Low-noise, compression stroke hydraulic hammer with no wires, built in wireless Saximeter. The X13 has five foot stroke and 12,000 pound ram for a total rated energy of 60,000 ft-lbs. The new hammer has piston rings and anvil like a diesel hammer. The compression stroke prevents the pre-mature failure of drive caps, cushion material, and pile top failure.
Sounds great, except the proto-type would not even work when built, try as they may it simply would not even stroke up and down without a failure. That is when Western Dynamics, Inc, Gary Kranz was asked to step in and fix the problem. We knew this was going to be a tough one, as the original designer had a history of failed designs, but we had no idea how really bad it was going to be until we got started.
We learned very fast all the CAD drawings were wrong, machine work was done with no documentation, and many design flaws. Some three months later we finally re-designed just about everything on this unit, produced clean corrected CAD drawings and went to testing our changes. Failed test with severe broken parts, and back to the drawing board for a long weekend. Strengthened and re-designed some more parts and added a anti-vibration ring to reduce shock loads and back into test again.
Success, our blow count at over 38 blows per minute, run non-stop at pile refusal mode without so much as a hiccup, it performed flawlessly and consistently. The advanced team skills, and state of the art design systems used by Western Dynamics, Inc, along with over 40 years of experience, pulls another failure into the win column.
Low noise, pre-loading of pile and anti-vibration control makes this hammer the new generation of hydraulic impact hammers. Western Dynamics even helped write the patent specifications for American Piledriving Equipment, Inc.
