Hercules Machinery recently demonstrated its Movax-Sonic SideGrip vibratory pile driver system to contractors and other equipment users.

Using a Case 9050B excavator as a carrier, Hercules demonstrated the Movax-Sonic SideGrip in a variety of pile driving applications.

The Movax-Sonic SideGrip vibratory pile driver is an excavator-mounted attachment with articulating arms and side-gripping jaws that, according to the manufacturer, "speed and simplify pile driving process." The system uses high frequency vibration (3,000 cycles per minute), which liquefies the soil and quickly drives the pile. The system runs off the hydraulics of the carrier machine, and elastomer mountings isolate the excavator from vibration.

The system handles H-pile, wood pile, and steel or composite sheet pile.

The articulating features of the system, with 360 degrees of rotation and three axes of movement, allow the excavator operator to load, unload, separate, stack, place, drive, and extract sheets of piling without leaving the cab of the machine.

The Auto II Steering System, with a real-time graphic display and boom and stick sensors that allow the operator to drive pile to within one degree of plumb, can be used as an aid to pile driving.

According to Hercules Machinery's Michael Meehan, the system reduces manpower and equipment needs and also permits pile driving in areas that would otherwise be too tight for conventional pile driving systems.

"The only limits are the available headroom and the reach of the excavator," he says.

The Movax-Sonic SideGrip system mounts on excavators of 18 tons or larger using the same pins as the bucket. Five sizes are available for excavators from the 18-ton-to-20-ton class to the 30-ton-to-55-ton class, offering dynamic forces ranging from 40 tons to 100 tons. The units, Meehan adds, are "manufactured 100 percent in the United States."

According to the company, project costs utilizing the system average 30-percent less than with conventional pile driving methods.