Dragline mats

limbrat · October 30, 2007, 08:20:10 PM

The matts that we used pile driving when i was young were strung together with cable so they could flex. Pile driving crews also need 2.5 inch green hard wood planks to cut up and use for a cushon between the steel hammer bonnet and the concrete pile. The pads are 12"to48" depending on the size of the pile and 10" thick they heat up and catch on fire so they need to be changed every 30 minutes or so. Dry wood shatters green wood crushes to something like felt.

Rodney Sinclair · October 31, 2007, 09:29:20 AM

This thread is of great interest to me since I am an ol' time dragline & crane operator (Operating Engineers local 406 out of New Orleans since March of 1963) and have built & used a lot of mats over the years. The way Tom was talking is the only way I know to build these things. He was talking about 18' mats for a 3/4 yard LinkBelt, which is a small machine. About 25 tons. The bigger the machine, the bigger the mat. The small ones are what we called "outrigger pads". As for as stringing them together with cable so they would "flex", the last thing I want when working off of mats is flex. Thats why we use them to start with. The bolts hold them together and make them stronger and the cable is to pick them up and move them with. No kind of way would this hand put a 150 ton rig on mats without bolts. And on my job, nobody is gonna pick one up by the bolt (or chain)and stay very long.

Just my thoughts

Rodney

logwalker · October 31, 2007, 11:26:27 AM

So how many bolts do they use on these mats. It seems to me there would have to be quite a few of them with these 100 ton machines driving around on them. Joe

Tom · October 31, 2007, 11:37:33 AM

As I recall, ours were about 30 inches apart with the end bolts within the first foot, but it's been a Lo-ong time ago.

The cold roll round bar was pretty big, about 1" or 1 1/4". When the mat broke, it was usually where one of these bolts went through and because the timbers got loose. As long as they are tight, they support each other.

As the mats wear, especially in water and sand, they become as limp as piece of spaghetti and are harder to use because they are harder to move and don't float the equipment as high either.

limbrat · October 31, 2007, 01:51:08 PM

I dont know i didnt stay with them long. But the matts were made with cable and they were a bugger to work with. Also worked off a flexa float barge that had bolted matts on it never had to move them.

Rodney Sinclair · October 31, 2007, 02:00:25 PM

Quote from: Tom on October 31, 2007, 11:37:33 AM

The cold roll round bar was pretty big, about 1" or 1 1/4". When the mat broke, it was usually where one of these bolts went through and because the timbers got loose. As long as they are tight, they support each other.

This is the reason you don't pick them up by the bolts. The only reason to do that is to get them up to change or replace the cable. What really tears them up is the bolts in the tracks of the machine. You GOT to have these bolts in the tracks to keep the machine from sliding off the mats. Trust me, if you ever have a machine slide off the mats, you will never have another question about the bolts and just what mats are for. Its also the reason I said if someone picks a mat up by the bolts on my job, he's a short timer. The chain thing is a matter of safety.
Hope this helps

Rodney

Rodney Sinclair · October 31, 2007, 02:35:42 PM

Quote from: limbrat on October 31, 2007, 01:51:08 PM
I dont know i didnt stay with them long. But the matts were made with cable and they were a bugger to work with. Also worked off a flexa float barge that had bolted matts on it never had to move them.

Limbrat, I don't know if we are talking about the same thing or not, but they did use those spud barges a lot in La when I was down there. And they did have the timbers on deck like that. Most often laid down in tar. You must be below Alex if you worked off a barge. What them dang Saints gonna do?

Rodney

Tom · October 31, 2007, 03:11:27 PM

Yep, I've slipped off of the mats before. I was oiling on a dike project when....

Hmm You'll have to wait on that one, but until I get it written, here is another.
Gettin' really Stuck

Ron Scott · November 04, 2007, 08:35:01 PM

Crane/Dragline Mat. Diagram for cable construction.

Furby · November 04, 2007, 10:00:34 PM

3/16" cable ???

WH_Conley · November 05, 2007, 07:44:26 AM

That looks like a mat that I have seen a couple of loggers put across soft spots to run skidders across. Can't see a operator making a pick from something that is flexable.

The (Matts) I am use to deling with are all 12"x12" material. Anything made from 6"x6" are usually 4,6 or 8' square and placed under the outriggers on smaller rigs, guess that's why they are called "picker mats".

Course this probably changes region to region like everything else.

Rodney Sinclair · November 05, 2007, 11:29:36 AM

Quote from: WH_Conley on November 05, 2007, 07:44:26 AM
That looks like a mat that I have seen a couple of loggers put across soft spots to run skidders across. Can't see a operator making a pick from something that is flexable.
Course this probably changes region to region like everything else.

Live and learn I guess. I know in the last 45 years, I've run rigs from 10 tons up to a 2000 ton lift mounted on the deck of a 700' ship, and have never seen a mat like that. In use anyway.

Rodney

Ron Scott · November 05, 2007, 07:43:13 PM

Crane/Dragline Mats. The oak mats being lifted for placement in a riparian area to allow forwarder/skidder access as requred to meet Best Management Practices.

Rodney Sinclair · November 06, 2007, 02:15:02 PM

OK! So I go to Yahoo and type in "dragline mats" and come up with 15,300 hits. And find that this is a cheaper built, pre-fab type of oil well location board road. And I guess they could be used as mats if you didn't have to move them.

Rodney

getoverit · November 07, 2007, 01:07:55 AM

I have never seen anything like what Ron is showing. The mats I am accustomed to have the wood running lengthwise, not across and they were bolted together too. A good dragline operator can take 4 of them and walk a dragline almost anywhere on them. Of course, this takes time to do. I suppose if you had enough of them to make a road, it might save some time.

It sounds like this would be a good enterprise to get into if you had the log supply and didnt need the money right away. Just make them up and wait until a contractor has one of his "emergencies" where he needs them yesterday and then hit him with your price. Cash when picked up, of course.

Bandmill Bandit · April 09, 2011, 06:06:43 PM

Rig mat is another version of them and are used in the oil patch around the rigs and for the service road to the rig from the county road (if there is one) mostly while drilling in boggy/peaty areas. I will try to find a picture or 2. I actually just got an order from a local guy for 48MBF a month to build rigmats.