curb machine ques - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

jmon12 · 02-20-2006, 10:00 PM

Posted over in concrete also. I am in IN and looking into buying a curb machine. What brands and types do most of your contractors run? I am looking at a Miller M1000 but have been behind a Gomaco and Power Curber mostly. Also, what is your pet pieves concerning us curb guys. BTW, I ahve been working for a curb contractor for 10 yrs and been pouring flatwork and replacement curb for 5 yrs.

Thanks
Jeremy

IHI · 02-20-2006, 10:59 PM

I went to Gomaco University...sounds like I know my sheeot dont it

to operate a Commander 3 string line paver that we used to slip form bike paths, sidewalks, and curb and gutter. They have excellent service/customer support both over the phone and even in the feild, if you have a problem with the machine they will send a rep out to your location to diagnoise. VERY nice equipment, and just flat out gets the job done.

Never used a small curb/gutter slip form machine but have to assume they are every bit as well thoughout as the bigger equipment. definately a good company.

jmon12 · 02-22-2006, 09:57 AM

is it just the 2 of us that have been around a curber? How was the school? When my boss bought his Gomaco in 97, they came down and talked about the class, seemed like a joke if you had been on a machine any at all. I figure with all used equip. I can open the door for app. 125k. Say it fast and it is not that much. As soon as I can walk/work again, things are going to get rolling. Next time, I will not let the dozer run me over, once was enough.

Jeremy

IHI · 02-22-2006, 02:19 PM

LOL..sorry...I hate when them dozers get in my way, but I realized 20K+lbs against my lil 200lb azz the outcome is'nt in my favor LOL!! Glad to hear you did'nt get terminally ill

The company I worked for had an old slip form paver and had bought a newer commander 3, but they only had 1 operator and he liked the bottle ALOT and finally found himself in jail and the company had nobody to operate it. Not saying 1 or 2 guys on the crew did'nt have the capacity upstairs, but the crews were like a finely oiled machine and when you toke one guy away from his spot it rippled with side effects, so they opted to get a new operator. First day the foreman was showing me the machine but could'nt get it to move, so 30 minutes later, he told me to take the day and figure it out

ooookay....LOTS of computerized BS and more switched that had to be run in an order to make it do anything...I was intimidated to say the least...but I did get a cheer from a few guys once I got it under way and then had to show the foreman how I did it LOL!!

For me the school was helpful, but it was more less a trouble shooting class overall. They did go over basic operation, advantages,etc...but it was one full week with 8hr days spend in a class room of which only 2-3 hrs were in the shop on a machine going over the basics. It literally took time on the machine doing the job before I picked up on how what they said related. I would say if you have'n run one, it's worth the time to go to the class, but if your used to running a strinig line paver it's just a matter of getting the updated information...was bad enough setting the strong lines and they wer etalking about going with the GPS/wireless in the future but I quit before that time came and the owner eventually sold out anyways 2yrs later.

They do make quick work of jobs that's for sure and I was new blood but at the end of my time/last job I had we poured all new curb/gutter for a small town and I set a new record for feet poured in a day for the company...I cant even remember what it was, 1100-1300 liner feet or something of that nature, mix was right all day, vibrators were set perfectly so finish guys more less just walked behind the machine and cleaned up when we lifted to go across the roads.

Josh

jmon12 · 02-23-2006, 02:54 PM

On an avg day in the summer, we can pour 200-225 yds or 3000-3500 ft per day and still quit by 3. We are the fine tuned machine you are talking about. That is what I thought the class was, I think about an hr on the machine, I can figure it out. The stringless stuff is still a way out, besides, engineers ccan't set 3 stations in a row, how can they give us correct info for the computer? most of the contractors we have say to put the string up and make it look good, can't do that by the book. Over all, how was the commander 3? My boss has a Gomaco 3200, the main complaint about it is it is extremely loud.

Jeremy

IHI · 02-23-2006, 03:22 PM

That was the funny part about setting the lines, sure we'd get height to grade, but the final was always just good ole eyesight down the string to tweak them into a better "run". Most of the time the inspectors on sight we very easy going and only checked our mix maybe once a day, and understood when something would come up unexpected on prints to just let the crew handle it and it always turned out fine.

We never got into the GPA part, but it sounded like the hot ticket once you got it figured out, I see most of the very large companies here doing developments and hwy work have all gone to it for the graders and dozers, but still see most of the pavers we have set up on string.

I only ran the old paver (also a Gomaco) on 3 or 4 jobs that were small thank gawd, and the commander 3 is soo much better in every aspect, might also be cuz the other one was soo old it was showing it's age. I personally did'nt think the com 3 was all that noisey, sure it's loud but it's a big machine, we never had any guys wearing hearing protection and typical shouting from the foreman was easily heard. Only thing I wish was that the water tank was larger and could be "winged out" further. We did a job with a 10' wide mold and once everyting was up and running it seemed to get a lil top heavy since the mold was offset of the one side of the machine and we had mud quite a ways up the shoot as well. If I remember right the truck driver actually tipped it over when loading it up to change job sites...we were'nt there, just heard he tipped it and had to use a excavator to tip it back. Machine did'nt show any problems after the fact. Just hated cleaning the darn thing after a good day, even when I dosed it with form release oil everywhere the stuff would splatter all over the place.

Sorry not much to compare it to since I only did this for a summer until the federal jobs stopped and I went back to normal wages and quit LOL, but I thought it was a very nice piece of equipment that never gave us any problems mechanically...just the molds needed tweaking once in awhile but there were left overs from the original unit they bought before the commander 3. If I were richer and in this type of business, based off how the machine treated us I would spend the money in an instant on one with no regrets...it will make you money with little down time.

Josh