Crane Rope Buttons: The Cost-Saving Solution to Maximize Service Life

Intro

– How are you supposed to know what button you need on your crane? What are they even for? In this video, we’re going to show you how in-field-certified technicians can help extend the service life of your crane rope and get your crane back up and running.

– I’m Tracy Evans with Mazzella, Oklahoma City. Today we’re going to pour a socket.

What Is a Crane Rope Button?

This is a socket, a button, quick reeve socket. It’s got several different names in the field. Its main purposes are for quick reeve on the blocks, changing out, going from four, six, eight, 12 parts of line, whatever you’re working at at that moment.

Another benefit to this socket is for line pull. You get 100% line pull with this, whereas a turn back Becket you get about 80% line pull. The guys in the field and, you know, in the crane world have found that these make their life much easier whenever going to different parts of line on their blocks, whether it be a four, six, eight, 12, what have you. But today, we’re going to pour one of these.

Can a Button Be Installed on Any Mobile Crane?

So there are buttons made for the majority of the mobile cranes. Some of them take a little bit of thought to figure out if there is an aftermarket button for that crane. If not, we do have the capabilities of specking out that button.

What Is the Process When You Need a Button Installation?

We can come out and we’ll bring you a new receiver for it, but we do have the correct socket for that crane. We ask you what crane this is going on, make, model, serial number, and then we go to the manufacturer’s spec for that crane, look up the wire rope size, and what it needs for your crane. So, and we keep all the OEM sockets in stock for those cranes.

What Certifications Are Required To Install an In-Field Socket?

To install a button, you have to go through a certification class with the rope manufacturer. We pour three end fittings on both sides to a cut length. They pull test them. They pass the braking strength and they send us back a certification.

With Mazzella, we take that a bit further and we re-certify every six months to stay current on that, on our certification and everybody stays in practice, so that way we’re the safest possible to do it.

What Questions Should You Ask if You Need a Socket Installed?

If it was me calling to get a socket done, the first thing I would ask is about the certification that we just talked about. I’d want to know, you know, are you all backed by insurance? Are your guys certified? How often do they certify? It’s all information that I’d want to know, as well as, you know, do you have the OEM parts? What’s going on my crane?

And really, it’s peace of mind. You know, you got guys, you know, family members working underneath this thing. You want to know that the person that’s coming out to do this is competent and educated and cares enough to make sure that he’s doing the job right and that the people that come in after him or her or whoever it may be, is they leave there with the peace of mind knowing they did everything perfect.

What Are the Benefits of a Crane Rope Button?

The benefit is, you know, the fast reeve, the time saved there, and then also being able to use 100% of your line pull. That’s a major benefit in itself. Under different setups and different jobs, you know, you may un-reeve and re-reeve your block several times to accomplish your goal, your overall goal, and it’s the time saved there, and then also, you know, being able to use the rope efficiently.

What Are the Benefits of an In-Field Button Installation?

Most of the time, whenever we’re out there replacing these, it’s user error. What it can do for the end user is, versus them having to replace a full rope, if the rope is still long enough for them to use from the bad spot to the socket, you can cut it off and put a new socket on and put ’em back to work. You know, it just really saves them time, energy, and money.

When we go to that class, it’s a week long class on how to do this. And then, you know, we pour ’em and they go off for pull testing, and then we re-certify and we do that every six months. Practice makes perfect.

After the Installation, When Can the Crane Be Back in Service?

If it’s cold, it takes the Wirelock a little bit longer to set up, versus today where it’s 95 degrees and it’s going to kick off in about six minutes. So from the time that we finish to the time the crane can be back in service is roughly four hours.

How Does a Crane Rope Button Work?

As far as the mechanics of the button, it is actually, the Wirelock forms in a cone in there, which is inside the button, and whenever they pull it, that cone sets in there and that’s what’s causing it to set and be ready to go.

The customers have questions about Wirelock, I think typically it’s because it is such a new process. I think the biggest question is because it’s a liquid that dries to a hard resin.

What Do You Need To Know Before a Button Installation?

From start to finish, you know, the customer calls and states that, hey, we need a socket, you know, we get time, location, crane make, model, we locate who’s going to go do it, and then it’s the installer’s responsibility to call the customer and introduce themselves, check the weather, make sure that, if there’s any inclement weather, that we have a place inside to go do it or, you know, a canopy, some sort of cover to do it, and we let ’em know we’re on the way.

If the rope’s damaged next to the socket, then, you know, we’ll have ’em get out past about 20 feet past where the damage is, and then, you know, depending if it’s 200 or 50 feet down, well, do we need a spooling machine with us?

Can you put a button anywhere on a rope? Typically, yes, as long as the damage spot is not so far back that they don’t have enough rope left on the crane to do the job they need to do.

Always make sure that you put the socket on the right way. Once this is opened up, you’re past the point of no return.

When Would a Socket Install Not Be Possible?

A time we wouldn’t do a socket is, if we get out there on a location and this rope is visibly pitted, rusted, old, you know, you go to open these up and wires start breaking and, you know, it’s an all stop right there. You know, hey bud, I don’t know that your socket is going to hold for this. And then also, if there’s damage, if there’s core damage, I mean, you can see whenever you go to cut this, that core, if it protrudes or sucks in more than 10 millimeters, then you got to start thinking, why? Why is this sucking in on you?

So what I’ve done in the past is I’ll go down 50 feet, seize it all up, cut it again. If it’s still looking not, 50 feet, and then, at some point, you have to determine is it good to go?

How To Pour a Mobile Crane Rope Socket

You know, you want it to be a perfectly symmetrical broom. So it has 100% line pull. So it’s pulling on everything equally.

Now, you can see that each individual strand is clean and free of grease and debris from sitting in the solution for 15 minutes. And now, I’m going to run the socket up to its designated point.

So before we pour the socket, we want to make sure that the socket tower is level. And now we’re ready to pour. So gimme a second. Let me get it.

You want to pour it slow enough to get it down in there. Pour it right in the middle so it goes down and spreads out at the bottom, but you want to pour it fast enough that it don’t set up on you while you’re trying to do it in this heat. If you see Wirelock coming out of the bottom, it means that you got good penetration all the way through to the bottom. Whenever I take this tape off, we should see Wirelock all the way around the bottom where it came out.

What is WireLock?

Wirelock is a two-part polyester epoxy that is strong as heck and Crosby stands behind it.

All right, so what you’re looking at is we did a scratch test and that tells us that the Wirelock is hardened enough that we can start taking the seizing off, start taking everything off, and really start your four-hour timer from right here.

You’ll notice that you can’t see any wires in there, none of the tops of the wires. It’s because we capped it off over the top of the wires so that it doesn’t break off later on the top, if you have too much.

What Can You Expect From Mazzella’s Socketing Services?

Well, thank you for coming out and watching us perform the socket. We take a lot of pride in our work here at Mazzella. We want to make sure that, whenever you go out on the job, you feel comfortable with our work and that you feel safe and you get to go home to your families. We pride ourselves on safety and training and making sure that we’re bringing the best product to you along with the best knowledge to you. We’re available 24/7 whenever you need us. We’re a phone call away.

How Can You Learn More About Ropes and Mobile Crane Service?

– Crane ropes are expensive. You want to do what you can to extend the service life of the rope you have. A button is a safe solution that can extend that rope life. At Mazzella, our certified technicians are available 24/7, 7 days a week, so don’t hesitate to call us.

If you found this video useful, informative, entertaining, or you just feel like being friendly, then hit that like button so we can get this information out to everyone who needs it. Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss a video. If you have a question, drop it in the comments so we can get you an answer. My name is Ben. Stay safe out there.