passed away on the 10th day of January 2013 at his residence due to complications from cancer. David was born in Vancouver, Washington, on the 24th of June 1967, the son of Donald Raymond Yingling and Cheryl Lou Terner. David attended South Albany High School graduated in 1985.
David and his soul mate Lindsey Jo Joy recently celebrated the birth of his only son on March 27, 2012. He spent his working career in Kent, WA working for American Pile Driving Equipment Inc. serving as the company’s vice president. David was proceeded in death by his mother, Cheryl Lou Weekes and is survived by his soul mate  Lindsey Jo Joy; his father, Donald Raymond Yingling; his sisters, Teresa Buonocore and Christina Baze; his three children, Megan Ashley Yingling (23) Kelsey Noel Wolfinger (21) and David Alan Yingling Jr (9 months); his grandson, Renton Jamie Hazard (5) and all who loved him. A memorial service will be held Tuesday January 15th at 12:00PM at LifeWay Church, 5015 SW Dash Point Road, Federal Way. Arrangements by Yahn and Son Funeral Home, Auburn. A memorial fund has been set up for David Jr. Please send contributions to American Piledriving Equipment Inc.
P.O. Box 88730 Seattle, WA. Please make checks payable to David A. Yingling Jr.

Service:
Funeral Service: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 12 noon at Life Way Christian Church, 5015 S.W. Dash Point Road, Federal Way

To visit Dave’s obituary go to www.yahnandson.com, once there family can sign the guest book and upload any photos you have of Dave. Friends and coworkers feel free to leave comments and memories here on the APE website below the article.

APE has developed Helical Pile systems that will change the nature of helical pile as they are seen by the deep foundations industry. Helical piles have been for most of their history produced by manufacturers who have focused on small diameter screw anchors. These anchors began as tie downs for cables supporting power poles and evolved into small diameter screw anchors used on low capacity foundations. The bolt together sections, homemade driving equipment and the lack of main stream engineering made them suspect and generally unaccepted by the deep foundation industry.

As the industry evolved a core group of manufacturers began to generate larger anchors and more sophisticated drilling equipment. Unfortunately the bolt together sections and lack of involvement by the greater community of deep foundation contractors has left helical piers or anchors, filling an insignificant niche in the industry. Coupled with engineering that is unsupported by the most of the geophysical engineering community. A push for over ten years to correlate drive torque to load capacity of the anchors has been refuted by the general community of engineers and unsupported by many of the people involved in the larger diameter higher energy helical pile industry.

APE has embarked on a program that encompasses material manufacture and supply, equipment development and engineering that relies on the standard principles for deep foundations developed by engineers for over 900 years since the Romans were driving piles in Europe. Additionally APE has added patented drive and coupling technology developed by contractors in the Northwest. This technology has been proven over hundreds of thousands of feet of helical pile, that have been load tested, statically and dynamically hundreds of times. APE has purchased this technology and APE engineers added their years of experience to develop the first mainstream equipment to be specifically designed to install helical piles.

Socket Drive Technology

If you have ever used a socket to turn a bolt you can understand why the APE socket drive technology is simple, reliable and the best way to transmit torque into a pile to drive it. APE has patents on external Socket and internal Allen wrench type drives. Any drilling equipment can be easily modified to use the socket drive technology.

Threaded and Coupled Pile Sections

APE has developed material that uses high strength oil field casings that are threaded and coupled with an APE patented coupler. This connection continues the pile shaft sectional strength through the connection in tension, compression and bending. The connection can be made in less than a minute and makes low headroom work simple. This connection also allows for any depth of pile. Very deep drives are not a restriction for this system. Without the socket drive technology you cannot make up threaded connections, the other systems using large pins to drive the pile keep the material connected to the drill and do not allow the operator to put the pin (male thread) into the female coupler without a high percentage of cross threaded connections.

The APE material is produced under the most stringent standards in the world. APE’s supplier is API ISO certified and API certified for threading and welding on the high strength DOM casings used by APE. These casings have yields of 80,000 psi to 110,000 psi and a wall thickness of min .400 on all size ranges. You cannot produce this material without these certifications. APE’s global reach and buying power allows us to bring this material to market at prices competitive to products of far less quality.

High Pressure Grouting

APE is introducing true high pressure grouting at the tip of the pile. This can be accomplished with a push out tip that is currently approved by Caltrans as a micro-pile or using ports located at the pile tip to grout while installing. Grouting pile with helical flights gives dramatic improvements in load capacity even in poor soils.

Excavator Mounted Helical Pile Drivers

APE is pioneering excavator mounted drills that handle the pile from the ground and easily connect threaded sections. These high power systems (up to 400,000 ft lbs of torque) are powerful fast systems that show up to the job ready to work after unloading from the trailer. No more power unit, this is self-contained and these drills can be attached to rental equipment in a couple hours with no intrusion into the electrical or hydraulic systems of the excavator. APE has drills for excavators from 28,000 lb class to the biggest machine you can find.

Large OD Helical Pile

APE has developed large diameter shafts up to 42″ in diameter with 1″ wall 80,000 yield DSAW pipe. These large helical are helping designers overcome the endangered species issues that are crippling steel pile driving in marine environments.

Ground Loop Technology

This technology works with standard ground source heat pumps (GSHP) and allows the Helical Pile Foundation to be the ground loop. By heating and cooling the building with the most efficient green energy technology on the market, the foundation qualifies for a 10% on commercial, and 30% on residential tax credit. The foundation will also pay for itself in energy savings in just a few years.

Remote access with the excavator mounted equipment, high capacities with pressure grouting, unparalleled low overhead access and deep drives with the threaded connections, the first material and equipment made for helical pile, socket drive technology, large OD pile that do not endanger marine life. Engineering that fits into the mainstream of the geophysical engineering world, and foundations that heat and cool the building with technology that the DOE dubbed “The no#1 green technology for the 21st century” APE has changed the face of helical piles and deep foundations.

The APE OctaKong is still making news in the Deep Foundation Construction industry. The Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA) has recently put out the 2012 Q3 edition of their Piledriver Magazine. Take a minute to check out this issue of Piledriver for the accomplishments and details on the project. Once again this project has redefined what the limits are in the pile driving industry, and we can’t thank our business partners, vendors and customers enough for making it all happen!

See the Table of Contents for the issue here: http://www.piledrivers.org/files/9c26f31b-1ad6-4c6c-97d0-11d8b6d85ef7–532d9ca3-4c91-4ff8-ac59-7fbf1f5817a9/table-of-contents-website.pdf

You can see the entire digital copy here: http://www.piledrivers.org/files/9c26f31b-1ad6-4c6c-97d0-11d8b6d85ef7–793e108c-2acf-4857-8874-e4a7dce476d2/q3-content-for-website.pdf

Back in April APE attended the PDCA Annual International Conference and Expo from April 25 -27th. During the conference APE was given the honor of receiving the project of the year award for projects over 5 million. The project APE received the award for was the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge where the OctaKong Vibratory Driver Extractor was used to drive the 72″ perimeter piles for the reclaimed islands. The OctaKong has finished the two island and has been taken apart into 8 Super Kong Vibratory Driver Extractors and is being used in multiple ways throughout the foundation work of the bridge. We want to send a big thanks out to everyone who made the project a reality, and to the PDCA for noticing our companies largest accomplishment to date.