Shear power for Coleman & Company
Demolition specialists use LaBounty MSD steel shears to complete large-scale Didcot A power station project
IN March 2012, Birmingham-based Coleman & Company were awarded a contract to demolish Didcot A power station in Oxfordshire. The mammoth project involved the explosive demolition of the three southern cooling towers (in July 2014) and the contractors are now ensuring that the demolition of the rest of the site, including the northern cooling towers and the chimney stack, is safely completed by the end of 2016.
This part of the project, say Coleman, required maximum versatility and a suitable machine that would carry specific weights of tools where the demolition of the metal structures of the project was concerned.
Coleman were invited to France to view a Liebherr 974 excavator fitted with a LaBounty MSD7500R shear working in the demolition of a European power station. The company was convinced this was the ideal machine and attachment combo for its demolition needs, and an order was placed for three Liebherr 956 excavators, two R954 VH-HDW models and a R974 VH-HD unit with special adaptations to carry specific weights of LaBounty MSD steel shears supplied by ECY Haulmark.
Liebherr were faced with the challenge to supply Coleman with machines which were much more versatile than just one machine for one tool, so they came up with a range of adaptations to allow them to take certain shears at certain heights and certain weights with the same connections.
The maximum tool weight that can be used is the 14-tonne Labounty MSD7500R shear, which can be used stick-mounted on the 974 model and is capable of being boom-mounted on the 954 excavator.
Coleman recently took delivery of the Liebherr 974 with its stick-mounted LaBounty MSD7500R to ensure maximum efficiency and performance of both machine and shear. The machine has a modular joint and has a specially designed HD boom and HD stick with oversized hydraulic cylinders to be able to operate the shear to a maximum height of 20m.
The MSD7500R steel shear is capable of cutting 800mm pipe, 38mm plate, 950mm I beam and 165mm solid round bar. It operates with an oil flow of 900 litres/min with a maximum operating pressure of 325bar giving the shear 6.6 cycles per minute
Although the Liebherr 974 and LaBounty MSD7500R were not the cheapest options on the market, Coleman fully understood the need for quality hardwearing equipment which would stand the rigours of the tough demolition environment – in this case the Didcot A power station demolition.
