I keep seeing guys at the union hall grabbing stainless wire brushes for carbon steel work and it drives me nuts. You know that contamination causes rust down the line, right? Who else has had to fix jobs because of this mix-up?
Last month I was working a job on a bridge over the Ohio River and my main hoist chain snapped mid lift. I had this beat up sling I got from a yard sale that I figured would work fine for a small pipe section, no big deal. The chain gave out but that old sling caught the load before it dropped into the water. My buddy says I got lucky and should never cheap out again, but another guy told me sometimes old gear holds up better than the new stuff. What do you guys do when your gear fails, do you trust the old junk you've fixed up or toss it and buy new?
Last week I was out on a job at a refinery in Gary, trying to mark some cuts on a preheated drum, and my regular chalk kept burning off before I could even get a line down. I grabbed a soapstone marker on a whim cause the welder next to me had one and it worked perfect, even on metal that was over 300 degrees. Now I keep three in my bag and it saved me from redoing a whole layout the next day. Anyone else run into this issue or do you all just deal with the chalk?
I had to patch a 3/8 inch plate on a boiler last Tuesday in Atlanta. I usually go with MIG because it's faster and cleaner, but the old-timer on site swore stick holds better when there's rust or moisture. I went with MIG since I had the settings dialed in, and it laid down fine, but I spent extra time grinding back slag from a few spots that didn't fuse right. Has anyone else had a patch job where stick would've saved you cleanup time even if it's slower to run?
I was standing near the rod oven on a job at the Marathon refinery in Texas City last Tuesday and heard a foreman tell a green helper that keeping rods dry is overrated. I just kept my mouth shut but inside I was screaming because I've seen wet 7018 cause a crack on a 2 inch pressure vessel seam. Has anyone else had to bite their tongue when someone cheap on prep?
I was helping a guy swap out an old Cleaver-Brooks boiler last month and we got to see the firetube condition before we disconnected it. The thing had been running on untreated water for like 20 years, and the tube sheet was covered in this hard scale about a quarter inch thick. We pulled a section of tube out and it looked like a rock had grown around it. After we cleaned one of the spare tubes with a needle gun and some chemical soak, the difference was night and day. The metal underneath was smooth and had that original dark color, not all pitted and crusty. It really made me think about how much we overlook water treatment on these older units. Has anyone else seen a tube that bad after years of neglect?
I was welding a 1 inch thick flange onto a boiler drum last Tuesday and the inspector just stood there watching me for 5 minutes before shaking his head. He walked over and showed me my arc length was way too long, I'd been doing it that way since I started 12 years ago. Anyone else have a seasoned guy point out something simple that made you feel like a rookie?
Guy told me to spend extra time on beveling and preheat for a 2-inch thick plate at the Evansville plant. Ignored him first time, weld cracked overnight. Redid it his way, passed x-ray check the next morning. Anyone else have a foreman whose advice you almost blew off?
I was up in Gary, Indiana when I heard the pop and saw steam shooting out. Had to shut it down and re-weld the whole section with a preheat torch before the shift ended. Anyone dealt with a sudden crack like that on an older drum?
I've been running a standard 37.5 degree bevel for years, but last week I bumped it to 45 degrees on a pressure vessel job. The edges came out smoother and I had way less grinding to do after. Has anyone else played with different angles and found something that works better?
I picked up a new auto-darkening hood last week for a boiler repair at a chemical plant. Day 3 of a 10 day shutdown and the lens stops responding mid-weld. I'm talking full white flash right in my face. Had to grab my old passive hood from the truck and finish the shift squinting. Anyone else have a new piece of gear fail that fast? What brand do you trust for tough jobs?
I was watching a guy prep a weld joint last week and he was pushing the grinding wheel into the metal instead of pulling it across. My old foreman back in Gary would have chewed him out for that. It leaves a rougher surface and takes way more time to get a clean bevel. Has anyone else seen this or am I just being picky about technique?
I was on a job at the Merck plant in Rahway last Tuesday and saw this new guy burning through stainless flanges with a standard aluminum oxide wheel. He left blue streaks and warped the surface, had to rework three of them. Why dont guys just grab a zirconia or ceramic wheel for stainless, they cost a bit more but save you an hour of cleanup. Anyone else run into this on site?
For YEARS I thought every weld had to be ground down flat like a mirror finish. Then I worked with a 25 year veteran on a beam repair downtown last August and he just looked at me and said 'you're wasting time and metal, that cap weld is fine.' He showed me how a proper weld bead is actually stronger than a ground one for structural loads. Now I only grind when the engineer specs it or for clearance issues. Has anyone else had that moment where an old timer made you realize you were overcomplicating things?
I tried marking my cuts with a soapstone marker on a 400-degree boiler plate last week and it showed up way clearer than a scribe ever does. Has anyone else found this saves time over the old chisel method for layout work?
Been hearing a lot of guys swear by switching to tube sheets on the 60,000 lb/hr units at the Marathon refinery in Gary. But I've been running flat plates on those same boilers for 6 years now and my downtime for soot buildup is actually lower than the tube sheet guys next bay over. Anyone else sticking with the old method and seeing similar results?
I was down at a small refinery job near Baton Rouge and walked past this old firetube boiler that had a bunch of extra weld beads around the tube sheet. The foreman said they added them over time to patch leaks but now it's causing stress cracks near the tube ends. Has anyone else seen this kind of band-aid fix cause bigger problems down the line?
It was a 12 hour shift on a Wednesday last July. We were retrofitting a section of a hydrotreater and I was working a 4 inch schedule 80 pipe. I cut the first bevel on site and it was perfect, but then my grinder seized up and I had to borrow a backup from a guy named Dave. He handed me a 7 inch Milwaukee that was older than me and it worked fine until the disc exploded on the second pass. I spent the next 5 hours cleaning up a puddle of water from a burst hose that flooded the staging area. By Friday my hands were tore up and I still had 3 welds left to finish. Anyone else ever have a tool chain fail on you like that?
Everyone says crank it up for thick steel, but the dross practically fell off and I barely had to grind the edge, has anyone else found that running lower works better on certain thicknesses?
I was just looking at my old apprentice card from 1994 and realized I've been doing this for three decades. Started out in Baton Rouge at a refinery shutdown, fresh out of the hall and barely knew which end of the torch was hot. Never thought I'd make it this long, but here I am with a worn-out tool belt and a lot of stories. Any of you old-timers ever stop and count up your years in the field?
Talked to a guy named Pete at the union hall Tuesday who said he's never used a guard in 35 years, just keeps his head and hands out of the plane. Made me realize I've been relying on safety gear instead of actually learning proper body positioning on overhead welds, and that's a bad habit I need to break before it gets me hurt.
I was working a tube replacement job last Tuesday and my rosebud tip started sputtering halfway through a preheat. Lost about 20 minutes trying to adjust the regulators before I realized the tip was clogged. Grabbed my tip cleaner set and ran a file through each hole, but I was too rough and opened up one of the ports too wide. Flame pattern went totally uneven and I had to swap tips completely. Next time I'm using the proper wire gauge and not just jamming whatever fits. Anyone else wreck a tip by rushing the cleaning?
I was swapping out a superheater header at the old Gary Works mill in Indiana when a stud snapped and took out my whole seal job, had to cut it all out with a torch and start over while the foreman just stood there shaking his head, anyone else have a job go sideways like that on a cold Monday morning?
Was working on a boiler swap at an old school in Toledo last Friday. The tank had this stupid rusted bracket right up against the gas line. Told the apprentice to hit it with the cutoff wheel while I was checking the flue. Next thing I hear is this pop and a flash. He was standing in a puddle from the water heater drain I forgot to cap. Lucky nobody got hurt but my hair still smells like burnt plastic. How do you guys handle wet floors when you gotta grind near them?
Last month I was working on a job at a chemical plant in Gary and kept having this problem with my welds cracking after cooling. I blamed the rod, blamed the machine, even blamed the cold weather. Then this old timer named Hank who's been doing this since the 80s came over and watched me for five minutes. He said I was moving too fast and not letting the puddle fill out. Told me to slow down by half and watch the color change before moving. I tried it and not a single crack since. Has anyone else had a simple fix like that change their whole approach?