From our April 2003 newsletter

General Construction Co., Seattle, Washington, found it slow going. The job called for upgrading the fendering system for the San Diego Naval Base. One aspect of the project required that the existing concrete sea wharf be “roughened” to ensure that it bonds well with newly poured concrete used to extend and stabilize the structure. This will reinforce the wharf whose timber base has decayed and weakened over time.

We spoke with John Ruth, Project Manager, who told us that water blasting or sand blasting were not viable approaches because of containment issues. Either would have polluted the water with debris. General Construction chose instead to use a scaler, running it up and down along a track that had to be nailed to the existing wall, and moved and renailed as each section was completed.

It was a slow process and Ruth knew that the scaler was far from ideal. Frustrated with this approach, he looked for other options. His online research led him to a concrete cutter and a call to his dealer, Larry Thayer at Hawthorne Rent-It Services in San Diego. It couldn’t have been timed better. Larry told him that he happened to have a Tramac TCH80 cutting head in the yard which was recently returned from a job. Mounted on a Cat 320, it was ready to go.

The Kind of Productivity They Were Looking For
Specifications required that the concrete wharf be distressed to a minimum of 1/4". A spacer plate was attached to the TCH80 to prevent it from cutting more than 3/4" to 1". The rotary cutting head proved to be the solution Ruth was looking for. With productivity of approximately 30 sq. meters per hour, the work progressed ten times faster than before.

The TCH80 operated while the tide was out. The excavator sat atop the wharf and worked along the 4500 linear foot wall to a depth of 8'. Debris from the cutting was collected in a 30'x15' timber float pushed along by a boat.

Tramac’s TCH is easy to operate and simple to install. It is powered by the excavator’s hydraulic circuit and is easily interchangeable with other attachments. The TCH is designed for minimum noise and vibration and maximum production. It allows accurate profiling of rock and concrete in trenching, scaling, and tunneling operations.