We have added a cropper to the range.
The Pre-Cast 400 cuts square pre-cast concrete piles from 300mm to 400mm, weighs 550kg, and works from a 6-tonne excavator.
That last figure is the point. Pre-cast cropping has usually meant bringing a larger machine to site or waiting for one to come free. At 550kg, the Pre-Cast 400 goes on a machine most sites already have standing.
"Being able to be used by a 6t excavator meant that cropping could be undertaken with existing equipment onsite," says NPC director Lee Aston.
How it works
Four hydraulic rams drive blades into the pile from all four faces. The blades are shaped to carry on past the reinforcement towards the centre of the pile instead of stopping at the steel, so the section above lifts away and the face below is left cut rather than broken. Each pass takes off around 250mm. The cropper suits piles carrying four or more reinforcement bars.
The blades run with chisels made for this cropper at our Burton-on-Trent works.
"The PC 400 further benefits from a new range of specifically in-house manufactured chisels, designed with the purpose to not only penetrate the pile, but to leave a perfect finish with little or no tidying up," says Aston.
Because the concrete separates from the reinforcement rather than being smashed off it, both come away clean and can be taken for recycling.
Built with the contractors who use it
The Pre-Cast 400 came out of work with several of the largest civil engineering contractors in the world, who told us what they needed changing and what they needed adding.
"Although we are very proud of the PC 400, we cannot claim that it is all our own work," says Aston. "We've worked closely with some of the biggest civil engineering companies in the world to add features that make it a safer, more efficient and more productive solution."
Available now
The Pre-Cast 400 is available for hire across the UK from our Burton-on-Trent and Stevenage depots. Hire includes delivery, fitting to your machine and full training on site.
Full specifications are on the Pre-Cast Cropper hire page, and the rest of the range is on our pile cropper hire page. To talk through a job, call 03300 240 247 or send us the pile details.
