Assembling the Manitowoc 2250 Up Close & Personal - Day 2
Hello again group. Its been another great day at the site. This morning I arrived with a box of Krispy Kreme’s just in time to see counter weight being pulled into position by the crane. I was only able to stay for a few minutes before going off to work. I came back at 11 am, knowing the crew would be working to lunch at 12:30. They had already attached the boom sections and were getting ready for the head mast. They made putting that together look as easy as I can do it on my kitchen table. In fact for a brief moment I thought I had been shrunk down and was on my table (LOL). I scurried off to my afternoon appointment as they went to lunch and arrived back to watch the fixed jib being attached and the winch cables being pulled down the length of the boom by the helper crane. They tied in the hooks, then it was boom up. I stood right underneath it with the crew as she reached skyward 230 feet high. The lowered each of the hooks and calibrated the on board computer for each hook using one of the 15,000 pound counter weights as a constant weight. The computer had to learn how high the main mast and jib were with the blocks on them to let the computer pick the right “chart” to work from. Being bold and daring I stood directly under the headache ball as she cam down straight at me. This crew was awesome!!
Then they did something that I had not known was going to happen. The drove the crane down into the basement of the building! What an impressive sight watching that 230 ft monster loaded down with over 200 tons of weight drive down the ramp like you and I pull out of the drive way.
I had another great day and I hope you enjoy the following pictures. Oh and by the way the job is the new sports/event ahll in Hoffman Estates, right off teh expresway you can see this crane tower up!
