Delays in the delivery of material to a construction site, a load of concrete, for example, can be one of the most frustrating aspects of foundation work. That’s why Aurora, Ont.-based Caisson Consultant Inc. is optimistic that one of the latest additions to its rental fleet will attract the interest of Canadian customers.
ABI GmbH’s TM 22
The TM 22 is a telescopic leader mast machine from ABI GmbH, a division of ABI Gruppe. The machine is part of ABI’s MOBILRAM system and can be used for various applications, including sheet piling, soil mixing, caissons, micropiles and auger cast drilling. Instead of having concrete trucked into a construction site, the TM 22, with the assistance of a grout plant, can use the soil on site as aggregate and mix it in the ground. This process is accomplished by pumping neat cement grout from a grout plant through the tooling and delivering it to the cutting wings of the soil mix auger.
A lot of businesses involved in foundation work are really dependent on concrete. So, when you’re doing jobs, you’re pretty much at the mercy of waiting for concrete trucks to come in and pour the concrete,” said Lucky Chhoeun, an equipment and technical sales representative for Caisson Consultant.
“With the TM 22 and a grout plant on site, you can make the concrete and you don’t have to order it in. Everything is done on-site. You have much more control over the job process than with the previous way, where you were waiting for a concrete truck … that maybe breaks down and then you’ve got to shut your job down for the day.”
The TM 22 is quicker and easier to set up than most comparable rigs because of its compact and balanced design.
Chhoeun says the TM 22 can save a company time and money because the soil at a construction site remains there, rather than needing to be disposed of at another location. ABI’s TM 22 has been available for some time and is widely used in the U.S. and Europe, but Caisson is the first company to make the device available in Canada. Chhoeun says the machine’s late debut in Canada is due to its high cost and that soil mixing has only recently gained popularity in the country.
“The whole construction industry is moving towards becoming (greener), and we see this as a greener process or procedure for drilling (piles), and that’s why we’re getting behind it,” he said.
Caisson staff became familiar with the MOBILRAM product line a few years ago when the company built a solar farm in Cochrane, Ont. They used it to install screw piles at the site at -40 C and Chhoeun says it performed with no problems.
Chhoeun says the beauty of the MOBILRAM is that it’s several devices in one. In addition to using it for soil mixing, it has a vibratory hammer attachment for vibratory pile driving and extracting, different configurations of auger drive attachment for drilling, soil mixing, cased drilling and a pressing system attachment for static pressing of sheet piles.
While the upfront cost of using the TM 22 is higher than that of other similar devices, it will generally save a company money. A significant reason is that it can be used to extract the beams used in building caisson walls, which can be reused instead of remaining in the ground when the job is complete.
“That was wasted inventory before because companies didn’t have the equipment to take them out and they would be left in the ground. This way, you can reuse those beams for the next job. That can save a company a significant amount of money,” said Chhoeun.
“The whole construction industry is moving towards becoming (greener), and we see this as a greener process or procedure for drilling (piles), and that’s why we’re getting behind it.”
Lucky Chhoeun, Caisson Consultant, Inc.
The TM 22 is quicker and easier to set up than most comparable rigs because of its compact and balanced design. ABI says set up can be finished in one hour, while other similar rigs can require up to eight hours to assemble.
Chhoeun says the TM 22 can improve a company’s carbon footprint on a jobsite as fewer pieces of equipment are required since concrete doesn’t have to be trucked in and soil transported out, which reduces fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.
Caisson began marketing the TM 22 in Canada earlier this year and it has generated considerable interest among many of the company’s clients.
“It’s not like soil mixing is a new procedure. It’s just kind of new to Canada,” said Chhoeun. “There’s been a lot of companies expressing interest in the machine. A lot of firms are interested in the procedure.”
Comacchio’s GEO 909 GT and GEO 305
The TM 22 isn’t the only new device Caisson added to its rental fleet this summer. The company, founded by Chris Wall in 2004, also supplemented its lineup with two new drills from Italian manufacturer Comacchio. The GEO 909 GT is part of Comacchio’s line of geothermal drilling rigs. It is designed to perform site investigations and environmental drilling using various drilling methods. It can also install geotechnical equipment, such as piezometers and perform in-situ testing. The GEO 305 is a geotechnical drill mainly used for soil testing.
Both GEO drill rigs are designed to be compact, lightweight and easy to transport.
Chhoeun says the booming demand for geothermal drilling in southern Ontario was the main driver in the decision to add the two Comacchio drills.
“It looks like (geothermal) is the way everything is going,” he said. “It’s greener and it’s becoming more cost-effective than other ways. Almost every new condo building in Toronto is going to have geothermal (heating) and now it’s starting to trickle over to the residential market.”