Adverse Welding conditions

[RivennHewn]

Snapped a pic of a welder on my site today.

Pretty ugly working conditions.

Got me thinking that there must be a lot of you on here that have to put up with adverse work environments too.

Farmers, pipe fitters, gas line, oil industry.......

What's the worst you've had to endure?

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

No specific pic's I can think off, but with 20 years in machinery repair, the worst welding jobs that came right to my mind when I started reading this where the ones where I had to be hanging upside down in a machine frame with so little space that I could not even fit while wearing a mask....aim the gun, close eyes, pull the trigger, stop and inspect, then repeat.....even worse when hot slag goes into an ear and its too cramped to move and shake it off.

Then I thought about the nasty jobs -- like welding new screens / mounting inside a sewer vacuum machine fresh from Blue Plains, DC or the brackets for the shut off float system inside a vacuum tanker used to clean restaurant grease traps.......I'd trade that for mud / wet / cold jobs anyday.....

 

[brownbagg]

ah pipeline welders, they earn every penny. As a CWI, I dont even want to inspect pipeline, too much mud

 

[cwh]

I once had an office where the desk was fixed in place, and I couldn't stand up on my every whim. It was awful.

 

[sberry]

I had always intended on pipiline. I could never get past the mud.

 

[steel 35]

Don't use wet hands to insert electrodes! Underarm is much safer.

 

[trackwelder]

Looks like it's some kind of retaining wall. I will never miss working in that kind of ****.

 

[readhead]

Went through a lot of mirrors working in the shipyard. No mig back then. Bend the rod, line up with mirror and get 1" of weld.

 

[txvwnut]

Phuk that! If it won't fit in my shop I ain't weld'n it.

 

[Attackcammel]

Welding bridging for bar joist in the rain is the worst pretty sure your sterile for a week after a day of that

 

[no1steelsmith]

Strip mine back in the late '70's. Winter of '80, -38 below 0, 40 MPH wind @ 8000 ft. Couldn't shut down equipment ran 24/7. Cracked shovel on the electric 'Walking Drag-line'
Pre-heat/post-heat went 24/7 for a week. Air-arc out the crack and run propane burners on the underside of the shovel. Bucket was a 23 yard, (could have parked the welding rig inside of the bucket). It was like a welding marathon, once you started welding the next guy would take over when you needed a break as did the next shift. All 7018 5/32. Had to be Vee'd out evenly top and bottom, welding had to be done top and bottom at the same time and at the same pace for even heat dispersal. The welding took 5 shifts to weld the 2 foot long crack in the 6"+ cast steel bucket. Very stressful ...

 

[hunter1151]

Strip mine back in the late '70's. Winter of '80, -38 below 0, 40 MPH wind @ 8000 ft. Couldn't shut down equipment ran 24/7. Cracked shovel on the electric 'Walking Drag-line'
Pre-heat/post-heat went 24/7 for a week. Air-arc out the crack and run propane burners on the underside of the shovel. Bucket was a 23 yard, (could have parked the welding rig inside of the bucket). It was like a welding marathon, once you started welding the next guy would take over when you needed a break as did the next shift. All 7018 5/32. Had to be Vee'd out evenly top and bottom, welding had to be done top and bottom at the same time and at the same pace for even heat dispersal. The welding took 5 shifts to weld the 2 foot long crack in the 6"+ cast steel bucket. Very stressful ...

****................

 

[hunter1151]

Mine was having to weld at the top of a roller coaster in the winter..........had to drag our 1949 Lincoln DC
2 cylinder Wisconsin hand crank welder half-way up the first hill, had 100 ft. of lead to get to the top........widest thing to stand on was a 2x12. Rained down fire, had 2 guys at the bottom putting out the flames...........ahhh, the good old days.

 

[BD1]

NICE !!! Besides the bell hole welding in a ditch welding from a boom lift on a high line is just as much fun.
Windy days and cold adds to the excitement along with a bucket of charcoal on the floor to gets some heat. No fumes to worry about, the wind takes care of that.

 

[CoogarXR]

Probably the worst jobs have been working for myself- most of what I get paid to do isn't too bad, lol.

The worst one I can remember was when I lived in a mobile home and the pipe under the kitchen froze and burst. I had to lay on my back in ice cold muddy water in a very confined crawl space to fix that. Uuhhhgg... At least it wasn't sewage I guess. Hats off to plumbers who have to do that for a living. I sure couldn't.

 

[sberry]

I don't think I actually had to work a cold day this winter, I have spoiled myself in that regard.

 

[gungatim]

gal I work with's son just finished schooling in Florida for underwater welding. had to learn to dive and weld with zero experience in either...can't imagine a set of more uncomfortable welding conditions, hats off to the guys that can do that for a living...apparently the money doesn't **** though...

 

[Stuart in MN]

I had an aunt who worked as a welder during WWII in a shipyard in Duluth, MN. I always figured that must have been a hell of a job, particularly in the winter.

 

[CNGsaves]

How about the pipeline welders who get "fun" of HOT WELD . . .
. . .
. . . . . . better hope that residual methane is only thing coming out !!

 

[Alchymist]

Early '70's - gas driven welder on the back of a pickup, sitting in a feed store lot in southern Minnesota. Extension ladder in the back of a truck up to the grain chute about 20 feet in the air, about 0° with the wind blowing. Welding a patch on the outside of the elbow where the grain had worn a hole. Those were the days!

 

[steel 35]

On one boat welding on a different one, (small waves) Stick.

 

[RivennHewn]

I started this thread regarding welding, but think it should open up to other task as well.

One day I can remember was up in Alaska, framing a 2nd story.

It was mid-winter, and we were about to set trusses.

My boss got the great idea for me to walk the top plates with a weed burner and melt the ice and snow off.

The ice was that crunchy kind that really wasn't too slick, but when it refroze, it was super slippery.

It started snowing more, and the wind kicked up, but we got those trusses set.

It was miserable, and scary at the same time.

 

[motofool33]

that pic is everyday on the pipeline, during the wet season

 

[Hornman]

I was driving down 225 beside the Houston Ship Channel one day and noticed a really tall manlift stretched up to the bottom of the sign for that plant. A guy was standing on the top rail of the cage reaching up with a sick welding stinger to weld something on the bottom of the sign. No observable harness. It was warm and sunny, so if he managed to fall to his death, the trip down would have been pleasant.

 

[fnieto]

Welding between the superstructure and pressure hull on a dry docked submarine was no fun. Tight conditions,sharp barnacles, hot, humid and the smell is unforgettable.

 

[Farmall 1066]

Service call to rendering plant to fix rental skidloader covered in rotten dead animal flesh.
Service call on same company's truck, dropped driveshaft with load of dead cattle on, in about 100 degree heat.

 

[CNGsaves]

^ ^ ^ Yowsa . . . just the visual image of that makes you smell the stink !!

As kid, we lived near enough cattle slaughtering plant that dad let them dump stomach contents on farmland we had . . . you know "free fertilizer" was what dad kept calling it. These were large loads with dual axle dump truck.

However, it was my job to use Ford 9N tractor with springtooth to spread that decaying grass and whatever else was in there. Often saw hooves mixed in or other parts of cow. Nasty part was getting tractor stuck on mound, and having to dig that **** out. Quite a few gutting knives found in the pile along with hooks.

 

[tdcisco1]

any time something broke on a drilling rig, was always either freezing, raining, muddy, middle of the nite or all of the above ! always a huge rush to bandaid it ,fixit right when the hole was finished . aah the memories !