High reach excavator converter combats vibration with rubberised boom.

Kocurek, the company that pioneered the development of the high reach demolition excavator that is the mainstay of most major European demolition equipment fleets, has unveiled its latest innovation: the Wobble-Boom.

The company says that the Wobble-Boom is manufactured from a unique steel/latex alloy that provides the boom with unprecedented levels of vibration dampening that in turn leads to greater levels of operator comfort.

“Our traditional steel boom machines have always been well-received by owners and operators but we have always been aware of the need to reduce the levels of vibration transmitted back to the machine’s operator via the high reach boom,” says general manager Brian Carroll. “Our research and development team have been working for a number of years on a variety of potential solutions including different mounting systems and in-boom shock absorbers. However, when we were introduced to the Looflipra rubberised steel, we knew we’d found the answer we’d been looking for.”

The boom, which is currently available with a 40 metre work height that can be stretched to 48 metres for work on taller structures, has already been tested thoroughly by a number of the UK’s leading demolition contractors. And, according to Carroll, these trials have already thrown up some additional benefits.

“When we created the Wobble-Boom, we envisaged it being used in the same way as a traditional steel boom. But excavator operators are nothing if not innovative,” Carroll continues. “We trialled the system on one particularly tough building where the attachment was really struggling to make an impression. So the operator used a tow rope and a team of burly site workers to pull the boom back before catapulting it into the building. The result was devastating, and the “boing” noise it made when the guys let it go could be heard for miles around. Local residents thought it was a bouncing bomb going off.”

A further benefit of the boom is its ease of transport, Carroll says. “Traditional high reach booms are notoriously tricky to load onto cradles and low loaders,” he adds. “But the Wobble-Boom is simply rolled up. It’s taken a bit of practice but our team at the factory can now squeeze the 40 metre Wobble-Boom into a Smart Car.”

Brian Carroll admits that the Wobble-Boom is not ideal for every application but believes the increasing size of high-rise structures will require this innovative approach in the future. “You only have to look at a structure like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. No demolition contractor is going to want a 1,000 metre high reach boom; they just wouldn’t get the utilisation,” he concludes. “But by using a larger Wobble-Boom machine, they could use a 200 metre machine stretched to reach the upper floors. Admittedly, the attachment would be very small as all that stretching would make the boom very thin indeed. And they would have to work quickly before the boom reverted to its original length. But one thing’s for sure – The operator would not be subjected to any unnecessary vibration.”