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Your First Stop for Piledriving Technology News

APE has a Tandem 150 Vibratory Driver Extractor and a 9.5a Hydraulic Impact Hammer (HIH) making some noise under the Queens Way overpassing. Carl Killebrew and his crew from AM Classic Constructors out of Granada Hills California has been working the job driving more than 300 steel piles at 0.75″x24″x20′ stacked four and five layers high that will be used to reinforce the the overpass above South Harbor Scenic Drive. The city is concerned that the overpass could be susceptible to damage in the case of earth quakes and requires more reinforcement than it was originally engineered for. The Tandem 150 Low-Headroom setup works well for driving the piles quickly until more elastic soils are encounter, at that point the 9.5a Low-Headroom setup steps in running at 2.75 ft of stroke teamed with a 16,000 lb ram to finish the job off.

MKB, an Alaskan construction contractor, was recently on a job in King Cove Alaska (the middle of nowhere) driving piles with an APE 200 Vibratory Driver Extractor. The driver extractor was suffering from some mechanical difficulties and needed some spare parts delivered ASAP to be delivered from the warehouse in Kent Washington. The weight of the spare parts was in excess of 380 pounds. Wayne McWilliams and Erik Erkelens from the APE parts department were able to arrange transport for the parts with Margaret Brunk from Pilot Freight Services. Once the parts made it to Alaska they sat unable to get to the final destination due to the weight of the parts and a lack of transportation to the barge where the hammer was waiting. Wayne McWilliams arranged with PenAir to have a local hovercraft take the parts to the rural job-site so the APE 200 could be fixed and the job completed. Just one of the many ways APE gets the job done!

David Vo had the great idea idea of starting up an Indoor Soccer Team and signed up the team for a soccer tournament here in Kent, Washington.

Some of the Superstars playing on the team are: Poncho, Ben, David, Evan, Josh, Dan, Jacob, and Franki.

Although they did not win the first two games, the team is growing stronger by gaining confidence, technique, and experience on every game.

All the other teams have lots of experience and APE’s team is already putting up a tough fight.

Soon enough the APE team will be taking home some trophies.

Keep it up fellows…

Franki Segura es el nuevo Gerente de Ventas para APE México.

Franki operará  desde la fábrica principal en Seattle, Washington por los próximos seis (6 meses) hasta que venda suficientes equipos como para abrir una Sucursal en México.

Franki se encargará de suplir todos los requerimientos de partes, servicio, y equipos de fundaciones vitales para cumplir con el Plan Nacional de Construccion que el Presidente de Mexico, Felipe Calderón puso en marcha en Julio 2007.

Gracias a que John White (Presidente de APE), reconoce la importancia del mercado Mexicano, el website y muy pronto el catalogo de ventas estarán disponibles en Español y Portuguese.

Para contactar a Franki Segura por favor visite el siguiente link y website:

http://www.apevibro.com/ver2/locations.asp

APE China recently successfully produced it’s first 1050HP Power unit engine to operate an APE 200-6 modified hammer.  In China many customers are using a technique to drive concrete piles by pulling down on the top of the upper suppressor housing using a winch that is hooked to the bottom of their rig.  This is the 3rd modified rig we have used in China.  The purpose is to drive a near 8″ thick can through the ground which eventually will be filled with concrete, then extracted out of the ground.  It takes about 1 hour to drive a 100 foot pile, install re-bar, pump concrete, then extract using an APE model 200.  APE hammers can easily do 10 piles per day during the day time while our electric hammer competitor can only do a max of 4.

The picture shown here is driving 104 ft cassions X 3.5 feet diameter.

“FCI Constructors and the great sheet wall of Bethel Island”
There is an art to driving a straight sheet wall and that art takes years to learn. You can’t just look at it and make it stand straight, you have to work it. It takes patience and you got to go slow and easy. As soon as you get in a hurry things start going south in a hurry. Just ask Richard Foster with FCI Constructors! Richard has been driving sheet pile since he was kid, and that was a long time ago! He grew up in the piledriving industry and learned from hard work and determination! To see him work on a sheet wall is like seeing poetry in motion. Richard makes it look easy! “I like to start a sheet wall with the vibro and get myself a good running start” says Richard, “and when I have a nice start and the driving gets hard and I have to pick up the impact hammer, I know I will have a good finish”. The lesson of the day is this: when driving a sheet pile wall you should always have two things, a good crane operator and a seasoned front end man, like Richard Foster!

Darryl, Dan and Ray Heaton are geared up and coming to full swing in their new, top of the line facility on Annacis Island in Delta, BC. Two times a year I have the honor and great privilege to spend a day with the Local 2404 trainees and journeymen. This day’s topic was a discussion about driver/extractors and diesel hammer systems. The basic workings and operation including technical information needed in the choosing of the right equipment for the job. Every time I have this opportunity I leave very proud of both the attendance, interest piledriving and the excellent class participation. I am always amazed at the constructive questions that are asked. I know the Ray, Darryl and the rest of the group there have created an engaging atmosphere that will bring safety and knowledge to the industry.
These people are the next generation of pile bucks and bridge workers and what they bring to the industry is what people like me who live eat sleep and dream piledriving like to see. I want to offer a personal thanks to Ray, Dan and Darryl for the exemplary cooperation and patience for fitting my busy schedule into theirs.
I would never miss an opportunity join you guys in furthering the knowledge and art of piledriving for those who want to learn. You guys have a remarkable organization!

Vladimir Nifontov – General Manager
phone/fax number +7-495-603-5345
Mobile +7-985-921-8750 or +7-495-921-8750
E-mail: vladnif@hotmail.com or vladnif@df.ru

Konstantin Kurbatov – Technical Director
phone/fax number +7-495-689-1923.
Mobile +7-916-678-2841.
E-mail: banknote3000@hotmail.com or welcome@banknote2000.ru

CTT 2010 Show – #1 Annual Construction Show in Russia is being held on June 1st to the 5th in Moscow. Please come visit us at our booth 3-318.1, for information check out the website: CTT 2010 Website Link

“Waterfront Marine” a Virginia based contractor has begun driving piles on one of the largest piledriving jobs the East Coast has ever seen. “AREVA” & “Northrop Gruman” have paired up to construct a 363.4 Million dollar state of the art facility to manufacture critical nuclear components for the ship building industry here in Newport News VA. This will consist of a 333,000 square foot building that will sit on aprox. 7,500 / each 14″ prestressed concrete piles. These piles will vary in length from 59′ to 100′ When it came time to size & choose piledriving equipment Waterfront made 1 phone call ……….. to APE Mid-Atlantic here in Virginia Beach VA. Waterfront Marine & the boys from APe put their heads togeather and decided the APE D-30-42 diesel impact hammer would be the tool of choice. We paired them with an APE Model 20 drill / auger for pre-drilling down through the trash on the top. APE’s entire staff from their engineering to their service staff are the best in the business said Bill Hall on site project manager. They are available 24 / 7 should a problem arise. Bill is directing the job from onsite cordnating equipment, pile delivery, and scheduling personel as well as saftey. Supporting the job from the office are Ken & Randy Sutton as well as Sammy Burnham filling in for Bill Hall and doing his job as well. Waterfront currently has 3 fixed leader rigs driving long days. They cut back from 4 rigs to 3 a while ago still getting good production. We wish Waterfront Marine a safe & productive job. Please call your nearest APE branch to see what we can do to help you on your current or next project. GO APE!

GLF Construction recently purchased a Used APE 300 Vibro with a 630 Power unit and a APE Model 50 Drill with a APE 350 Power unit for the Port Galeota project in Trinidad. This is the second purchase by GLF for their continuing business in Trinidad. Project Manager Andy Sosa and Construction Manager Rick Alexander are looking forward to getting started after a year delay. I will be going down for the start up when the Barge arrives.
Good luck GLF and thank you for purchasing APE equipment.

Jim Casavant

American Piledriving Equipment
Regional Sales Manager

1-863-660-8716 cell anytime
1-863-815-5543 fax anytime

jimc@apevibro.com
jcasavant@earthlink.net