Mine-grab

In response to a request, the mine-grab was developed to safely pick up mines after the passage of a ground-processing machine in Africa. It is not part of the manual deminer’s regular tool-bag.

The Mine-grab incorporates arm support to steady the weight, two handed control and an aramid hand guard with polycarbonate support. The left hand holds the black HDPE handle behind the guard. The right rests in the support and pulls the trigger to grip the mine. The grabbing head is angled so that the mine can be approached from the side while the user stands upright.

It turns over, positions and picks up mines with relative ease and keeps them over a metre away from the man doing so. Assuming the use of frontal protection and a visor, the deminer should survive an AP blast detonation without serious injury. We recommend long rubber knee-pads to extend a frontal apron to the ground when working standing.

In tests we detonated a mine in the jaws of the grab. The polycarbonate jaws burned up but the stainless steel shaft and the handle were unmarked. 

We repeated the test using a lightweight aluminium grab designed for use by the elderly, and the entire tool fragmented, showering the dummy with fragments. It may seem obvious to offer this advice, but the use of tools that are not designed for the purpose is common, so it should be emphasised that it can be very dangerous to use cheap alternatives because the tool may break up and the blast mine may be effectively turned into a fragmentation mine.

Contact us for more details if you are interested (SKU3019).

All SD tools can be adjusted to meet your requirements
but significant changes should always be blast tested
to ensure that safety has not been compromised.