Fixing The Largest Construction Equipment On The Planet | Mega Mechanics | Spark

there's a way to make an entrance my destiny it was now a conspiracy of witches download vili today [Music] across Australia the wheels of Industry turned 24 hours a day seven days a week the sheens are tough and the teams of people running them are even tougher from deep underground too high in the sky these heavy metal marbles are essential to our daily lives but what happens when these massive machines break down themes of mechanics Engineers Fitters and Boilermakers step up to battle against tight deadlines in some of the harshest working environments on the planet [Music] doing the vital repair work to keep these heavy metal wonders of Industry alive foreign [Music] of Mega mechanics at the world's largest coal export terminal leading tradesperson Darren Westwood has a massive 23-ton gearbox in full swing those cupping bars are burning serviced now for 18 years and it's a bolt to the Finish to get this Mighty bucket wheel spinning worst case scenario one bolt one shift when a 550 tonne excavator calls in sick maintenance supervisor Kenny diamond and his team of experts must diagnose the problems produce and we get the job done as it's leaking all and we don't want to run it dry but a call to duty means there's no day off or this heavy lifter this has to go back in today and machine has to be working at six o'clock tonight elsewhere a very different piece of mining equipment an underground roof support needs a lift but there's a major hitch for mechanical fitter Sean gunning the lifting point is missing so we're just trying to decipher how we're going to what would have been a simple lift just got a lot more challenging try to find a another point where you can lift it up and there's no time for gushing at wivenhoe Dam maintenance on the radial Gates requires a skilled team led by a highly experienced Dam operator it's closing the gate to make sure no one else Falls he's going to climb down the ladder it's all about pressure a high pressure water gun that is the world's largest coal export facility is at Port waratah coal services in Newcastle New South Wales every year Port waratah's terminals have the capacity to export 145 million tons of coal the coal is transported by train from mines across the hunter Valley region and loaded onto 1200 vessels and shipped out to the world this giant bucket wheel is critical in meeting export deadlines known as a reclaimer it's capable of scooping up 9 300 tons of coal every hour running 24 7 365 days a year reclaimer number 411 has stopped turning for some major maintenance today's passes uh to remove 411 buckwell gearbox so it's driving the butt oil which picks up a tile and delivers it to the conveyor having worked on building these machines himself Darren Westwood known around here is Booker short for the Book of Knowledge knows the importance of keeping this Mega Machinery in check and fully operational ahead of him is a huge job weighing in at 23 tons the massive gearbox driving reclaimer number 411's 30-ton bucket wheel requires replacing after almost two decades of operation a new gearbox is transported 4 000 kilometers across the country to arrive at the Kura gang coal terminal for the replacement the gearbox is attached to the bucket wheel drive shaft by 16 large bolts taking them out sounds like an easy task except for one challenging technical issue those cupping bars are burning service now for 18 years and past experiences showed it is when they're jammed taking about 130 tons of removal one bolt one shift so uh 16 days of just bolt removal before we could actually remove the gearbox bolt removal is an extremely difficult task which will require a crew of four men working 12-hour shifts continuously Around the Clock how long it will actually take to remove the gearbox is unknown but being such a critical piece of Machinery means deadlines are tight so the less time this monster is in shutdown the better we've been on this planning process for about four weeks so correlating all the gear getting the gear together getting it tested making sure it works and then uh and packing it up and delivering to site Booker is the master of gearbox removals he's already been involved in two of these heavyweight gearbox Replacements on the other reclaimers on site from previous experience he knows there will be challenges once inserted into the gearbox these indestructible bolts were never planned for removal after nearly 20 years in service his worst nightmare is they won't come out at all but the master has a backup for that scenario Booker's Plan B is in the form of fourth year mechanical fitter Apprentice will Hammond from past experiences on other jobs start extraction being one of the most critical paths in order to get the gearbox off for his final year assessment project will Design This bolt removal tool which has been cleverly called The Nutcracker yet to be tested on the job the device will only be trialled if a bolt becomes stuck in the gearbox coupling it's about a 150 ton hydraulic cylinder mounted inside it and the idea of that is um a Sportster remaining studs out with Will's hydraulic jack on standby and a new gearbox ready to go Booker only hopes and agonizing history with these bolts doesn't repeat itself 750 kilometers North across the Queensland border near the regional Township of Oaky there's a massive machine flexing its hydraulic muscles at the new Ackland open cut coma this 550 ton excavator and its monstrous 30 cubic meter bucket should be working in the pit chewing its way through Rock and soil to get to the coal below while it might look like it's fighting fit the team are actually trying to get to the bottom of a serious mechanical issue this morning the only thing this excavator is doing is creating a massive challenge for the mine's maintenance supervisor Kenny Diamond diagnosing a problem in one of the four slew Transmissions it's quite urgent we get the job done as it's leaking all and we don't want to run it dry as it'll seize all the gears in the slow change the job is to remove the slew transmission also called a slew gearbox and check the massive part for leaking hydraulic oil a slew transmission is driven by hydraulic motors off the twin engines on the machine when the operator moves the controls to slew or turn the body of the machine the slew Transmissions rotate to turn the excavator arm and bucket in a 360 degree swing the pressure is on the crew have only one 12-hour shift to have this mining machine back on track to get the ball rolling some forensics are happening in the belly of the Beast where oil samples are taken to try and determine exactly what type of oil or Oils are leaking from where preparing the problematic slew gearbox for removal is Mark Van dongjen a mechanical fitter with 20 years experience we're going to pick this motor up off the top of the transmission here we're going to take it away with a friend of crane then we'll get that out of the way on the on the ground uh we'll come back in we'll undo all of our transmission bolts that hold the transmission in the frame then we'll Hoist the transmission out but none of the big boys toys will get fired up for these lifts until some smaller tools clear a pathway through these boom Arch hoses to allow overhead access for the crane the boys are just going to spread the hydraulic hoses there just use some come alongs to so we can spread them apart a come along is a hand-operated winch used to separate the arched hydraulic hoses while further down in the excavator the hydraulic motor is ready to take flight on the boom of a crane despite the time pressure safety is always on everyone's mind I don't want to get hurt I want to go home to my family at the at the end of the shift if there's pressure it comes with ears on the job but you've still got to make sure that you come out the other end of the job with all your digits and everything in place with the motor airborne and out of the way the team's getting closer to their Prime objective the leaking gearbox the sooner they can get to that the better if we don't repair this leak and seal the sleeve motor will actually run out of oil and seize up and that'll be the end of the machine and that's not Kenny's only concern if the Dig is not an operational by six o'clock tonight they're going to be behind on their overburden having one less excavator working the pit even for just one shift means lower production lower profits and a pile of overburden that's gotta be moved getting this done in such a short time frame is a major challenge considering there's going to be a lot of mechanical detective work to figure out the cause of the leak stepping into the unknown will this machine be ready for a Call of Duty on the night shift 940 kilometers north of Okie is a city of Makai a region famous for sugar and Mining the Hastings during asset Solutions Workshop has been charged with overhauling a hydraulic roof support from a long wall underground coal mine in central Queensland for Sean gunning mechanical fitter acting as Project Lead this morning the shift is off to an interesting start well last night while the makers made a mistake obviously and cut the main lifting point off the crew need to raise this Hulk to access a cylinder leg but there's a problem it's supposed to be lugged exactly like that on this side but in your main World areas around here they've obviously found cracking and so I had to cut it off the Boilermakers on the night shift have cut off the main lifting point I don't think the Boilermakers would have known that we had to lift it ironically lifting is what these roof supports are all about power down in a workshop it's hard to take in context these transformer-like components but hundreds of meters below the surface this roof support is an integral part of an underground long wall mine projects and overhaul supervisor Warren Samuel known around here is waza sees hundreds of these units come through the workshop this is just one component out of a complete longwool package this roof support is sick by 65 tonne long wall mining is an underground coal mining technique using hydraulic powered roof supports which are interconnected along the length of the long wall face massive shearers cut coal from a wall face which Falls onto a conveyor belt for removal as the Shira advances along the wall it exposes an area of the coal seam overhead that's retained by the roof support to maintain a safe working environment so these hydraulic roof supports support that by putting anywhere between 1400 to 2000 tons of pressure back into the roof be able to hold that Strider in position to put that in context each of these roof supports is capable of holding the weight of four A330 aircraft but before this unit can start to support that vast amount of weight some problem solving needs to happen with five years experience on the job Sean's using a solid alternative we've got some other lifting points just in there we're just gonna throw some bigger shackles through and we'll just have to change the lengths of the chain that we've shortened yeah should be all good so we're just going to put this other shackle on and then we'll have to move the crane back over that way and allow the change down but jostling bulky Machinery is never simple time to call in the big guns cue the overhead cranes a little bit too much for one single crane to do just because when you go high it sort of picks up a little bit more than 60 ton the alarms you start going off because they're only six ton crates so he is too with two cranes in use Sean uses a 100 ton spreader beam to balance the weight heavy chains are readied to carry the 65-ton load change lifting points we're lifting we've just got to change the amount of links how the Crane's set up just to get it to lift heavily it's a time consuming process adjusting then readjusting chains to get the balance right very heavy fingerboard is good lots of pinch points an hour into the job and another challenge presents itself for the crew to detangle the side seal has been taken off so the pins that are sticking out there's little grooves above them the Giants getting caught in as they're going up so it's getting tight above the PIN but still loose down the bottom from lifting point and we needed to get tight with delays beyond their control will the team find a solution to lift a roof support stuck firmly on the ground 80 kilometers Northwest of Brisbane sitting steadfast on the stunning landscape of the Brisbane river is the impressive wivenhoe Dam [Music] this Earthen rock structure is 59 meters high and 2 300 meters long the dam wall holds back the 1.16 million Mega liter Reservoir when at full capacity the concrete Spillway at wivenhoe Dam has five radial Gates 12 meters wide and 16 meters high they're among the largest of their type in the world each year the radial Gates undergo a crucial safety check of the hydraulic motors and winches along with raising the gates for a visual inspection Doug is a veteran Dam operator and leading today's radial gate inspection having worked here for 22 years he knows the damn well during that time he's witnessed extreme weather events which have relied on his skill as a dam operator done many many releases but you know when we had a really big rain event [Music] came after the torrential rain from tropical Cyclone wander flooded the Brisbane River devastating the city of Brisbane and surrounding areas in January 1974. today Doug and his team Matt operating the crane and Apprentice Ash are preparing to retrieve a 63-ton bulkhead gate stored in a large underground concrete container radial gates are the most common type of Spillway gate in use today water pressure is transferred from the curved face to the radial gate arms which transfer the load to bearings on either side of the gate opening a bulkhead gate is inserted vertically in the spillway to hold back the water allowing the radial gates to open for maintenance Matt is in charge of driving the enormous crane which straddles the damn wall using a remote control he's able to position himself to monitor operation the main purpose of the crane is to retrieve the bulkhead gate it's a slow process moving the crane along the wall well the biggest challenge for Matt is of course is lining him up and getting him to go inside the slot pretty restricted area for to go in the procedure relies on Matt's skill and experience to drop the Locking hooks into the bulkhead slowly raising the bulkhead clear of the concrete container size of the gate is revealed moving along the dam wall tracks guide the crane into position the bulkhead gate is designed to hold back the lake so it's expertly engineered for weight reduction when you look at the gate it's how it's fatter at the bottom that's because there's more there's more head pressure at the bottom so exerts more pressure so as it's going up the gate you'll see it's getting narrower and narrower during the maintenance period a radial gate is inspected each day until all five are done today it's Bay two the bulkhead is lined up with the bay using marking indicators to assist Matt to Center the position of the bulkhead in the spillway slowly the bulkhead is lowered into the lake Matt is constantly watching and adjusting the crane fine-tuning guides the bulkhead gate smoothly into the slots these little shiny ones here they're the end rollers they'll help if going down so if it's not quite laying straight the rollers will help help a chimney shimmy its way down ideally if they won't touch these other Big Fellas they actually take the loads with the bulkhead lowered safely into position Upstream water cannot enter through the spillway the dam serves a dual purpose of water supply and flood mitigation operations and Dam safety engineer Michael Raymond supports the team that operate the dam during flood events the dam won't stop all floods but it will actually certainly reduce a lot of flooding and what it does it does that by slowing the floods down as it travels River Dam it's during extreme weather events when the ongoing maintenance operations performed by Doug and his team pay off ensuring the radial Gates holding back the lake are functional at all times it's been a busy morning but with a slow-moving Crane and 64-ton bulkhead finally at the bottom of the lake there's a sinking feeling this job's slipping behind schedule at Port waratah leading tradesperson Darren Booker Westwood and his crew are gearing up for reclaimer 411's gearbox removal first up they need to extract 16 large coupling Bolts from the gearbox drive shaft and with past experience of one bolt one shift Bookers hoping history won't repeat itself the bridge of the crew behind us are so big because you've got to use Packers and Jacks and pressures and there's a lot of communication with regards to pressure on pressure off release just to remove the bolts bolt removal is a high risk operation working with hydraulic pressure in a confined space environment and at height these highly skilled mechanical Fitters are harnessed onto the work platform risk assessments are in place and an emergency rescue plan is on standby safety is the name of the game for these guys working shoulder to shoulder with all eyes on the bolt it's a four-man job the jack operator gives a verbal cue for the pump to start right I might keep it to it so that's a bulb that's been removed and it's one of the first ones and that's why you need so much force every time you do 16 mil straight on the jack it then it's got to be replaced with a packer another 16 mil and we've got to do that over 110 millimeters the whole Bolt length 300 mil so it takes a bit gauging the amount of hydraulic pressure needed to remove the bolts is an indication of whether this job will be delivered on target all right Mike give it to us the crew are using a Jack to move this bolt with a high pressure hydraulic pump with the equivalent force of 50 000 pounds per square inch or PSI oh they're nice and steady and it's not moving time to wind it up a notch to 60 000 PSI what's the steady finally movement and the bolt comes free after almost 24 hours of continuous labor just eight of the 16 bolts are removed from the gearbox the only way to access the remaining coupling bolts is to manually rotate the 30-ton bucket wheel it's a dangerous task and everyone except for the winch crew are cleared from the job site communication between the crew is critical as winches and chains are locked onto the buckets turning this Titan is a slow task finally revealing the remaining eight coupling bolts with the bucket wheel rotated and safely locked Booker's bolt crew are Keen to get back on the tools to get the old gearbox out with patience determination and focus these Masters at work have cracked the code to remove the bolts but book has been here before so he's not ready to acknowledge Victory don't count your chickens before they had of course we still got six to go crew are so close they're determined to complete the job on their shift so they can have bragging rights it's 15 bolts down and one to go [Music] across three shifts Booker's crew removed 16 bolts in 32 hours a record time plans now moved to installation of the new gearbox but a changing weather forecast could mean their biggest dilemma is yet to come out on queensland's darling Downs a 550-ton digger has been taken out of the pit at the new Ackland Coal Mine to get to the bottom of a mysterious leak in a slew transmission an issue maintenance supervisor Kenny diamond and his team need to solve before the light shift it's quite urgent we get the job done as it's leaking oil and if it runs dry on oil the gears will seize up and the Machine might be able to swing it all so it'll be up for a new slow trains that's a costly Venture that the guys are working hard to avoid the same as we get that slow trans out we'll know whether it's worse than just a seal with the 200 kilogram swing motor out of the way the slew transmission is next in line for a morning flight on the crane this Hefty passenger weighs in at two tons mechanical fitter Mark Van dungen stands by to guide it through the forest of hydraulic hoses that control the boom arm and bucket hopefully they uh we find that the seals damaged or not installed correctly we can rectify the problems Mark's Keen to get the massive part on the ground and try to work out where the leak is coming from he's hopeful but there's a lot of unknowns the crane makes light work of this solid piece of Machinery cautiously easing it down onto a pallet after two and a half hours of hard slog the real dirty work can begin with the grease cleared out a rattle gun is used to remove the bolts and reveal the inner workings of this slippery character yet again the cranes called into service as the team probed the innards of the slew transmission for answers the clock ticks closer and closer to the shift change in tropical Makai the Mercury is well past the 30 degrees Celsius Mark in the asset Solutions Workshop overhauling this piece of mining equipment is proving almost as challenging as the job this hydraulic roof support undertakes hundreds of meters below the surface it's essentially an evolution of a block of Timber that people used to use in Coal Mines the hydraulic red support has evolved into what we see now our nickname for that is a chalk it's the perfect analogy for these massive mechanical wedges which sit between the floor of the coal seam and the roof of the long wall mine today's Mission supervised by wasser Samuels is to raise the unit to access a faulty hydraulic link through testing we found that one of the leg cylinders which holds the top of the Rev Sporter has got a leak in it so we're replacing that out at the moment it sounds pretty standard but not when the Machinery weighs 65 tons and not when one of the main lifting points has been removed Sean gunning the fitter on Project Lead this morning has been working with Wasa and the crew to Wrangle this metallic Behemoth into position so it needs to be moved forward it needs to be a stand under the bottom so it's had to come up with another idea how to do it after five years on the job Sean isn't phased Fairview jobs come through where you have about 60 of them all in a really short turnaround but with this particular unit nothing is happening quickly generally what we will do is we're doing a lot different to this we'd have the crane set up holding the canopy up we take the leg out and there'll be a new one to go straight back in but if we don't have any cylinders on hand at the moment so this one's going to get taken out which is why we have to put the stand under it progress is slow but safety is always the top priority and throughout the operation waza is standing by ready to give expert advice and Hands-On assistance now well I came from uh the same place these guys are now I don't see why there's any reason why I can't give back if they need a handshake I'm just concerned that we're going to put a lot of weight on this once we go to lift it all in one hit so if we put it back down again hook the Hydraulics up to the front leg cylinders and just take it up so we can remove that what do you reckon Sean after two and a half hours with stands and chocks in place will Shawn and his team be ready for liftoff at wivenhoe Dam Doug and his crew have just settled the enormous bulkhead gate into place in the spillway to hold back the lake before they can open the radial gaze Doug has to remove the Crane's connecting hooks from the bulkhead gate just closing the gate to make sure no one else Falls he's going to climb down the ladder go down so we can disconnect the crane it's a risky trip down to water level and requires Doug to wear a harness to reduce the dangers of a fall from this height come and do the other one all clear Matt up we go the radial Gates have not opened to release water from Lake wivenhoe since 2011. but when these massive gates open onto the spillway it's an awesome spectacle with the bulkhead gate ceiling Bay too Doug prepares to take vital readings from the hydraulic winch motors which raise the radial gate it's a full operational swing I'll give you a call every meter so you can obtain your readings ready when you are you can start the pump as the gate begins to Rise water trapped between the bulkhead floods onto the spillway it's enough water to fill a family-sized swimming pool paying careful attention Doug checks the pressure gauge every meter we just get our pressure readings um on the different sides you can see on the gauges here we've got the different pressure gauges raised low and case pressures so we just record those every every meat in the book while Doug is doing his checks he's coordinating with Matt who's taking readings on gate positioning and pump pressures in the winch room about two meters two meters we'll just have a good look around to um make sure the brakes are coming off these are the brake cylinders here you've got a pressure relief valve here we just wanted to make sure it's behaving like it's supposed to Doug checks the Hydraulics for leaks and keeps an eye on the witness Mark and bolt to ensure they're still lined up I'm at eight meters eight meters with the stopwatch on hand a record is made of how long the gate takes to fully open just about half an hour it's important to check the gate safety mechanism upper limits come on that's what stopped the gate coming up and also check the hydraulic upper limit there's a there's an emergency upper limit that'll trip if this one doesn't work okay Matt if you're going to shut that down we'll just have a look at the um see what she looks like while it's up here that means this gate is going to get the full once over it's all about high pressure a high pressure gun that is back at Port waratah preparations are underway to remove the gearbox from the boom arm on bucket wheel 411 a 130 tonne crane has been brought on site to lift the 23-ton gearbox it's a difficult lift the weight of the gearbox means the boom arm of the crane will be at full capacity chains are attached to linking points on the gearbox but because of its odd shape and position each chain link must be meticulously fed out one by one to make sure the weight is evenly distributed and level on Rising [Music] after hours of preparation the crane rigger gives the all clear to lift the gearbox as chains take up the load slowly the massive gearbox Rises upward hanging from the outstretched Boom the gearbox is carefully maneuvered into a shipping cradle beside its replacement an operation that started six hours ago rigging and lifting the mighty 23-ton gearbox is finally complete that's only half the job team is eager to lift the new gearbox early in the morning but will a changing weather forecast wreak havoc on Booker's best laid plans at the new Ackland Coal Mine near oakian Regional Queensland a brain's Trust of mechanical experts are using their combined knowledge to try and nut out what's causing a leak in the slew transmission from this 550 tonne excavator we've only got a 12 air shifter to get the job done the pressures on to get it out as quick as we can in the next few hours less of time what the problem is and then we'll make decision from there and try and get the machine back on Tower for the guys at 6 pm tonight time is a constant pressure and this machine needs to be up and running for the night shift but the question Still Remains unanswered what is causing the leak so we replaced these about a thousand hours ago and usually we get 24 000 hours in the ones we've replaced are now losing oil more and more parts are removed and checked as the team dig deeper working to solve this increasingly baffling puzzle thank you but until the oil samples come back from the laboratory nothing is definitive you pull this slow mocks out and we've disassembled it inspecting everything thoroughly as we went you can't find any evidence of anything being assembled wrong or anything out of place so unfortunately it looks like it's it's okay it's an unusual situation where a positive is more of a negative I'm fairly disappointed that we didn't find anything yeah I would have loved to have seen something damaged would have been if it was an obvious fix would have been a lot better yeah a huge effort with no real result and time is not their friend today we're at the point now where we can't continue looking at it we uh we need to start putting it back together so we'll have it ready for launch you carefully and precisely the team reassembled this enormous Workhorse in just a few hours it's been a challenging shift all round and even for this skilled team it's a huge task ahead it'll be a fair effort by everybody here this afternoon but I'm confident that we'll achieve achieve their goal and to get the thing going although the team couldn't find an immediate fix the excavator was back in service for night shift under close supervision several days later oil tests assisted the mechanics to find the course of the leak replacing a pressure valve and solving the mystery mechanical workshops are challenging environments at the best of times one crew in the workshop have been battling with this monster an underground roof support for a large chunk of the morning after two and a half hours of trial and error to get this piece of coal mining Machinery safely supported and chained up for a double overhead crane lift crunch time it was something this big 65 ton is not something that you really want to uh you know take shortcuts on we probably go to the nth degree when we're working on the big gear but it's the same philosophy that we want to take into the smaller gear we work on as well finally the chains take up the slack and there's air between the shed floor and this bulky machine a slight movement in the chains and the roof support jumps but the experienced team are not phased there's a support stand in place for this exact reason it's a painstakingly slow process gradually moving the machine up and then forward amazing to see this massive piece of Machinery seemingly defy gravity but not for long okay um yeah reposition the barricade with the roof support secured and in a safe work area the real work can start for Sean and the maintenance crew removing a faulty leg cylinder you can get cold and get anything in there and the tiniest little speck of dirt can get inside and wreck the whole seal which will cause it to bypass it won't hold any weight so the rest will start lowering if that happens it can just collapse and if you've got workers under there it's not a real safely the guys that work down there do audits across the system so they pick that up pretty quickly and uh change it out underground you know pretty quick smart so while it's in here in the workshop we'll take advantage of the fact that we can do it in a workshop environment with an overhead crane three and a half hours after the discovery of the removed lifting lug short attaches hydraulic lines to raise the roof support it's been a massive effort to get to this stage finally the guys get a good look at the rear cylinder but just like the Makai heat The Works Relentless their next mission to remove this three-ton leg [Music] every year at wivenhoe Dam the five radial gates are inspected and cleaned today the team have been assigned maintenance of gate number two Matt doesn't mind working under pressure to remove the thick algae checking the radial gate with Apprentice Ash Doug examines the submerged surface from an inspection platform Inside Bay 2. we've got no dramas not we've found yet anyway and that's pretty typical to protect the metal surface from rust corrosion the submerged section of gate is painted with a hard-wearing Epoxy paint previous spot damage is also examined to ensure the Integrity of the repair this is a patch that we did previously and this is a two coat epoxy system high build epoxy the first coat's a little bit smaller and the next one's a little bit bigger so it overcoats so the next one would come a bit bigger like this after many years on the job Doug compares the condition of the gate from his previous inspection satisfied it's in good condition he gives the go-ahead to lower the gate all right here we go checking the winches Doug has a stopwatch on the lowering gate it's important to know how long it will take to close completely [Music] 23 35 and 30 going up got a bit of 104 ton assisting it going down with the inspection and cleaning complete and the gate secured the job is done with the structure as important as wivenhoe dam inspections are crucial and Equipment failure just cannot happen it's a rewarding job we maintain the gear and you know and watch it operate the ongoing maintenance provided by Doug and his team ensures the radial gates at wivenhoe Dam will be fully functional at all times [Music] in Makai a team of Fitters are slowly making progress fixing a leg cylinder as part of an entire overhaul of underground mining roof supports big part of this job is problem solving something fitter Sean gunning and his crew have put to the test multiple times today with the challenges of lifting this 65-ton giant it takes teamwork and to combine skills to work through these problems [Music] we've got a lot of great boys and a lot of experience here as soon as I started I could just see how well everyone was gelled together and it's just one big unit basically everyone seems to be mates outside of work as well after a day of stops and starts finally the supports are in place and the team can get down to the job they had planned today block is used to support the three-ton leg to ease it out it's the time that it takes to do that preparations means that we can do the job in a safe manner the most important thing is get home at the end of the day spend time with your family and do the things that you enjoy doing [Music] five and a half hours have ticked by and success finally the leg cylinder is free Sean's a happy man glad it's over um you get that on big job site you gotta take what you get well with your punches as they say now that the guys have got the cylinder out we're going to send that away to our overhaul facility that'll be pulled apart put back together again so they can go back into another route support this root support itself has got another leg cylinder that's ready to go back into it so tonight uh night shifts we'll throw that in we'll put it back up and begin the re-hosing of the roof support after several false starts and lengthy delays the team have pulled together to get the job done when the rear leg is replaced this roof support will go back into service at a central Queensland underground coal mine at Port waratah Booker is at the mercy of the weather his plans to lift reclaimer 411's new gearbox grind to a halt the rain has come in the forecast they're scheduled for about 40 millimeters right so that's come in and impact the schedule the work site is a total washout the main party when it rains is we can't allow people up on stool work the slippiness it's the utmost important that safety is our first priority water man and machine is a lethal combination making a 23-ton gearbox lift highly hazardous and this downpour has dampened any hope of activity on site ongoing delays to the maintenance schedule will have a serious impact on operations we've got to reschedule ships and reschedule coal piles and a whole host of things happen as the window of opportunity to stay on time and on track slowly closes Booker needs to look for other options the lift that we're going to do today will be canceled if any sign of high winds because they've got to have control so it might end up being the night shift will be the best place to do this work today any type of critical lift after dark presents a whole new set of challenges but right now the rain is unrelenting and its Booker's job to assess the risks and make the call due to the weather conditions we're going to cancel today's crew and restart the night shift tonight as the day shift mechanics head home it's a huge blow to operations right now the installation of reclaimer 411's new gearbox is officially off limits losing a 12-hour work shift means the night crew clock on for one hell of a battle to get 411 back on track mechanical fitter Mark doll is called in to lead the charge and there's only one thing on his mind 100 about safety making sure everything's all all right and ready to go preparing for a moment of reprieve when it comes well hands on deck so the torrential rain stopped still a bit windy and we've got scattered showers and when the opportunity comes that they're setting a lift up now they've got it hung up slung on the crane they're going to swing it in Mark gets his moment the rain is predicted to ease off and he gives the team approval to go thank you [Music] heaps of eyes on the job just seeing where the clearances and that are make no mistake wet surfaces night lighting shadows and the smallest change in weather conditions and this lift could quickly become disastrous from lift up to swing in and descend the crews looking to get this done while the rain holds the way that the loads rigged up is very important so that we're not having to put it back down on the ground and I'll re-rig it again so the rigging has to be absolutely spot on 23-ton critical lift is a White Knuckle ride if the new coupling bolts are to withstand a lifetime in the field realignment is one of the most critical aspects of this entire operation we can roll a gearbox rotate it manually just slide yeah spin in the disc the bolts have only got 0.1 of the millimeter clearance on them and it's in the gearbox is in position they've talked up four bolts to retain the weight of the gearbox and sitting on the uh pedestal at the back the Crane's removed all that's left are the new bolts and just to finish off a mechanical fitter's dream the clearance fit design Glides them in with ease we'll put 16 on and uh those bikes will have the bolts talked up by the morning eight hours later Mark and his team of Mega mechanics have done it it's a spectacularly successful Handover to Booker the next day job is now complete that's why it's nice and quiet it's finally installed uh just checking the Denso tape on the bolts for Corrosion Protection and to keep the gears lubricated it's time to fill up the oil when it comes to side it's dry so we we fill them up to the mark about 680 liters of these gearboxes hold Will's Plan B The Nutcracker is shelved for another day but the Hands-On knowledge gained by this final year Apprentice is more than enough reward yeah I've been on the job since the very beginning in the planning stage and seeing it progress all the way through to the commissioning which is quite a rare opportunity but it's been a really good learning experience for me as for Booker the job's not over until this machine is fully operational with the gearbox job complete a full test run is on hold until other maintenance work on the reclaimer is finished from our point of view we're just quite the completion of the cable reel work and we can move on it looks like it's a pretty good job Keen to power up this mechanical Beast book is on the home stretch and when reclaimer 411 is fully geared up it will be ready to churn through mountains of coal for years to come [Music] across Australia the wheels of Industry turn 24 hours a day seven days a week so machines are tough for teams of people running them are even tougher from deep underground too high in the sky these heavy metal marbles are essential to our daily lives but what happens when these massive machines break down themes of mechanics Engineers Fitters and Boilermakers step up to battle against tight deadlines in some of the harshest working environments on the planet [Music] doing the vital repair work to keep these heavy metal wonders of Industry alive foreign [Music] of Mega mechanics it's a mighty service on a massive scale at the mine shop for Workshop Foreman Graham Mallard and his team what we're doing here it's rebuilds and repairs major rebuilt in repairs spanners are spinning as a team of hard-working mechanics are on a deadline to give these monster trucks a new lease online we bring it in we tear it down to the spare bones and rebuild it from the floor up and in heavy maintenance hangar number three senior licensed aircraft maintenance engineer Charles lacena oversees an Airbus A330 undercarriage check it's a very important part of the aircraft it takes roughly on touchdown probably about half the load of the aircraft a challenging installation on a critical landing gear path hinges on a thread to stay on schedule the old nut goes fine onto the old pencil pin but won't go on to the new pencil pin so we're not sure why a mighty maintenance job on the bucket wheel reclaimer at Port waratah coal Services can also mean Mega danger for Cannon Ford and the team worst case that could happen would probably be if the bucket just fell the crew will need to dig deep to get this giant bucket wheel spinning again massive it's pretty much an apartment building when you see it it's really hard to describe the actual size of it and heavy machinery blocking an access road at the new Ackland coal preparation plant has brought operations to a standstill for maintenance Improvement supervisor anti-schooler so the machine behind me the Manitou telescopic Handler has broken down it's all hands on deck as operation Manitou move gets underway there's lots of little sensors in there and we've probably damaged and cut some cables when it failed 950 kilometers north of the Queensland capital city of Brisbane is the central Seaside city of Makai built on sugarcane but boomed with the mining industry Makai is the seaport gateway to the Bowen Basin the single largest coal Reserve in Australia and it's on these mine sites you'll find hard-working super-sized trucks dozers loaders and lifters these Mighty Machines have thousands of moving Parts operating 24 7 and need an army of Mega mechanics to maintain them Hastings Deering Makai has troops at the ready to Supply and service a staggering Fleet of Caterpillar machinery for both surface and below ground mining what we're doing here it's rebuilds and repairs major rebuilt and repairs and things you can't do on site the the bigger jobs the multi-million dollar jobs Graham Mallet leads a team of more than 120 staff in the maintenance Workshop known as the mine shop here their specialty is the caterpillar 793 mining truck standing at six and a half meters tall at almost 14 meters long the cat 793 can carry a payload of over 200 tons off the factory floor a 793 is worth around four million dollars but fully reconditioned the truck costs about 2.4 million dollars with parts and labor the team are in the process of stripping reconditioning and overhauling the entire truck and today the engine has to come out for replacement gonna let you guys know about those final drives here mate [Music] job worth big dollars c175 engine has 16 cylinders and weighs over 12 tons the engine replacement is worth seven hundred thousand dollars alone and it will take a team of two Fitters working intensive 12-hour shifts four days to complete the engine refit that's only part of the work required to get this truck back in the mine and earning its keep [Music] because there's an awful lot of money in what these machines do you can pull a ton of coal at the ground across maybe 140 dollars these machines can carry close to 200 tons on the back so after a year of work and you soon make your money back after a downturn in the Region's mining sector coal production reduced and maintenance schedules were being held off but now that's changing and work is back on they're pretty much worth 24 7 out on site um with that I obviously do an awful lot of hours typically around that sort of 20 to 24 000 hours that's when we're starting to see them come in here for these refills over the past 18 months the demand for Quality coal has increased internationally mines have rapidly picked up production putting the trucks back into demanding round-the-clock operations as a result the mine shop is seeing an unprecedented number of service and maintenance requests Graham has his work cut out for him to keep it all on schedule and relies on his team so a couple of guys working on this one today we've got one guy he's been with us an awful long time he's got close to 30 years experience working on these machines he and Selby started out as a field fitter in the early 80s after years on location in the mines he's gained a vast amount of experience yeah 34 years I've seen a lot of changes in that time we've seen gone from purely mechanical engines to the electronic engines of today you've gradually watch the machines become bigger and bigger and after a while you don't even you don't even notice you know a lot of the guys that work for us they come for a apprenticeship but a lot of the real knowledge is passed from person to person from from the older generation to the new guys coming through but then also it runs the other way with the younger guys there they're more they're more hot on the digital aspect of the machines now you know and they're teaching some of the older guys stuff as well with all this knowledge Changing Hands there's one thing that can't be changed and that's delivery deadlines we pride ourselves on on actually a fast turnaround for the industry um we can take a 793 and turn that around in 30 days that's down from sort of a standard of maybe seven weeks it's a lot of pressure but we've got the right team [Music] and there's a lot involved transport costs police organized for escorts so if they say 28 day turnaround it means 28 day turnaround putting Graham under immense pressure to coordinate a busy workshop with up to six rebuilds happening at the same time we get a machine that's maybe done four years worth of work outside and it's really in need of a good birthday so we we bring it in we tear it down to the spare bones and rebuild it from the floor up [Music] strip down service and refurbishment of each truck involves 5 000 individual parts until you hit the key you are kind of on edge I mean the guys are constantly checking like I'm constantly checking there's always that chance something not quite bummed up right not quite connected right yeah it just might turn the key and get enough with so many trucks on the workshop floor and deadlines that need to be met will the team piece this Beast back together on time in queensland's capital city Brisbane the airport is connected to more than 54 destinations worldwide and in excess of 17 million passengers fly in and out every year but today planes are being grounded for maintenance that is just east of the runway the 28 meter tall doors are being opened at heavy Maitland's Hangar number three this specialized facility is due to welcome an A330 Airbus for a landing view check-in service in the air these planes can reach speeds of up to 900 kilometers per hour but on the ground it's a much more cautious pace Jet Blast from the engines could cause extensive damage and injury so for the safety of people and Equipment the Jets are Switched Off and a tug is used to bring the 187 ton aircraft to the hangar [Music] aircraft checks are required at specified flight hours and today this Airbus is grounded for essential landing gear maintenance the key job for today is the replacement of a pintle pin basically a large hinge pin which attaches the landing gear to the aircraft structure it's a component that absorbs and disperses the high stresses during landing and maintenance is essential but before this A330 can roll into the hanger licensed aircraft maintenance engineer Mick little and his crew have work to do we just do a whole series of checks airframe and also avionic checks we really want to test the plane when it's nice and Alive we'll start pulling some ducting uh some panels apart to do some leak checking we'll spin engines it's just to make sure everything's operating properly also with our flight controls we'll turn off and on some computers foreign 's belly Anthony Barker is one of many young Tradesmen paying his dues removing hundreds of panel screws as we take panels off we always expect them as well to make sure they're all in good condition this is something that they like giving the first and second year apprentices it might be grounded but there are still plenty of safety concerns in and around the Airbus people coming up and down the stairs walking around the engines and so forth even with spinning even with noise the job might have just started but time is on everyone's mind aircraft have flight schedules to keep and passengers to move we want to get it into the hangar as fast as we can but before the landing gear maintenance can get underway inside the hangar the jet engines need to go for a test spin on the tarmac [Music] only run engines we want everybody away we have a you know a select crew to out there just to do the engine run so there's no need for everybody to be out there [Music] finally it's time for Mick and the team to get this 60 meter wide Airbus towed into the hangar it's a highly choreographed process to ensure the aircraft is lined up precisely thumbs up signals the all clear as spotters watch the massive aircraft dock into position with wheel chocks in place these large aircraft Jacks Are rolled out onto the hangar floor slowly raising the Jacks the team prepared to support the A330 under each Wing we've got a jacket all nice and level and we use the plane's computer for that and finally the docks are moved into position [Music] with the Airbus docked and raised to service the landing gear getting the wheels to touch down on this job is about to Screech to a hole 160 kilometers north of the state capital of Sydney is the port of Newcastle the busiest coal export terminal on the East Coast of Australia and the location of Port waratah coal Services the largest coal export facility in the world [Music] each year over 20 000 heavy haulage trains travel up to 450 kilometers from coal mines across the region to unload at kuragang Terminal the coal Layton landscape is a sea of black and yellow dominated by huge metal monsters the task assignment today is a bucket change on bucket wheel reclaimer 412 This heavyweight machine tips the scales at 1 200 tons and reaches Skyward to the height of a 14-story building changing a bucket on one of these Giants is a team effort managing the maintenance task is Darren Westwood he's been on the job for 22 years his workmates call him Booker it's a nickname for Book of Knowledge today's maintenance task is to remove free at bucket that's been identified as maintenance concerns it's thinning so there's a potential cause of failure the reclaimer's massive bucket wheel weighs in at 30 tons and has 10 rotating buckets each bucket weighing two tons bucket wear is caused by the reaction of coal against steel constant scraping creates friction causing heat and thinning over time regular testing of metal surfaces is undertaken to measure thickness and identify potential cracks also on the job today is Cannon Ford a former Apprentice at Port waratah coal Services now working for the company so this is what gets ultrasonically tested so it gets the thickness of the steel so it'll eventually get thinner and thinner and thinner to point where it cracks so that would be a breakdown so that's what we're preparing here to ensure even bucket wear the entire bucket is replaced including the teeth so the teeth at the front here you can tell normally this would be a sharp Jagged Edge when they're new so these are high strength steel so they're very hard wearing so when they start to wear such as this one here as you can tell it's one and you know that teeth swell and the bucket's been deemed pretty hard to get the job underway Booker needs to make some calculations we'll go over and pick a new bucket up and weigh it we'll weigh that with the crane scales and then we'll bring it across here and then we'll attach the old bucket because then we know the weight of the the new bucket so we know the resisting weight that we can take with his calculations set the team prepare the bucket for removal [Music] foreign the bucket is held by a steel pin on each side these are the major pins that hold most of the weight ah they've normally got a wedge in them but we've taken that wedge out because we're ready for the crane so that then takes pretty much all of the weight of the actual bucket and when it's digging that will take most of the weight that comes on the front lip working with these machines for many years this is where Booker's knowledge really counts depending on pin conditions so if we have a stuck pin this could take uh three or four hours running on a prevention rather than cure basis scheduled maintenance on the reclaimer bucket wheel is carefully planned but it looks like the team have literally hit their first problem could Booker's prediction of a stuck pin be about to come true kilometers north of Oakey in Regional Queensland is the new Ackland Coal Mine a mining company which takes pride in rehabilitation since open cut operations began in 2002 the new Ackland coal mine has continuously rehabilitated 500 hectares of grazing land with mining operations and agriculture working side by side today the annual maintenance shutdown of the coal handling and preparation plant is underway this five-story structure washers braids and sorts the raw material that comes out of the ground separating the coal for export and the fill to go back into the rehabilitated land an army of mechanical Fitters and Boilermakers are working around the clock to repair refurbish and replace hundreds of pieces of equipment it's the perfect Partnership of mechanic and machine until a major breakdown brings the work site to a standstill its news maintenance Improvement coordinator Andy schooler doesn't need right now so the machine behind me there's Manitou telescopic Handler has broken down in the middle of working on feeder breaker 101 jobs [Music] telescopic Handler otherwise known as a telehandler is a multi-purpose machine using a telescopic Boomer it has the capability of a crane and the maneuverability of a forklift to move loads across rough terrain Rob O'Brien was operating the machine when he realized he had a problem with the telescopic Boomer when I was pulling it in I found that it it went a little bit tight made it made a noise it went around the bag and how that thought oh my goodness not good hose carriage in the actual telescopic part of the boom had come loose and adversely punched it out the back you know just all the hydraulic lines and that are just like spaghetti in the back of the machine the issue is not only that it's broken down and inoperable the machine is also blocking access to the work site right in the road it couldn't have been the worst spot really now with a serious breakdown on his hands first thing we can do is like I call it supervisor let him have a look and see what his thoughts are with news of the breakdown and he's quickly on site to assess the damaged machine it's a fairly major breakdown needs some fairly big repairs done on it so we're not going to get it going in half an hour which means the maintenance job Rob's working on has come to a standstill the transmission sense is that the jokes are down so obviously we can't go forward can't go back it won't let the transmission engage anyway with the machine unable to move Andy needs a plan to get this stubborn Troublemaker out of the way before there's a Manitou meltdown Around the Clock the world's airports are incredibly busy places not just in the terminals or out on the runways the hangars in Brisbane specialize in heavy maintenance jobs like landing gear changes or extensive safety checks that can take weeks to complete yesterday hanger 3 was busing with the arrival of an A330 today it's just one of many aircraft worked on by various teams inside and out gigantic hangers are dedicated to keeping the flying kangaroos running safely and smoothly under the leadership of Paul Crawford we have two main facilities so Hangar 3 where we are today which houses our wide body aircraft where we can have between three and four wide body aircraft under maintenance at any one time and a hangar 2 where we have our narrow body aircraft again up to four aircrafts across the facility we can have eight aircraft undergoing heavy maintenance at any one time utilizing our staff from our apprenticeship program all the way through to our licensed aircraft maintenance Engineers who themselves can have up to 40 years plus experience under the belly of this Airbus Ian Spencer one of the many lamies or licensed aircraft maintenance Engineers is unpacking a pintle pin destined for the landing gear yes well it's probably only 40 years before the real heavy lifting starts the Greaser plug needs to be inserted we're going to install this into the into here first before we put the pin up just for access and uh so this organizing the white greases and everything at the moment try and find the get all the nuts and everything ready in about five or ten minutes we should be uh ready to go basically a large hinge pin a pintle pin is one of the vital components of the aircraft's landing gear before commencing the replacement Ian inspects the pin removed from the aircraft the Chrome's gone a little bit I think was going to replace it because it might be damaged that you can't see with the new PIN prepped it's time for the team to harness up and take a ride in the elevated work platform [Music] down below the team make Minor Adjustments to the Gear install stand to carefully maneuver Ian into the best position okay hold it there this is where they're aiming for and a heavy part and cramped conditions are creating a challenge [Music] the big thing's all good it's just it's uh eccentric but there's a smaller part not lining up Ian and the team need to work out what's stopping this puzzle coming together and how to fix it this ball here seems to be wider than the then what's the what's come with a new fitting Ian compares the old fitting with the new unit as he and the team try and solve the mystery of why it won't fit meanwhile in another section of Hangar 3 a tug is busy pushing a Jetstar A320 onto aircraft scales modifications have been made to this aircraft's interior and a re-way is standard procedure so if a customer's vaulted essentially the inside of the airplane they need to know if the weight and balance has changed and if the center of gravity of the aircraft's changed for in in-flight characteristics we've pushed the aircraft onto the scales and off the scales twice to get an average a weight and balance officer certified by the civil aviation Safety Authority oversees the procedure so he is the one that signs off on the readings on the scales and works out the center of gravity when he's happy that's when we're happy happiness is not something being experienced by Ian and his co-workers at the moment while they continue their efforts to install the new Pentel pin seems the Locking pin is creating an issue and a bore gauge shows the bearings are slightly smaller than the old one team leader Charles Lucina lends a hand troubleshooting who had to remove the pencil pin again and now we're going to have to hone out the the bushings in the penal pin so the lock pin can go in and for that we have to take it out take it into the fitting shop and the Fitters have got specialized equipment to hone out the bore foreign a few minutes in the hands of an experienced machinist and will the pin make the grade this time something that does seem to be Measuring Up is the A320 it's a tick of approval from the casa certified white and balance officer plus This heavyweight rolls off the scales [Music] thank you good news here but not back in the wheel well a nut required to secure the pintle pin is now causing some problems so we should check snap right on on the bench so it's back into problem solving mode again for Ian and the team but finicky parts are nothing new to these seasoned engineers back at the Makai mine shop the maintenance team is in the thick of a 28-day rebuild on a cat 793 a 2 000 horsepower Beast of a truck barely recognizable without its super size wheels and huge 200 tonne tipping tray one of the biggest challenges with the jobs being so big he's doing six or seven of them at the time [Music] a 793 mine truck has over 5 000 individual working components awful lot of people to manage an awful lot of parts to receive and like any mechanical service center it all comes down to Parts being on hand the moment you need them Mark farmer is Warehouse operations supervisor of the Makai Parts Warehouse and a handyman to know when you need to find a path anything from a small o-ring up to a large engine that can weigh up to 18 ton and be valued at nearly half a million dollars so very very diverse type of parts and with those come their own unique challenges the warehouse holds up to 62 000 parts the team here are called on around the clock to supply the on-site maintenance workshop and customers around the country yeah lots of activity lots of moving Parts lots of people moving with West emergency to get those parts out on time and if you see a red tub that means stop everything and give it right-of-way this is for the high priority urgent order it's extremely important that jobs in the workshop aren't delayed waiting for parts we have 24 7 Around the Clock here and some of our workshops are working into the evenings as well so it's important for us to service those workshops make sure those guys are on the spanners trying to hit those promise days for the customers stay busy and stay on the spanners with new parts of the ready every truck in the workshop is working towards a back-end service date at the mine it's all about production for our customers so the minimum amount of downtime they can have the best for them so yeah the pressure does turn off with delivery deadlines looming keeping the wheels on in the workshop might be Graham's biggest challenge yet back in Newcastle a mega bucket change on a 47 meter high reclaimer is underway this massive machine Scoops up to 9 300 tons of coal every hour from stockpiles onto a network of conveyor belts which move coal to the ship loading facilities at the Kura gang war when he started on the job Cannon Ford was overwhelmed by the size of the Machinery uh massive it's pretty much an apartment building when you see it it's really hard to describe the actual size of it but to put it in layman's census I explained it to my mum the teeth from the bottom of the bucket to the top to the bucket wheel there that's taller than me and there's 10 of them on the outside of the bucket and a maintenance job at the very top of the reclaimer would take you up to 14 stories high so you're walking up probably 20 30 stairs just to get to the bottom level there's a lot more after that as well if you want to go further with the bucket attached to the crane with chains Booker and his team are ready for the next crucial step the removal of pins holding the two-ton bucket to the Giant Wheel armed with a sledgehammer the hard labor begins [Music] pin out another to go but it's not moving could this be the stuck pin problem Booker has encountered before [Music] two-ton bucket is now fully suspended by the crane working with mega Machinery also means Mega danger so their astringent precautions in place worst case that could happen would probably be if the bucket just fell and somebody got in the way which we have controls in place to stop at the magic thing with this is the size and the weight of it and also where the center of gravity is so it's quite an awkward thing to try and put on a crane [Music] with the bucket safely on the ground the chains are removed and the crane prepares for the next maneuver come back out come under and grab it again underneath while preventative maintenance takes reclaimer 412 out of service the consequence of a breakdown due to bucket damage could impact ship loading delaying departures running into a costly scenario anything that's potentially going to break down if it's not going to make this maintenance schedule today we can then pull out a service do the quick repair and make sure there's back in service but that generally incurs the delay and that's what we don't like to do with the job at the halfway point time for some cleanup work in preparation for the new bucket at the new Ackland coal preparation plan it's been a disastrous start to the morning work has come to a grinding halt with a massive 12-ton machine broken down on the job site it's a major headache for Andy and Rob and now adding to their problems is a forecast of heavy rain but they've taken on the challenge and are determined to find a solution boom operates via a network of sensors and if the Boom is extended the front stabilizer Jacks will be outstretched and the Machine will remain solid and unshakable and it's a safety thing like if you are lifting a weight and you've got to boom out a reasonable distance the last thing you want to do is hit a lever and let one of your jacks down a little bit you could tip the whole thing over so it's just a file save mechanism armed with a trusty screwdriver Andy probes the damaged sensors hoping to manually override the stabilizer mechanism no but it's probably not going to make any difference there or so Rob and Andy take on the old adage if at first you don't succeed try and try the instruction manual [Music] armed with some additional knowledge and he thinks he might have found the solution that's where it needs to be there must be another sense in some way with precious time slipping away they're desperate to find a solution to raise the stabilizer jacks and just as forecast a heavy downpour dampens the mood even further every minute equipment is down costs thousands of dollars and this lost time weighs heavy on Andy's shoulders when it rains all the work outside stops can't keep working in the rain when you've got electricity and welders and and stuff happening sort of another hour that we've lost here now with the rain easing The Boys Are Back at It desperate to get this metallic Hulk moving in one last ditch effort they decide to try and defeat the electrical system there's lots of little sensors in there and we probably damaged and cut some cables when it failed before despite all efforts even resorting to the manual still no luck with one Mighty obnoxious machine to deal with the pressure's on Andy to come up with the solution to get the telescopic Handler moving [Music] back in the heavy maintenance hangar when planes in this world famous Fleet get some industrial grade care and attention one job that's been a hard nut to crack has been the installation of a new pintle pin in the landing gear of an Airbus A330 and after finally getting the pin in place the Laney's on duty have hit another problem this time with the Locking nut it hits a stop will pretty much like the thread comes to an end or something yet again this Troublesome part is delaying the job said it just stops yeah team leader Charles Lucina is on hand to help solve the issue well the problem is the nut that holds Us in place we we're reusing the old nut the old nut goes fine onto the old pintal pin but won't go on to the new Pinto pin so we're not sure why the last thing the team needs now is more troubleshooting elsewhere in Hangar 3 it's smooth sailing this landing gear is being prepped for a special Voyage loose components are being secured to reduce movement in transit and avoid any damage to the hydraulic lines or the landing gear itself getting transported overseas on a boat I have to make sure that all the electrical harness is capped properly so that no contaminants get into the end of the plug and also that all the hydraulic lines are properly blanked and they're not going to leak onto the landing gear while the landing gear will be traveling by sea people power will deliver this door to its final destination a short walk and the team is all set to reinstall this main landing gear door when the landing gear is raised the doors required to safely seal the area and creates smooth airflow the crew methodically and precisely work through the process this is the install for this Gear door and we are following the install for these Mount points right down to the exact torque settings supplied by Airbus right down to the nearest uh inch pound back with the pintle pin installation it's a different story the team are still working the problem keep moving forward Charles is sourcing new parts while the team persists using their combined knowledge and experience searching for a cause and any solution we've got a choice we can order out another new pencil pin we can order out a new nut or we can put the old pencil pin back in I think what we're doing now just as a temporary measure is putting the old pencil pin back in to stabilize the installation of the gear it's an important decision for Charles but safety won't be a compromise this Mega machine picks up coal from 65 meter high Stacks loading onto a network of conveyors to a ship loader at the kuragang terminal Wharf [Music] each year over 1 000 vessels are loaded Around the Clock [Music] reclaimer number 412 is an essential part of that ship loading operation we have a continuous birthing process so this uh this machine could be called 24 hours a day seven days away except for its scheduled maintenance uh shutdowns which is scheduled you know eight week cycle morning mechanical Fitters have removed a bucket showing signs of metal thinning and are now preparing for the installation of a new bucket onto the bucket wheel with this bucket change there's a few different ways you could do it and over the years they've developed the best way to do and they've improved the process collected from on-site storage and placed under the bucket wheel it's disconnected and the crane Hook is guided into position directly above [Music] hatching the chains the new bucket is then raised Booker is ready with the pin and with a technical tap drives it in Canon is on standby to slide in the wedge locking in the PIN one more pin to go and the bucket is almost fully attached a lot of what we've learned here during our apprenticeship is how to do things the way that they've taught and the way that they've sort of developed it and you sort of get in that culture of how can we do this better how can we improve over its 40-year history the company Prides itself on its continuous improvement process constantly innovating and upgrading all aspects of maintenance to take notice of the pin over here it's now higher the earlier editions of those pins are solid probably about 40 kilos now we're down to about 15 so that's a modification that we've done ourselves during time with the second pin in place and the wedge to lock it in the job is almost done those guys that have been here for 20 30 years they've got an infinite amount of experience and knowledge that no textbook or nobody could tell you unless they've had that experience to finish the job a wedge on each side secures the bucket in place [Music] the crane releases the load and the job is complete the new bucket's been put in now so the pins are in as you can tell we've got different teeth on here these are used tests that were used on a bucket previously the wall of the bucket is now really thick you can prepare it when you touch it this will last the next cycle there's no telling how long it will be it'll probably be 18 months maybe two years even with improved streamlined processes working with mega Machinery still means hard yakka yeah it's still it's still getting and just get it done you know it's still physical work it's still hard work especially if you're doing this two days ago it's 40 degrees Heat doing this in 40 degree heat changing three or four buckets a day it does get a bit taxing on the body yeah it's a good environment it's good work and it's a big a great bunch of guys to work with you learn something new every day which is a great part of the job and right on schedule reclaim of 412 is back in service and on call 24 hours a day ready to churn its way through mountains of coal at the new Ackland cold preparation plant a damaged telescopic Handler and heavy downpours have caused major delays [Music] the decision of what to do lies with maintenance Improvement coordinator Andy Schooler and he doesn't disappoint when he comes up with a simple yet brilliant solution and just like that operation Mana 2 move gets underway got to be able to lift it straight onto a truck to take it to be repaired just so happens that we have a hundred ton crane here on site for the four days it's more than capable of lifting it it's probably about 12 ton the machine itself before the lift can proceed Rob completes a risk management plan to assess the hazards if there's anything heavy well two man or three-man lifts just make sure we help each other out and definitely stand out of the road when the machine is suspended have an Excursion Zone which is very important so anybody around can see stay clear the first challenge raise the stabilizer jacks under those systems pull that pin out because that'll lift them up and chain them up out of the way yeah that's the plan time for some manual labor [Music] [Music] success with the stabilizer Jacks secured out of the way next up rig the load with the telescopic boom extended the machine will be front heavy finding a balance point takes some trial and error and finally lift off operation Manitou move is officially underway [Music] with the telescopic Handler safely secured on the truck the roadway is clear at last realizing the lost time the breakdown has caused Rob knows you can't plan for the unexpected it's one of those things that happens you don't like it when it does happen and there's you always think there could have been ways to prevent it or but anyway that's just how it goes at times I suppose breakdowns are unavoidable but schedules are not making up time is now a priority for Andy so all in all we've probably lost about five hours of this on this particular job by now the job should be complete but with the time lost and a need to get back on schedule the team will be facing a long haul into the night shift as the 46-ton doors slide open it's the start of another busy day in Hangar 3 at Brisbane Airport the first tasks have already been delegated to numerous staff on the maintenance team some are relatively simple like polishing paintwork or degreasing landing gear in preparation for shipment other work assignments can take longer even more so when parts are being somewhat stubborn yesterday the installation of this forty thousand dollar pintle pin required a lot of teamwork in and around the wheel well after troubleshooting by both shifts the part is finally locked in place the problem with an ill-fitting nut was rectified by inspecting and intricately cleaning the pintle pin thread it's a very important part of the aircraft it takes roughly on touchdown probably about half the load of the aircraft that's around 90 tons of the aircraft's weight it's an incredibly important component that needed to be changed it's teamwork that ensures these enormous aircraft are well maintained and safely back in the air on schedule but just because the pin is in doesn't mean it gets a passing grade A retraction test also known as a gear swing must be performed it's one of the final checks where new and overhauled landing gear has been fitted with the engineering crew in communication with the team on the flight deck everyone is on standby for an instruction to move the landing gear lever on the engineer's call [Applause] a gear swing retraction test takes an hour and a half to complete [Music] and during that time the landing gear will be put through its Paces up to six times it's thumbs up as the new pintle pin passes the vital swing test an impressive end to another busy day inside this massive hangar [Music] back at the mine shop in Makai a recent upswing in the mining sector has led to unprecedented demand for rebuilds on these heavy lifters seeing overworked old machines get a new lease on life is something Graham is proud of it's a good feeling when we get a machine and it's it's even it's getting close to the end and we're putting them final touches on giving it a little bit of a spray paint and putting them stickers on at the end it really you do you do get a sense of achievement 793 trucks have two front wheels and four on the rear and inner and outer wheel one of the final stages is refitting the wheels for delivery of the rebuilt truck back to the mine site each one has to be buffed and cleaned before going back on the truck [Music] using an overhead crane slinging the huge three and a half meter diameter wheel into position is a slow procedure the tire weighs in at almost 4 000 kilograms that's 570 times the weight of a standard car tire it's a slow and careful process lining up multiple bolt holes well customers always say to us if the machine looks good the guys do look after it by the time a cat 793 is ready to go back to the mine it's taken a 100-man team working 28 days of round-the-clock shifts we've pretty much receive a machine every week and sand the machine every week so it's a lot of anxiety but a lot of the water comes with it and as soon as one truck rolls out another is already being stripped down bolt by bolt to start the entire rebuild process all over again across Australia the wheels of Industry turn 24 hours a day seven days a week jeans are tough are teams of people running them are even tougher from deep underground too high in the sky these heavy metal marbles are essential to our daily lives but what happens when these massive machines break down teams of mechanics Engineers Fitters and Boilermakers step up to battle against tight deadlines in some of the harshest working environments on the planet doing the vital repair work to keep these heavy metal wonders of Industry alive on this episode of Mega mechanics at the world's largest coal export terminal high voltage cables are causing some real problems for leading tradesperson Dan Wilk and his team there is 6600 volts running through this cable our shutdown is ordered but before anything is off the ground there's an issue we're coming to unexpected dramas that we we hadn't allowed for big bulldozer rebuilds have the heat on Shane Johnson to stay on track at the Hastings steering mine shop in Makai runs the pressure on when the customers failed another track bringing these Mega machines back to New takes temperature and tools to the extreme so we've got basically an overgrown MIG welder and at the new Eckland Coal Mine solving the problems that keep the wheels in motion it's the job of the breakdown crew we get something very minor for something very major every day is different the team received constant calls for help to make sure the mine's Mighty Machines stay on the move oh this one here we've got a look currently Ian Parry has alarm sounding and a train weighing in around 130 tons raised in the air we can't get the framework down so something's not married in properly he needs to get rolling and remove a motored wheel set but safety is the number one concern is it safe to pack this out now Port waratah coal services in Newcastle New South Wales is the largest coal export facility in the world with an export capacity of 145 million tons of coal around 1200 ships are loaded each year at the Port waratah coal terminal Bound for destinations across the globe the number one Global leader requires ongoing preventative maintenance led by superintendent Ross Van Dyke we have a team of Tradesmen and supervisors that work on a daily basis so we have 46 off including that includes two supervisors so 24 Fitters 22 electricians we work 24 7 from a maintenance point of view any sort of delay in any mechanical or electrical breakdown can have effect on the on the coal chain meeting the demands of multi-million dollar coal customers in Japan and Southeast Asia means one machine down could delay delivery and right now there's a fault inside the main power cable on one of the big guns reclaimer 411 is heading in for a super-sized service and electrical specialist Daniel Wilk is on the front line the reason we're changing this cable is the the fiber optic core has failed inside the cable which is important because these machines are autonomous and they need to communicate with each other and without that fiber optic cable repairs of this magnitude take months of planning and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but the advanced technology that these bucket Wheels need to function cannot be compromised the job schedule will mean 10 days of shutdown which has a huge cost in Lost productivity so the decision has been made to capitalize on this time and also repair fatigue damage on the cable reeler each bucket wheel reclaimer has its own cable reeler responsible for winding and unwinding kilometers of high voltage cable as the machine moves around the yards for this job the cable will be cut and removed from the enormous 10.5 tonne rotating cable reeler which will then need to be taken off site repaired then returned for reconnection the cable and cable reel have both been Faithfully in service for more than 18 years and today they're coming off this Mega machine to get the job started it's time to hit the brakes cut the power and cut the cable there is 6600 volts running through this cable and we've isolated everything and we've earthed everything ready for it to be disconnected in a safe manner cutting through high voltage cable with a power saw poses dangerous risks consequences from human error can be fatal Dan's team of experts must sign on to a high voltage permit to give them Authority access gab's about to cut the cable we've got a power saw they're ready to go we're not sure how this job's going to go but it should take between half an hour it could take five minutes packs muscle into hardcore soaring at the power supply box it's through but it's not time to pack away the power tools just yet the cable also needs cutting from the relay itself the cable contains a fiber optic core two low voltage control cables and three high voltage cable conductors the end of the trailing cable coming through the middle here and then we terminate those onto the slip ring on the inside and these brushes bring the power onto the machine itself uh 6.6 000 volts travels through those slip Rings through these brushes and onto the machine to supply the machine with power this car wheel is 18 years old and so it's time to give it a good birthday Peter ran Shaw and his lifting crew moved straight in to assess the removal refurbishment and reinstallation of the reload what's the scope at work what are the hazards what are the controls and what are the other activities that the other people that we might have conflict on the machine as the 100 ton lifting crane heads onto site Peter's team are finalizing access electrical work and bolt removal set up the access scaffold onto the belt now working at Heights static line that allows the guys to remove the the base plates in the bottom frame we've got electrical guys who are disconnecting the 6.6 from the slip ring housing once the pendulum out the bolts are removed with the job as big as this one Port waratah's Terminal manager Wayne Carman is on site to support his staff part of the maintenance guys deals is that they take the machine they do the repairs they return it to us in a timely manner and that when they've returned us to us the operators can push the button and that goes everyone knows there's a Need for Speed to get reclaimer 411 back in business but for Wayne there's only one priority it's about making sure that we give the guys enough time to do it safely in a in a controlled way in a planned way rather than put pressure on people we don't do that they know what's got to get done and we'll get an update the question is now are Peter and his crane crew good to go at this stage I can't see anything holding us up but has Peter spoken too soon 950 kilometers north of Brisbane is the coastal city of Makai nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia the region also benefits from a large mining operation in Queensland Central Bowen Basin home to the state's richest coal seams with over 37 open-cut mines and 13 underground mines in operation the recent spike in Coal price has upped to the demand for additional heavy machinery to work the mines the Hastings Deering mine maintenance Workshop in Makai is a massive service center with 750 employees from trade Specialists part suppliers and support staff Shane Johnson heads up the track and World division his team are specialists in the field and his Workshop one of the busiest in the country so tracks are the what moves your Dozer they go on your track frame so that's when your dose is moving forward they're gripping the ground and pushing your dose of forward or back so they're a high wear product on the machine they're in contact with the ground all the time and you've got the whole weight of the machine being pushed by these one parts so they're always getting worn in high corrossey for high abrasive conditions in the workshop today a Cat d11 dozer is in for an overhaul that begins with its tracks the tracks on this 100 ton Mega machine weigh over six tons each made up of 41 individual plates called shoes and 164 bolts the track must be dismantled piece by piece for full reconditioning the first step in the process is to get the shoes up on the Press on these bigger doses they could be almost a meter wide plates are either machined clean or an epoxy paint is applied to stop corrosion shoes are attached to the track chain a series of massive links Each of which must be taken apart cleaned resealed oiled and tested for leaks 16 tracks a week are cleaned and reassembled in a seven day rotation team's work shifts around the clock it's the workshop that never sleeps 40 hours in total for one track is the budget Target but if it's from a dozer that's been on a cold stockpile or salt water there's extra Machining and Blasting needed to get the corrosion off blowing it out to a 56 hour task this makes Shane's job scheduling maintenance a constant juggling act runs the pressure on uh when the customers failed another track and they need that track back to replace the one that's failed work on the shoes and chains of a dozer track take several days of Around the Clock attention but that's just a small portion of the hundreds of tasks to complete a full overhaul which will see them out of action for six weeks and the next component needs an unusual combination of Fire and Ice 25 kilometers from the township of Oaky in Regional Queensland the open cut pit at new aclean coal mine is already a hive of activity this morning [Music] sites huge Fleet of massive Machinery on the go is a round-the-clock job for the breakdown crew a group of experienced mechanical fitters foreign the team constantly travel across the site and for Nathan Sutton his first Port of Call is Dozer 611. this Beast of a machine is a cat d11 the largest dozer in the fleet it packs more than 800 horsepower but it's not up to its usual fighting form the Dozer has been given a stop work order because of an issue with the relief valve relief valves are used to regulate pressure in the dozer's Hydraulics too much pressure and the system could literally blow apart but too little which is the problem on this Dozer and there's not enough pressure for the Hydraulics to function correctly we've had the job sure I set it set the pressure again but it's the Springs obviously too damaged and I get correct pressure unfortunately the replacement part the team needs isn't on hand so while it's sent for from the warehouse there's a 102 ton mining truck in need of attention [Music] needs here to start the air-driven starter motor just needs a dose of compressed air and this 5.8 meter tall monster truck is back in business it's not the only mechanical beast that's running low on air this morning Craig Jackson in the supervisor's office calls Nathan on the two-way radio all right water trucks are vital to mining sites they control dust and also play an important role in fire prevention with a full tank these trucks can haul 150 000 liters of water with one of the four rear tires blown that's a huge weight for the others to bear letting the sprays run is the simplest way to fix that the solution is a new tire at over 26 000 each it's a trip to the workshop for the tire change now Nathan can return to Dozer 611. he advised the new relief valve is on its way so he's under the pump to get this 102 ton machine prepped and ready he's on target for now but not if any emergency call outs come through in Australia's third largest city in Brisbane the main rail Depot is the epicenter of city train maintenance on average 53 million people travel on passenger trains every year and schedules need to run on time even the smallest issue can have a compounding effect so when a train not getting full power is reported it's returned to the maintenance Depot for analysis it's up to working group leader Ian Parry to rectify the issue and get this train back on the tracks and fully operational for the PMP we're going to be checking out motto what a three but we've had a report saying that it's out of rounds what that means is that the bushes aren't good on the comms inside the mortar so what it says is that when it's out in traffic you're only getting seven Motors driving the train instead of eight Ian Perry has been a fitter and mechanic across the world from steel Works to shipyards and now to trains where he's become a specialist in what they call the jacking Road the jacking Road has 12 pairs of jacks one to support each axle of the three-car train as it's raised then to be able to access an individual wheel set body supports are brought up enabling the main Jacks to be lowered the wheel set can then be removed and have its motor changed over first Ian and his Apprentice Dale West Thorpe raised the body supports well if you didn't have the body to part up there you can't do any other thing on this machine you must be in this mode if you didn't have these up and if you bring your horse apart down with the body supports in place Ian extends further safeguards to balance the 130 tons of train currently raised in the air the safety on this is mainly on the mortar itself you've got to have a scissor lift underneath you're looking at at least one to one and a half ton on a motor and a wheel set so you've got to be careful all the time there's also a schedule to keep and a lot of work to be done to get this train back on track team are well aware of the safety risks constantly weighing up the hazards and planning accordingly we have a dedicated team over here and we all know what was well what we're supposed to do everybody knows their job and obviously we still go around we look after everybody else the main thing is that without them dedicated Crow over how you were rejoice in the town and how long it takes to do these sort of jobs electrician Damian Fuller is on site he's made short work of disconnecting the necessary cables now we've got into a different mode because we want to drop it down 50 mil then we can get the Jacks out the system has locked and won't budge it's a sophisticated series of checks and balances on a piece of Machinery that Ian is an expert in operating will his experience shine through and get the engine changed over in time for the PM Peak foreign waratah Peter anshaw and his crew are ready to lift out the 10 and a half ton cable reeler from reclaimer 411. we've got 100 ton crane come in from boom much he loads the counterweight the boys are going to reverse up the ramp come in here parallel with the cable ruler and that'll give us around about a 16 meter radius I will be well within the left lane they're ready to lift it off Peter's got to stay on schedule because this reeler needs to head out on the road for a major off-site repair I'm a bit of other off-site contractor he's uh he's on the phone this morning you know when are we going to suit because they've got a lot of work to do and they they want to get down underway the team at MCM manufacturing no they have a tight turnaround to repair the reeler so they're gearing up to receive it advice the spreader beam is winched into place when the locks going on then we're ready to go we set up the barricaded area get our equipment up onto the machine and we get started Erin go on the plan we'll be on target a smile of relief from Peter as the lift begins but the crane driver signals a problem we've come into unexpected dramas that we we hadn't allowed for and we started the lift what we found um we had three corners of the cable ruler we had lifted the crane he reached his 10 tonne capacity hydraulic cylinders on the back of the crane required to stabilize the vehicle have paralyzed Peter's plans we can't get them up we can't get them down so we've come to Halt until the mechanic gets on site hope it gets us out of trouble this is a disaster for Peter and his team their schedule is now Way Off Track and time is ticking put us behind because we've got a crew in the workshop eagerly waiting for the carburetor to turn up to get started the delay has a domino effect Jeff Gattis is waiting to transport the reeler on his truck to mcm's fabrication Workshop a lot a lot of times you get holed up like this and you know it's out of our control so you just got to sit there and wait and grin and bear it MCM awaiting to refurbish the reeler Dan and his crew are waiting to replace the cable and terminal manager Wade Carmen is waiting to get Port waratah fully operational this is a serious setback it's my job is to make sure that the plan that's developed by I deliver and when I say I deliver I'm accountable for it and obviously Ross being the maintenance superintendent but let me know if something's starting to go Haywire after suffering a four-hour stoppage the crane is now giving me all clear and Peter's crew are under the pump chain locks are secured the final checks are made before the big list now fully suspended this is a tense moment for the crew there's a lot of money not to mention time and effort up in the air and a slip a gust of wind or a failure of the crane could be catastrophic for not just the reeler but the crew it's all in the crane operator's hands cautiously he Maneuvers the cable reeler and showing his skill and precision guides it safely down finally loaded onto the truck there's not a minute to lose but the truck carrying the reeler has come to a standstill because of the the size of this Royal it was just under 3.5 Mark I can't go anywhere with it so it'll just sit outside the gate and write load restrictions on public roads means the reeler is too wide to travel in peak hour traffic they've missed the window of time to get it out in daylight Dan's day is going from bad to worse I'll get a bit uneasy when there's times like this we're going to get moving um it's kind of that time where you're sitting still when you know you've got a do something big and you you know you're going to have to work a bit harder later on to make up for this time while Jeff his truck and the cable reeler take a break the repair team are waiting in their workshop losing valuable hours will they have enough time to be able to repair the reel [Music] in the Makai Hastings Deering mine shop the track team is working around the clock to carry out a mid-life service on the Dozer tracks that work the Bowen Basin coal fields all right and today it's not just mechanics but science that's helping things along in the dozer track frame sits the pivot shaft bushes this is where the track frame mounts onto the Dozer the shaft is constantly rotating at Angles to accommodate the terrain for dose is working at least 20 hours a day on a coal mine that's a lot of wear and tear the midlife service for these parts means a good clean and then refitting with a perfect seal which involves a process called an interference fit the pivot shaft bushes are submerged into a tank of liquid nitrogen at minus 200 degrees Celsius for around 10 minutes in that time the metal shrinks on the floor the track frame space that the bush has to fit is heated with a gas torch with one metal part expanded from Heat and the other contracted from freezing there's a very short window of time for one to slide into the other perfectly right in as each part returns to Ambient Air Temperature friction holds the pivot shaft bush in permanent place but if it's not timed just right or if the track frame has cooled after heating the bushes expand back to size rapidly that can mean a little bit of old-fashioned coercion inserting a drift slide and hitting with a sledgehammer vital the bush seats perfectly it takes much of the load of the 91 ton Dozer a poorly fitted Bush won't last the next 8 000 hours of work it has a head even slightly off means cutting the part out and starting over again happy day task working with sub-zero temperatures the next rebuild in the Dozer Workshop involves an arduous 10-hour shift at a scorching 300 degrees new Ackland mine in Oaky in Outback Queensland a place where temperatures can soar above 40 degrees celsius challenging conditions for a challenging job the extraction of over 13 000 tons of Clean Coal every day keeping the coal mine's extensive range of Mega Machinery running smoothly is the breakdown crew an experienced dedicated team of mechanical fitters so far Nathan's shift has seen him called out to deal with a few mining trucks three six three five yeah no good on that injector and a water cart with a flat tire standing at over four meters this monster Towers over the mechanic working to get it back on the moon so do the tires each one nearly three and a half meters tall and weighing in at three tons one machine that's been a real attention seeker this morning is this 11 meter long Hulk a Dozer with a damaged relief valve this is the second time Nathan's been inside its belly today a replacement part has been ordered and Nathan's racing the clock to get this 102 ton Dozer primed for the installation every working minute lost out in the pit means less production so it's crucial to get this Mighty Machine rolling again as soon as possible the new valves arrived along with another mechanic and two on the job this Beast will hopefully be back in business before the shift ends Elsewhere on the mine Mark Garth from the breakdown crew has been called out to check on truck number 311. this one here we've got a coolant leak at the header Tank's got a leak on it somewhere he obviously was on a break or was driving and noticed the uh the coolant leak and pull her in call her up it's a four meter climb to get up to the cabin you're showing empty maybe maybe the operator hasn't seen any leaked as such ladies just saw the gauge when huge machines like this are operating in extremely hot conditions it's better to be safe than sorry just got a fully gauge a quick inspection proves Mark right yeah it's on no problem I'm probably just going to send it back to work and see how it goes and with that Mark heads off to another call out safety is the number one priority for Ian Perry and the team on the jacking Road at the main rail complex they're going through the final checks before removing a one and a half ton motored wheel set in everywhere to help you out and support you and lifting things especially a lot of heavy components it's a complicated job but one Ian Parry is a specialist in you've got to let the train up you've got to support the carriage and then to simplify it you put a trolley underneath take it out get a new one build up put that back on the trolley and back up again and we first saw that things have gone the first time cleared plan in his head Ian needs to drop the jacks down but movement is locked come down safety interlock on the Jacks will prevent any unsafe conditions checks and balances are designed to protect the workers and equipment the alarm is sounding and it's Ian's job to find out why he knows from experience it's just a matter of going through the process in fine detail nothing needs to be rushed we can't get the framework down so something's not married in properly a delay could impact schedules and if there's an issue with the Jacks that can't be resolved no work will be able to continue will Ian be able to silence the alarm and get back on track [Music] overnight Port waratah's damaged cable reeler finally made it to mcm's fabrication Workshop Richard Tate and his team wasted no time in getting on the tools we lost about four hours because of a crane malfunction we've had six men Round the Clock from then MCM have been commissioned to refurbish the cable reeler it's a gigantic job and these guys won't stop until it's finished 24 hours a day for four days men on each ship with the cable reeler in the workshop Richard can properly assess the cause of the problems It's Time by vibration that the actual motion itself it's been such a light fabrication as it rolls it fatigues and we're repairing fatigue cracks this is a critical repair the cable on reclaimer 411 weighs over 15 Tons as the reclaimer moves the cable winds around the spokes of the reeler called spiders a breakage could not only tangle and damage the hundreds of thousands of dollars of cable but could result in a massive arc flash or electrical explosion to ensure the reconditioned reeler is safe and strong enough to last another 20 years Richard inspects every detail if they're going to be a tight fit because I think the existing holes are 22 mil back at Port waratah Dan is feeling the Fallout of unprecedented delays to his schedule can he claw back time while the reeler is offside just inspecting uh the electrical components from when the drum's been lifted checking that they are all still intact and ready to go to be reconnected so while that's off site we're doing work to refurbish a lot of that gift when it returns steaming ahead Richard at MCM is confident about getting the reeler back on the road we've got another shift and a half to go and it's well ahead of schedule it's well planned well-manned boats know what they're doing a final push and MCM finish in record time a day early and now we're Miles Ahead it should make him very happy and here it comes Jeff trucks in the newly refurbished cable reeler realest turn up a day early no uh boys out the shop at MCM have done a fantastic job to get us where we are today not only uh the time frame but the quality is is first class very happy with the quality Dan is also a happy man his shutdown is now back on schedule it's all hands on deck and Dan is ready and raring to get this rear lock back in [Music] 100 millimeters of clearance it's a tight fit 20 bolt secure it onto the machine and the refurbished relay is in the overall uh our job on the cover rules uh it's gone very well all that's left to do now is wind on the cable and reconnect power such a straightforward task what could possibly go wrong at the dozer track division of the mine shop constant shift rotations means these bays are in action continuously day and night currently they're tackling dozers due for their midterm service after working 8 000 hours on the coal face the team must completely overhaul each machine the next part for restoration is The Idler part of the undercarriage which bolts onto the front of the track frame and guides the rollers to line up the track with the load rollers underneath the idler rotates constantly with the track as the machine moves in operation day and night the metal on metal fatigue from the track chains wearing Against The Idler takes its toll the overhaul involves an arduous sweltering process for both mechanic and machine if the idler steel faces worn below 70 percent it's hitting a softer mild steel surface which means a complete re-world to build it back up to spec an LPG burner is fired up to a heat of over 300 degrees it's then applied at a constant rate to the surface for up to 10 hours if the island gets below a certain temperature it'll actually start to crack the surface and then we have to throw the hydro away and start again in the 30-plus degree Tropics of Makai that constant heat is a concern for workers like Terry they have to make sure they take fatigue breaks and stay well hydrated always mindful of keeping hands well clear of that searing Flame with each rotation the wire forms the base material for the Weld and builds up the surface of the idler we have a flux granule so that pours on top and the welds performed underneath that grain to keep any impurities out until it's cooled down until we chip it off to for the next weld run once the 10-hour weld is complete The Idler is put in a hot box to cool gradually a midlife service also means a complete engine overhaul the d11 Dozer engines weigh up to four and a half tons depending on the state variant the engines are either reconditioned or a brand new one is Dropped In [Music] Construction just as one Dozer heads back to the mines another is being pulled apart and rolled into the workshop ready for attention it takes eight people every day around the clock for six weeks straight to get one of these machines broken down cleaned up and back out to site again it's a massive amount of manpower but for the machine it's now set to face another year working 20 plus hour days pushing coal new Ackland mine near Oaky it's the start of another busy day the breakdown crew are ready to roll the main focus of this team is to quickly attend to breakdowns and solve the issues as fast as possible but they do have other duties we get a list of Minor defects that we have to get to our day can involve us just going to fix a light bulb or wiper or something like that or to a breakdown where training has failed and yeah we might have to pull axles and tell it back to the workshop if we get something very minor for something very major every day is different don't know what to get truck number 503 is his first call out a loose cable needs to be secured in place so basically that this job is simple job put an R clip on that pin there stop that from falling out five minutes now so it's half an hour later with the truck bed lowered and the ladder raised number 503 can roll back into action tomorrow can make and makes to his next assignment a broken down excavator attaching his personal lock to isolate the power supply means that no one can start or operate the machine so he can safely get to the heart of this Digger's issues the belts are still on [Music] I'm not a fan of the problem Sandy so the excited wire has just popped off most of time you can pick it easy allies low voltage so um yeah just the excited wire come off the old nose so we won't know for sure but we'll Chuck it on there and uh crimper up a bit better and follow the girl up and we'll see how it runs Mark's connected to wire he thinks is causing the issue and for good measure he removes a seized hinge on the engine door a quick fix that a boilermaker can repair properly later on with that locked off time to see if Mark's hunch about the loose wire was right as Sam revs the engine it seems it was and now it's all good to go Mark packs up and it's off to check on Dozer 618 a machine that's going nowhere fast to attract tension problems this powerful d10 bulldozer rips and stacks cold in the pit it may be the little brother to the d11s but at around 70 tons and reaching nearly four and a half meters to the canopy it's definitely not small that's what we've got here the first track boys have tightened it up last night and it's come down again they've got a bit of Grease into it last night and obviously it's not a problem internally there by looks of it so what we'll do now we'll um we've got a service truck coming along we'll we'll pump it up again these machines are battered with tough conditions but a bit of TLC from Mark and they've soon got a new lease on life they try nursing through to until we get a space in the shed where we can uh get jobs in keep the grease up to it until we and we get we get a bay free grease is applied to try and prevent excessive wear but while this is a quick fix to get things moving it doesn't solve the larger problem if left a loose track can cause even more issues with the machine it just wears everything out it'll wear at the track frame and where you where your um chain your um all your idlers looks like this Beast of Burden will need to be called into the workshop for extensive repair work safety warning alarm is sounding at the main rail complex in Brisbane the sensors on equipment supporting more than 130 tons of rail cars have alerted the crew to an issue pressure is on group leader Ian Parry to work out what it is and how to solve it so he can access a motored wheel set that needs to be removed if any of these lights out hopefully the solution is as simple as replacing a slide coming up tonight coming down if Ian's solution has worked he should be able to get the motored wheel set out and on the scissor lift [Music] foreign [Music] I'd want to be a few millimeters and that'll stop all operations success and finally Ian is able to drop out the bulky Jacks from under the motored wheel set now with the molded wheel set on board the trolley rolls along the tracks to meet the overhead crane the one and a half torn piece of Machinery is carefully lowered onto a specially designed rest check it out one of the chains is disconnected to free the traction motor then it's guided to a location where the two pieces can be safely separated in order for a new motor to be fitted the key the gear cases are removed and the old motor disconnected the Gantry crane again swings into action to deliver the wheel set to the newly reconditioned motor yeah just get a bolt in there it'll bolt it down we've just got two bolts and it's all you need you've got back brush but once that's down it'll go with the wheel set fastened to the motor Ian checks for the all-important backlash the team installer copper shim that's about 0.4 of a millimeter thick which creates the space or backlash opening up a small space between the Gear teeth that allows for lubrication come down a little bit more Matt hopefully that should just slide straight in Connor with a bead of silicon to ensure the gear case joil is watertight the motor and wheel set are ready to go back into the train and in record time but they're not out of the woods yet hang on there you want to put that thing in that bush what's your fate the one and a half ton wheel set and motor is transported back on the scissor lift lined up precisely with its installation point and raised into position the new traction motor is secured to the bogey of the train with a bolt through the reaction arm this is what stops the motor from rotating on the axle and instead transfers the force to turn the Train's Wheels now secure the main Jacks can again be raised to take the weight and the scissor lift brought down so the undercarriage can be accessed bolts tightened electricals reconnected and the team can celebrate a job well done I think it's a sense of achievement that you've done a job and everybody's safe it and go home safe and it's easy to take a bit of a pause it's an adrenaline rush it no it really is an adrenaline rush and I like doing a job properly it's no surprise the train was back on track and ready to roll out with the rest of the fleets for the afternoon people thank you conditions push the staff and the huge machines they operate to the Limit every day and when that breaking point is reached the mind's breakdown crew are called into action three five three seven Marco got a copy yeah mate we've had a break fire on 004 something bit of the park Brake's not coming up you're able to check that out for me when an issue with brakes is reported the best way Mark can see what's happening for himself is to carry out what's called a rolling test it thinks the front brake lights are on but they're not still rolls so it's obviously a electrical error which could be something like a pressure switch laying up making it make the front brakes are applied opening up the front cab panel Mark inspects the cart's electrical system then heads down to check the brake lines after scrambling under the truck's belly searching for Clues and applying all the usual fixes he can't uncover what's causing the issue three six or three five five yeah there's a double 04 um water cart doesn't appear to be a quick fix um probably want it down down the shed I found a switch that looked to be unplugged but that didn't fix it it'll need a bit more investigation than this pressure is always on to find a fix and fast but there's only so much that can be done out in the pit and Mark knows he's not always going to be successful but after a short test drive it looks like he can celebrate a win after all next I mean what was that bug back at Port waratah the pressure is on to get reclaimer 411 online Dan's crew are gearing up to finally get stuck into some heavy lifting installing the high voltage cable it's 1.3 kilometers long it's 10 kilos per meter so it's 13 uh We've sourced this cow with Europe it's taken six months to get here and cost nearly half a million dollars today is the Pinnacle of the operation but Dan's hopes of getting the job done on time may have just been cut short ing the table and Direction on there's no backup option and reclaimer 411 cannot operate without it at this late stage in the shutdown a damaged cable is a catastrophe we're waiting for Roger to come on site for races going to give us some professional advice on what's required to repair the cable high voltage fiber optic jointer Roger Devery arrives to inspect the cable it's just out of sheep damage so we're doing a vulcanized repair so we'll take the outer sheath off back to operate the damage stocks then we'll be wrapping with Vulcanizing tapes that won't damage any of the internals of cable the power or the quadropics on with the cable repair pending it's now crucial that Peter and his team stay on target we've got some boys on the other side there that are setting up the uh the cable ruler winch ready to wind the UK along the machine time to lock on most beautiful part is getting the cable from this rail and into the machine as the cable is wound onto the reconditioned reel the first Loop is critical they must have clear entry into the slip ring box for reconnecting power so the people inside the drum will be forming a little bit of a chain my main concern is the manual handling aspects of physically using men to maneuver this cave 10 kilos per meter means heavy lifting and long hours it's Relentless and these guys need a break that's going to take some time and we're going to have to be patient we don't want to bend the cable too much because of the fiber optics inside and we need to be able to look after it as we're installing it so the more the merrier and less stress on one person the better it is the first Loops are secure and the team use electrical rotation to feed the cable on with 150 revolutions to go it'll take some time they're another 20 minutes hopefully and we've got the cable on and my team can start to put it back together finally the last of the cable winds on and Dan gives it his magic touch to tie it off [Music] we've got the job done and we're okay I'm pretty happy running under generator power to complete the connection reclaimer 411 does lapse to bet in the cable the Beast is awakened it's back to business and a big boss couldn't be more proud of his team this is just big stuff so the guys take a lot of pride in it they really do there's a lot of pride in making sure it goes well nobody's hurt and it's on time Port waratah is a landscape of Giants and it's a place where the size and strength of Mega machines is only matched by the skill and diligence of a team of Mega mechanics foreign [Music]

Channel: Spark

Views: 4,678,137

Keywords: -hour working culture, Spark, breakdown management, challenging deadlines, daily operations, harshest working conditions, heavy metal equipment, heavy-duty equipment, industrial breakdowns, industrial machine operators, industrial mechanics, industrial skill sets, industry operations, machinery malfunctions, mechanical challenges, mechanical inspection, mechanical issues, mechanical repair teams, mechanical skill sets, mechanics, tough work environments

Id: J0BRlFMK0lY

Length: 142min 52sec (8572 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 22 2022