Break and B@*$#@

Things have been going fantastically well for a bunch of amateur rammed earth builders. That was up until today. We were busy with the last wall on the south side and were almost finished. In fact we had around six lifts to do. Our progress had been quicker than ever before. Twice the hoist motor stopped and we think it was due to rate at which it was working. It literally did not stop moving up or down and it was quite hot as a result. The electrician had told us that the emergency stop was likely to burn out due to the way it had been wired by the manufacturer. However, after a short break it continued to work normally and we decided that there was a temperature protection circuit in the motor.

On the final lift (where it was moving smoothly as we have been quite specific about lubrication) it let off a crack and then bucket the flew down its guide rail and crashed at the foot of the hoist. Fortunately we have ensured that everyone is kept clear of the path of the bucket at all times so there was no chance of an injury, but the bucket took a massive blow on impact. It is now bent rather badly and brought the entire operation to a halt. It is however repairable and we hope to get it repaired fairly soon.

The bucket is latched by a hook connected to the winch pulley. The hook and pulley assembly is an integral unit and are designed to match the hoist. The shaft that attaches the hook to the pulley broke. This should have been one of the last things to break as it must at least be able to withstand the maximum torque of the motor - which it clearly did not. Throughout the process the bucket has always moved very easily when loaded and never gave any hint of breaking. But it did.

Now we need to define an inspection program for all moving parts to prevent anything like this happening again. The delay is not an issue, but the continued safety of everyone on the site certainly is.