The Industrial Maintenance Man

[MattT]

I completely agree with manufacturing facilities. We don’t produce anything, we provide a service. We have redundant systems with a contingency plan. There is little to no loss if we have one conveyor down for a correct fix. Yes! Loctite is a must and it gets overlooked by people who like to take shortcuts. Every place has those types of people unfortunately. I worked in process engineering and completely understand that down time of minutes can cause major problems. Hell, we tried to squeeze an extra 2-3 parts an hour in my days in automotive. I’m not trying to poo poo management or their ideas. Just that take the whole picture into things.

You get it Though it does sound like y'all are dealing with spineless Engineering management who are pandering to the myopic operations guys.

Regards the green bearing retainers I've found a lot of mechanics are scared of the stuff because they don't know how to remove it. They think the problems they'll have with disassembly outweigh the benefits of using the stuff.

So what I do is make up a test assembly in the shop. That's a good opportunity to teach the cleaning and priming which a lot of guys skip. Then come the next day and show them how easy it is to cook out with a torch.

 

[willbird]

I laughed at the end of your comment. I always say about my employer “there always seems to be enough time to do it twice, but never enough to do it right!” We have cobbled stuff together to get through a day, only to tear apart and fix it correctly. This is driven by management and numbers. “This machine has to run NOW!!! Well, we can weld that sprocket to the shaft, and get it going!” All because a set screw came loose and the key fell out. Couldn’t wait to get a new key. Wait 20 minutes (we have over 4 million square feet here and a parts department several minutes away) put a new key in. Or weld it in about 5 and spend thousands on a new shaft, roller, and labor. Plus have the machine (conveyor for an area) down for several hours.

I will give my boss credit for saying "We do not make temporary repairs". That does not mean that sometimes compromise may be forced due to not having what is needed...but it should not be and is not ever our intent . The urethane foam process is a picky one......what defines "not good enough" for our process is probably a lot more critical than making insulation board .

One thing I have learned from a guy who has taught me a LOT is that set screws and O-rings are one time use. Use a new set screw and use loctite. He also really taught me the RIGHT way to crimp ends on hydraulic hoses...I have seen plenty of the fallout of doing it wrong....but it was not my work.

Bill

 

[synchro7]

I spent the first 23 years of my Postal career working at The Denver Bulk Mail Center as a processing equipment mechanic. We were expected to be a carpenter, mechanic, welder, fabricator, plumber and electrician (up to 480 volts). The Postal Service provided all the tools, which was quite a mish-mash low bidder stuff. Most of the work could be done with a 8" crescent wrench and electricians screwdriver. We also had our special tools, like for working on gear reducers as big as a smart car. Any down time and mail processing was on us like stink on a turd. Their attitude was "If the machine still moves, it's fine". When it crashed, guess whose fault it was.

 

[willbird]

We get most of this except "carpenter" ....but add Machinist .

carpenter, mechanic, welder, fabricator, plumber and electrician

 

[Earp69]

So what do you guys carry on you? At the automotive glass plant I carried my toolbag with all the common tools we needed along with my impact and flash light. We had trikes or golf carts so it was no big deal carrying whatever you wanted(I always liked to be prepared and hated not having the right tool) .

At the steel mill I only carry my Leatherman, 11 n 1 and meter because now I'm just an electrician and that's all it takes for most calls. Also the steel mill we have to walk everywhere and there is 4 floors and it's all steps, no elevator. So carrying a tool bag up and down those all day ain't gonna fly. If a crane breaks down, it's 20 flights of steps. And the higher you go the hotter it gets.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

You should have added pipefitter, that's different than plumber. I did a lot, black, galvanized, stainless, steam , CPVC, PVC, ABS, gas line tubing and plastic air line tubing. Hydraulic lines as well. As far as carpenter, I've put up heavy wood timbers, but that was a pretty old school sawmill. In more modern sawmills, they had you doing ironworker type work. Heck, I've even had to assemble office furniture in the head office.

All I ever packed when I went to see what was the problem , was a 8" crescent wrench. It fit in the folding rule pocket of my cubbies.

 

[lis2323]

What a great thread.[emoji106]. I’m going to have to start from the beginning when I have time.

 

[MattT]

You should have added pipefitter,

More like put pipefitter instead of plumber. Industrial gases and fluids no problem. Anything related to humans call a f@#king plumber.

 

[willbird]

So what do you guys carry on you? At the automotive glass plant I carried my toolbag with all the common tools we needed along with my impact and flash light. We had trikes or golf carts so it was no big deal carrying whatever you wanted(I always liked to be prepared and hated not having the right tool) .

At the steel mill I only carry my Leatherman, 11 n 1 and meter because now I'm just an electrician and that's all it takes for most calls. Also the steel mill we have to walk everywhere and there is 4 floors and it's all steps, no elevator. So carrying a tool bag up and down those all day ain't gonna fly. If a crane breaks down, it's 20 flights of steps. And the higher you go the hotter it gets.

I have changed around a bit what I carry, and now I just went to a HF 5 drawer cart, MIGHT set a shoulder bag back up but do not want to.

But when I did.

Metric and SAE WIHA ergostar allen wrenches
Gear wrench ratchet wrenches, I have added two sizes smaller to what comes in the 8 piece set.
Greenlee 1903 cable stripper
Klein 11055 18-10 gauge strippers
Klein stripper for smaller gauges (not easily finding part number)
Klein crimp pliers
knipex diagonal and needle nose pliers
Wihi insulated screwdrivers about 6 sizes
telescope magnet pickup
dead blow ball pein
10" craftsman adj wrench (I prefer them over crescant)
Channel lock pliers.
Fluke meter, rubber/leather electrical safety gloves
8" or so magnetic level.

Used to carry 3/8 ratchet, 3/8" sockets, 3" and 12" 3/8" extension...deleted them, too heavy. Went to a roller cart, cheaper than Milwaukee packout with quite a bit of stuff in it, so if I need "more" I go and get it. It has 1/2", 3/8" ratchets and extensions, 1/2" breaker bar M18 fuel drill, 5" grinder, 1/4" impact. I kept 1/4" regular and metric sockets in there.

Kind of blended all that into the 5 drawer HF cart.

 

[Earp69]

I have changed around a bit what I carry, and now I just went to a HF 5 drawer cart, MIGHT set a shoulder bag back up but do not want to.

But when I did.

Metric and SAE WIHA ergostar allen wrenches
Gear wrench ratchet wrenches, I have added two sizes smaller to what comes in the 8 piece set.
Greenlee 1903 cable stripper
Klein 11055 18-10 gauge strippers
Klein stripper for smaller gauges (not easily finding part number)
Klein crimp pliers
knipex diagonal and needle nose pliers
Wihi insulated screwdrivers about 6 sizes
telescope magnet pickup
dead blow ball pein
10" craftsman adj wrench (I prefer them over crescant)
Channel lock pliers.
Fluke meter, rubber/leather electrical safety gloves
8" or so magnetic level.

Used to carry 3/8 ratchet, 3/8" sockets, 3" and 12" 3/8" extension...deleted them, too heavy. Went to a roller cart, cheaper than Milwaukee packout with quite a bit of stuff in it, so if I need "more" I go and get it. It has 1/2", 3/8" ratchets and extensions, 1/2" breaker bar M18 fuel drill, 5" grinder, 1/4" impact. I kept 1/4" regular and metric sockets in there.

Kind of blended all that into the 5 drawer HF cart.

Pretty nice getup there post pics if you get the time. What kind of plant do you work in?

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

My motto was " A chunk of iron is a chunk of iron." They are just machines. In the space of a month I went from buttoning up a digester in pulp mill by sledge hammering slug wrenches over my head to fiddling with a coffee packaging machine.

 

[ChrisLS8]

I remember I was a warehouse manager at a large internation beverage facility and they had an italian made machine (don't recall the name) that was part of the automated packaging process and Everytime it broke down we had to fly a guy in red eye from across the country to fix it and he was EXPENSIVE, not to mentioned n the airfare, hotel, accommodations and parts cost.

I eventually suggested that maybe spending a million on a new machine that can be serviced locally would be a better idea and they (top level management) laughed quite a bit

The irony is the pres heard the idea in the wind and after I crunched him some numbers he okayed it much to their chagrin

 

[TOTO]

My motto was " A chunk of iron is a chunk of iron." They are just machines.

Very true. A good friend and mentor I worked with always said "Recips go up and down , turbines go round and round. Everything else is relative."

 

[willbird]

Pretty nice getup there post pics if you get the time. What kind of plant do you work in?

Not much to see really .

We mfg fiberglass entry doors. Typical repairs are small components, prox switches, prox cables. A 3/8" ratchet will do 90% of the fastener work, now and then you need 1/2". We have 2500 ton molding presses so the 3/4" drive stuff comes into play there.

Plenty of Metric allen, not so many metric hex hed tho there are some. The electric motor mfg have started using a metric close to 1/4" inside the motor J box which can be a PITA. They run them in with a 1/2" impact gun I think . A FEW of the folks that make lock collars have started to use torx. Torx is superior to allen no doubt but they are not super common outside of inserted cutting tools IMHO.

Bill

 

[bwringer]

I've never worked in manufacturing, but my Dad was an Industrial Engineer, and was forever getting in trouble for heading out into the plant and getting filthy solving problems and building and fixing stuff hands-on. His soft-handed bosses wanted him to wear nicer ties and attend meetings...

I remember visiting Dad's office when I was a kid and wondering why he had the only hard hat with dirt and scrapes on it.

Anyway, the tales here have a lot of the same elements as the stories he used to tell, and it's fun to read this thread whenever it pops up.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

Very true. A good friend and mentor I worked with always said "Recips go up and down , turbines go round and round. Everything else is relative."

I started in this trade by wandering into a sawmill and applying to stack lumber during the construction winter shutdown. Since I had a trade ticket in carpentry, and their best millwright had been a carpenter, they thought they might get lucky a second time. I had always worked on cars and had all the tools. It's important to own tools. The first day it was OMG, what have I got myself in for this time. The second day I realized they only ever made two machines, the in and out and the roundy roundy . Then it's merely a question of which one it was and why wasn't it doing that.

 

[PhantomEB]

Currently I bounce back and Forth between stackable roller cart style and a Kuny bag. The Kuny bag is nice for leaving behind my seat in the truck as well nice for squishiness in the trunk of the Daily driver as I prefer to be ready for anything such as a trip to the Auto wreckers.

The stackables are nice for when I grab jobs that require me to have a good little list of tools.

 

[willbird]

I started in this trade by wandering into a sawmill and applying to stack lumber during the construction winter shutdown. Since I had a trade ticket in carpentry, and their best millwright had been a carpenter, they thought they might get lucky a second time. I had always worked on cars and had all the tools. It's important to own tools. The first day it was OMG, what have I got myself in for this time. The second day I realized they only ever made two machines, the in and out and the roundy roundy . Then it's merely a question of which one it was and why wasn't it doing that.

There is there A to B system too , conveyors .

We had one type, one on each of two lines that used many many feet of #40 and #60 roller chain. I do not recall the exact count but at least 200 individual #40 chains each about a foot long. Each one also used about 12 air operated clutches to turn zones on and off to transfer product. The original design used a clutch activated by a 120VAC solenoid, they worked great. The air operated clutches were a mod because part of the process went from Freon (non flammable) as a blowing agent to Pentane which is an explosive gas. The air operated clutches failed a LOT. With two persons who knew exactly what needed done it was a 1 hour repair. But you were up to your shoulders into where all the moly chain lube when when it left the chains. And more than once B line had a failure and about the time we got it back up and a clutch on C line took a **** .

They finally scrapped both systems and went to a system that uses a series of 3" wide belts, each driven by a 480 motor and a gearbox, failures are far fewer now.

Another good change that is coming along is oil free valves and cylinders, servo's really are about equal $$ and offer many good things in the bargain including giving position feedback. Air cyl can have position feedback but that offers it's own set of problems . The servo sends it's position and velocity info back within the normal command and status words . The servo can also have a "safe torque off" option that is dual channel safety rated so it can stay powered up. Improper adjustment of air oilers and crappy compressed air can wreak havok with air cyl and valves. Also every tiny air leak ends up with a huge mess of dust mixed with AW32 oil.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

There is there A to B system too , conveyors .

Sawmill move logs and lumber laterally on decks by chains. In the old coast mills, the deck chains were super heavy H-132. To move a 10' roll you needed either a forklift or a crane. The shafts still turned. Or were supposed to anyway, chuckle.

I'm surprised by your problems with air clutches, the ones we used between the Radicon , gear angle drive, and the motor never gave us a lick of trouble.

 

[WNYflyer]

So what do you guys carry on you? At the automotive glass plant I carried my toolbag with all the common tools we needed along with my impact and flash light. We had trikes or golf carts so it was no big deal carrying whatever you wanted(I always liked to be prepared and hated not having the right tool) .

At the steel mill I only carry my Leatherman, 11 n 1 and meter because now I'm just an electrician and that's all it takes for most calls. Also the steel mill we have to walk everywhere and there is 4 floors and it's all steps, no elevator. So carrying a tool bag up and down those all day ain't gonna fly. If a crane breaks down, it's 20 flights of steps. And the higher you go the hotter it gets.

I have done a lot a work (engineer) in steel mills primarily on blast furnaces and some BOF's and you are not kidding that it gets hotter the higher up you go. I always enjoyed climbing all the stairs along with the heat makes for a good tired sleep at the end of the day and if in the field enough days end up loosing weight but then again I wouldn't want to do it every day for a living. You guys in a steel mill certainly earn your money.
If you don't mind me asking are you perhaps in Ohio or Michigan since I see you also said you worked in an auto glass plant ?

 

[Earp69]

I have done a lot a work (engineer) in steel mills primarily on blast furnaces and some BOF's and you are not kidding that it gets hotter the higher up you go. I always enjoyed climbing all the stairs along with the heat makes for a good tired sleep at the end of the day and if in the field enough days end up loosing weight but then again I wouldn't want to do it every day for a living. You guys in a steel mill certainly earn your money.
If you don't mind me asking are you perhaps in Ohio or Michigan since I see you also said you worked in an auto glass plant ?

Yup, central Ohio. Used to be tons and tons of industry around here, only a few places left now. It's a shame

 

[willbird]

I have done a lot a work (engineer) in steel mills primarily on blast furnaces and some BOF's and you are not kidding that it gets hotter the higher up you go. I always enjoyed climbing all the stairs along with the heat makes for a good tired sleep at the end of the day and if in the field enough days end up loosing weight but then again I wouldn't want to do it every day for a living. You guys in a steel mill certainly earn your money.
If you don't mind me asking are you perhaps in Ohio or Michigan since I see you also said you worked in an auto glass plant ?

Our press process the tool is heated to 350F. So it gets HOT up on top of the presses. Working up there it becomes a game of deciding whether to stay in the game and finish the job, or go down then come back up. In the bargain is the fact that it is healthier to walk down the two flights of metal stairs than fall down them due to heat exhaustion.

Bill

 

[WNYflyer]

Our press process the tool is heated to 350F. So it gets HOT up on top of the presses. Working up there it becomes a game of deciding whether to stay in the game and finish the job, or go down then come back up. In the bargain is the fact that it is healthier to walk down the two flights of metal stairs than fall down them due to heat exhaustion.

Bill

Yes, better to error on the side of caution for sure. Hopefully the give you enough down/outage time do the job properly and not end up with heat exhaustion.

 

[willbird]

Yes, better to error on the side of caution for sure. Hopefully the give you enough down/outage time do the job properly and not end up with heat exhaustion.

We almost never get a job that is in the heat for our entire 8 hours. But some tasks can take 1.5-2 hours per press, and the choice is to do two of them flat out then go down, or do one, go down , go back up and do the second one, then come back down . I have not died yet .

Bill

 

[Earp69]

The automotive glass factory used lines about 150 foot long that were heated up to 1250 degrees f. The glass would roll through there and get heated to temperature and then would spit the glass out and press it to shape. I used to think that was hot until I started at the steel mill. All the steel gets melted to 3000-3200 degrees f. When you had to go up on a crane to repair something if you don't have gloves on and grab a handrail or anything up there for that matter, it won't burn your hand but you can't hold it for more than half a second. Mid summer you can't spend more than 10 to 15 minutes up there at a time

 

[Earp69]

Little differant subject here, what kind of shift schedule does everybody work?

 

[AngryBeaver]

Little differant subject here, what kind of shift schedule does everybody work?

7am to whenever the job is done.....

I have to ask, do you work in upper sandusky at gaurdian? Ive been there many many times with diesel air compressors....

 

[American Locomotive]

Foreign machinery is the worst. The foreign OEMs don't care if you're line is down. They're not gonna get a hurry to send parts out. And their tech support is just as bad. "It's 5 o'clock here. I'm off to the bar." CLICK Got told once the guy I needed to talk to had just gone out on vacation, for 4 weeks

Swiss machines - Citizen, Star, Tsugami

Lathes - Nakamura, Nomura, Mazak

Mills - Mazak, Matsuura, Fadal, Fanuc

The list goes on and on. We had a healthy parts stock and we had a really good couple of local reps that helped us with parts. For the most part we could overnight stuff in but sometimes **** had to sit, which is bad news for lean manufacturing.

The company I worked for had a lot of Japanese Swiss machines. Mainly Tsugamis, and I think a single Citizen. We never really stocked any parts for those machines because for the most part they were pretty reliable. If they did break, they always seemed to have the parts in stock and they could roll a tech out the same day.

But we also had a ton of German-built Index C-series lathes and MS-series multi spindle machines. What a nightmare those things where. Absolutely stunning machines in build quality and performance, but parts and service was a disaster. Their U.S. division was basically a joke and would constantly send us the wrong parts, never get back to us, never stocked what we needed, would charge us arbitrary prices, etc... They only had one tech that knew his stuff, and he was on "loan" from Germany more or less. We'd have to specifically request him otherwise the other guys would just mess our machines up even more 7/10 times. Germany refused to talk to us directly.

It got to the point where for the most part we were fixing the machines ourselves. Even complicated "trained tech only" sorta jobs.

Almost all our machinery was imported, Japan, Germany, USA, and even England. It was both cheaper and much faster to get a local jobber to make it or repair and modify it with the changes so we didn't have to do it again in six months. I think management got kick backs, so our maintenance shop was kept pretty lean on machine tools.

Yehp. A lot of those German machines had bits and pieces we made or repaired.

 

[WNYflyer]

The automotive glass factory used lines about 150 foot long that were heated up to 1250 degrees f. The glass would roll through there and get heated to temperature and then would spit the glass out and press it to shape. I used to think that was hot until I started at the steel mill. All the steel gets melted to 3000-3200 degrees f. When you had to go up on a crane to repair something if you don't have gloves on and grab a handrail or anything up there for that matter, it won't burn your hand but you can't hold it for more than half a second. Mid summer you can't spend more than 10 to 15 minutes up there at a time

Though I never have been up on the top of a recovery type coke oven battery former co-workers that used to work at the local now closed steel mill said the person up top opening and closing the charging holes that the coal was poured down wore special wood soled shoes because regular soled boots would get too hot or melt. Must have been even more brutal in the summer months.

 

[chipjumper]

I worked IT support at a steel forging company. Sometimes we didn’t have time to wait for a contractor and would have to suit up and run Cat 5e in the rafters to thermocouple equipment. Holy **** was it hot up there I bet it was 180 degrees. I would be covered in sweat in a few minutes and would feel sick after about 15-20 minutes. I really learned how to plan an attack and to get in and get out ASAP.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

The one that got me was when I worked for shutdown contractors and we had to change the 3' dia. bearing in the paper machine dryer. Since we were only contractors, they never bothered with much of a cool down. You wore your gloves.

 

[willbird]

7am to whenever the job is done.....

I have to ask, do you work in upper sandusky at gaurdian? Ive been there many many times with diesel air compressors....

Our shifts run 6a-2p, 2p-10p( my shift) 10p-2a. They have a "weekend crew" that works fri-sat-sun 6a-6p and 6p-6a...that has never really worked out well for them IMHO. Partially due to hiring morons and having inebriated morons lead them.

 

[lardy1]

I delivered ore to several steel mills when I was working the lake freighters. Sometimes I could feel the heat off the rolled steel sheets on train cars 100 yards away. My own industrial experience is next to nil, even though I grew up and live in auto manufacturing country. I would look off the ship at those giant mills and thank heaven I didn't have to go to work there every day.

I suppose those steel mill guys probably looked at us up on that freighter and thanked heaven they didn't have to work on a ship.

 

[willbird]

I delivered ore to several steel mills when I was working the lake freighters. Sometimes I could feel the heat off the rolled steel sheets on train cars 100 yards away. My own industrial experience is next to nil, even though I grew up and live in auto manufacturing country. I would look off the ship at those giant mills and thank heaven I didn't have to go to work there every day.

I suppose those steel mill guys probably looked at us up on that freighter and thanked heaven they didn't have to work on a ship.

The heat in our molding dept is ever present. But they decided to rent portable air conditioners for each press. Now some associates INSIST they need them or they are going home. Only problem was nobody looked at where the hell all the 120VAC for them is going to come from for 34+ of them. Non stop circuit breaker trips.They did the same thing with small fridges for bottled water all over the shop.

 

[Ohmthis]

Little differant subject here, what kind of shift schedule does everybody work?

Here we have 14 different shifts! I know, it’s hard to believe! I work 4:30 am to 12:30 pm. Unless we get forced over for OT. That usually happens a few times a week. My shift is a repair shift. Meaning I come in after the next day air sort and repair broken stuff. I worked nights for the next day air sort. It’s pretty cool to see how busy this place is while everyone is sleeping.

 

[humpty]

The company I worked for had a lot of Japanese Swiss machines. Mainly Tsugamis, and I think a single Citizen. We never really stocked any parts for those machines because for the most part they were pretty reliable. If they did break, they always seemed to have the parts in stock and they could roll a tech out the same day.

But we also had a ton of German-built Index C-series lathes and MS-series multi spindle machines. What a nightmare those things where. Absolutely stunning machines in build quality and performance, but parts and service was a disaster. Their U.S. division was basically a joke and would constantly send us the wrong parts, never get back to us, never stocked what we needed, would charge us arbitrary prices, etc... They only had one tech that knew his stuff, and he was on "loan" from Germany more or less. We'd have to specifically request him otherwise the other guys would just mess our machines up even more 7/10 times. Germany refused to talk to us directly.

It got to the point where for the most part we were fixing the machines ourselves. Even complicated "trained tech only" sorta jobs.

Yehp. A lot of those German machines had bits and pieces we made or repaired.

As a general rule I enjoyed working on the Japanese Swiss machines. Most everything was not too big and at worst could be lifted by two guys. Access to stuff could be challenging but not terrible. The worst was access to the panels behind all of the drives. I still have my super long magnetic screwdriver and super long 1/4" extension. Almost mandatory for replacing NC units and drives.

We had a couple of Index lathes with hobbing attachments at Eaton. It was cool that one of those machines replaced 3 others but my god what a nightmare. I spent more time working on those than just about anything. I think the hobbing process was just so aggressive it shook the machine to death.

Eaton was one of those places that really pushed the limits of what a machine could do. The sales people sold unbelievable capability and our process engineers had to wring it out. We had twin spindle Mazaks that we used to destroy. Mazak Japan couldn't figure it out, they set an engineer from Japan and he took one look at the amount of holes and grooves we were doing with live tooling and he understood. So all future Mazak owners can thank Eaton for the "beta testing" we did. LOL

I have been asked by Ops Managers what are the best machines. There is no best machine, it is so dependent on how you take care of them, how you run them and what you run on them. That being said here is what I would buy if it was my money.
Matsuura Mills - expensive but a rock solid production mill.
Haas - As long as you don't abuse them they are solid and have great support.
Fanuc Robodrill - If your milling lighter these are great, we had 50 of them at my last place. About as solid as you can get. Plus they integrate seamlessly with Fanuc robots and automation. I love these.
Nomura - Just a rock solid lathe

I haven't ran into too much I hate but certianly plenty I don't like working on.

humpty

 

[Bigblockyeti]

I delivered ore to several steel mills when I was working the lake freighters. Sometimes I could feel the heat off the rolled steel sheets on train cars 100 yards away. My own industrial experience is next to nil, even though I grew up and live in auto manufacturing country. I would look off the ship at those giant mills and thank heaven I didn't have to go to work there every day.

I suppose those steel mill guys probably looked at us up on that freighter and thanked heaven they didn't have to work on a ship.

I could see it either way, monotony for me was a moral killer and having to do the same stuff over and over again in and of itself wasn't my problem, being forced to do it wrong over and over again was. This was in a cold temper mill BTW. I liked the work and the $$ there but it was a few people that made it tough. The guys I worked directly with were for the most part great with few exceptions. Our shop was a work in progress, I laid out what we needed (which was everything) and quickly got shot down on almost everything, I was fighting tooth and nail just to get a bench grinder and a drill press. A plasma table, brake, shear, lathe, and vertical mill needed a level of explanation that made it apparent my time there would be more limited than I originally intended (was to be 3 years, worked out to just under 2). We did have good welders and plenty of torches but the spare parts and organization were likely never to be sorted.

One of the big pluses was the line was all SAE and the components that were metric were pretty obvious. Too many tools were communal and there was too little accountability for keeping track of them and putting them away which cost unnecessary time and tools.

I liked working in two recycling facilities (not trash thankfully) prior but both were surviving too heavily on grants from the DOE and the EPA to self sustain after those dried up.

 

[NukeMech]

As my name state, I work on a nuclear power plant. Coming from a heavy truck background, industrial maintenance is a better path in my opinion, and pays double what I did as a heavy truck tech.

 

[Earp69]

7am to whenever the job is done.....

I have to ask, do you work in upper sandusky at gaurdian? Ive been there many many times with diesel air compressors....

No, down in Crestline. When I worked there it was originally PPG, then it was bought by PGW, then LKQ, and now it's called vitro I believe. It's went downhill since every exchange I believe. It's funny you mention air compressors, they had eight or nine 400hp sullair screw compressors. You would know if one went down and another didn't pickup because every line in the shop would call for maintenance at the same time. (24 lines)

 

[Earp69]

Here we have 14 different shifts! I know, it’s hard to believe! I work 4:30 am to 12:30 pm. Unless we get forced over for OT. That usually happens a few times a week. My shift is a repair shift. Meaning I come in after the next day air sort and repair broken stuff. I worked nights for the next day air sort. It’s pretty cool to see how busy this place is while everyone is sleeping.

Here's our schedule at the mill. Not counting forced ot, if somebody is on vacation or calls off we have to fill that vacancy which gets you a 16 hour shift. At the ppg if somebody called off you just ran short 1 guy which sucked. There we worked 7-7 two days on, three days off, three days on, two days off etc. I always chose to work midnights because I didn't enjoy the dog and pony show on days and I could always achieve much more gov work at night as long as the lines ran good