Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
(OP)
I'm trying so save my father a lot of money on a project. What i can't figure out is how the Skate is operated. I've been told an amount of things. But what are all these people using? here are the examples...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mioe-x19U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nT5z11S3iY
ht tp://www.y outube.com /watch?v=q OVESlv8OH4 &featu re=related
now, the skate is the piece pushing the pipe up... my best guess is that they are using some sort of towline conveyor.... to be honest i'd even be willing to pay someone engineer wise to draw me up some sort of blue print. We build Well service rigs for a living... I'm a very talented welder, with alot of experience in hydraulic raising cylinders, leveling jacks, etc.... but for the life of me i can't figure out what to use to run the skate with hydraulics. I've considered Telescopic Hydraulic cylinders, but the skates in the video seem to operate more smoothly then i image one being used with a scoping cylinder would operate. If someone has any idea whats being used and can send me a link of where to buy one, i'd greatly appreciate it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mioe-x19U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nT5z11S3iY
ht
now, the skate is the piece pushing the pipe up... my best guess is that they are using some sort of towline conveyor.... to be honest i'd even be willing to pay someone engineer wise to draw me up some sort of blue print. We build Well service rigs for a living... I'm a very talented welder, with alot of experience in hydraulic raising cylinders, leveling jacks, etc.... but for the life of me i can't figure out what to use to run the skate with hydraulics. I've considered Telescopic Hydraulic cylinders, but the skates in the video seem to operate more smoothly then i image one being used with a scoping cylinder would operate. If someone has any idea whats being used and can send me a link of where to buy one, i'd greatly appreciate it!





RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
For a really long stroke, I can think of a few mechanisms that should work. Recognize that I have no inside info about what is actually used, this is just speculation.
- A long roller chain loop, driven by a hydraulic motor at one end. Such a rig could be very compact, and relatively inexpensive. Some of the not so smooth motion seen in the videos could be explained by roller chain slap or whip.
- A super long cable loop, driven by a much shorter linear hydraulic cylinder and a 'motion increaser'. I don't know its formal name if it has one, but it's basically like a block and tackle run backwards; an array of fixed pulleys and an array of movable pulleys, with wire rope laced around all of them, with the hydraulic cylinder changing the center distance between the blocks. Mechanically similar to a carrier's arresting gear engine. The bend radius for the wire rope limits how 'thin' the assembly could be, so I don't think the rigs in the videos are using anything like this. Also, I think you'd need two, opposing each other, to run the skate horizontally.
- A super long leadscrew. It would probably need to be sectional, and it would need intermediate bearings, so the traveling nut would need some fancy mechanism to disengage from one screw section and smoothly engage the next screw section while under load. Probably too complicated for the oil patch.
- A long cable with a multipulley friction drive at one end, not unlike a ski lift. Bend radius says no.
- A linear electric motor with a fairly simple traveler on a fairly simple rail. Only money limits how long you can make these, and you can get some really strong ones today.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
Ted
RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
As for the jerkiness exhibited in the videos, I would suspect PLC and control delays....
RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
Google "Hydraulic Catwalk" to find some of the bigger builders!
RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
RE: Help with Hydraulic Catwalk
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