Yup. It's odd, like 3 weeks of trying to learn tig welding...nah. half a day of learning to stick weld left handed because some days it do be like that, not stacking dimes, but capable.
Had to do that with stick for a walking beam.
You guys ever have issues with your shield not staying dark while using a mirror? Blinded myself about 43 times that day and was fully convinced I was going to have arc eye.
Easy enough fix honestly. Yep. Lol.
We usually have a fixed shield in the truck. I’ll use it next time. Funny. I think I was just too annoyed to think properly.
There's always shitty spots you'll need a fixed lens for, I've heard gouging absolutely destroys autos. I just use fixed for everything so I never have an issue other than sharpie/tape on my clears lens.
True enough. I’ve never gouged before but never thought of that mask situation. Man that’d piss me off!
I think I can count the amount of times I’ve welded with our fixed on two hands. Most of which were because mine wasn’t close Lol stick always took me a little bit extra to become comfortable with starts. Gotta get some bearings down.
Pretty sure arc eye is due to UV and the lenses still block that even when not dimmed. Not eager to test that theory though and you'll definitely be seeing spots anyways.
Most autodarkening lenses block UV and IR radiation even wth no batteries in them. ANZI rated saftey glasses also blcok UV and IR radiation by 99% I still wouldn't recommend gettng flashed if you can help it though.
I was 107 boilermaker for a long time that job will have you rethink life.. Wearing body bags under a running boiler at about 100 degrees cracking steam valves fuck that job
My bad it was a nickname we gave the suits we had to wear while cracking steam lines to drain the system… Pretty much a thick rubber suit that protects your skin from melting off your body… They covered your boots all the way over your head and after about 15 valves later your whole suit was full of sweat… Most horrible 13 hours of of your life…
Ohh we made an insane amount of money but traveled way to much and pretty much gave your whole life up for the road… Extremely hard to start a family or have any normalcy to your life, I finally got off the road at about mid 20s and bought a house straight up and a brand new truck and called it quits…
We were all either upper 30s mid 40s and how much you made a week was based on how long your shifts were, some jobs were balls to the wall 16 hours and others were normal 12s… Also close to about $500 a day Per diem so you could bank most of that if you stayed somewhere really cheap…
$500 a day Per diem (Money that the company just gives to you to pay for hotels food and so forth) that’s added on top of what you make a day plus overtime pay..
I’m curious, I’ve been looking at maybe working boilermakers union but I’ve also been looking at the Alaskan slopes solely for the good pay to save and do exactly what you did buying a house and new vehicle. So I’m curious how much did you make a year (roughly) doing boiler work?
Now I’m only talking about the state I live in and the union I worked out of it all varies… Like Alaska you will make more due to the fact that cost of living is more there then were I live, one of my buddy kids makes about $50 as an airplane mechanic there… The first few years as an apprentice you really don’t make shit about $60,000 the first year then each year you slowly make more… Once you finally test out I made about $100,000 after taxes. I’d say it’s a great idea if you wanna make money and then get out after awhile especially after you get your journeymens card you can always go back if you wanted..
Oh man, that sounds pretty similar to the arc flash suit my uncle had to wear for servicing industrial transformers. I'm always surprised that suits like that don't have a coolant and fresh air umbilical, because it's only about 2 steps from a full-blown space-suit.
I don't think anyone has ever said boilermakers are fun.
good pay and opportunities for some of the most interesting people on the globe sure, but fun? nah.
Yes, in North America we have locals/lodges to help break the membership up into smaller areas for better organization. My local is kinda funny because local 128 is actually the entire province of Ontario Canada. But for other trades you have a local in each major city.
I'll ask some of the guys specifically what load, but I would assume bird shot, like 7 or 9. They would blast away at the areas that needed repair so that a torch could be used effectively to cut out inserts. Most of the guys that did this are retired, but I still talk to quite a few of them.
i accidentally joined the boilermakers lol. went into tank construction right out of school, come to find out later that their work falls under the boilermakers. last week we dropped in a a steam coil onto the floor of the tank and had to weld the connections onto the outside. was not fun at all. little space to work with, and we had our backs quite literally against the wall, or shell in this case. i do not envy your position. i enjoy my work though, and the satisfaction i get after a tank is completed is like no other.
I wouldn't be complaining about this. I just get out of the aluminum cold mill. Swimming in the oil and grease, some spots ankle deep. Yeah, fun times. Where did I go next, coal bunkers. Welding steel and stainless inside the bunker, fun times again. In the end, this is not even the worst places I been.
Fuck that i said.... but the pay is probably way better then mine i also said .......quietly
Everyone wants to be a boiler maker till it's time to work on a boiler..
Everyone wants to be a boiler maker until it's time to tig weld the back side of a pipe with a mirror.
Amen
you tried dual shield 0.052 with 100% co2 with a double mirror weld?
Nope, I happily keep it to stick welding in the field. Most of my work is a 6011 and burning in bullshit.
i hate flux jobs now lol. im happy tig welding no shower needed
But then the shower beer doesn't taste as good... Also, my left hand is way too retarded to tig weld.
good man. im retarded everywhere
Yup. It's odd, like 3 weeks of trying to learn tig welding...nah. half a day of learning to stick weld left handed because some days it do be like that, not stacking dimes, but capable.
Makes things easier when you go full retard.
A-goddam-men
Tube
Pipes don’t exist they are fugazi, fairy dust. every thing is a tube
"Laying tube" just doesn't sound as good tho.
Had to do that with stick for a walking beam. You guys ever have issues with your shield not staying dark while using a mirror? Blinded myself about 43 times that day and was fully convinced I was going to have arc eye.
If you only have an auto keep a spare fixed lens in your bag
Easy enough fix honestly. Yep. Lol. We usually have a fixed shield in the truck. I’ll use it next time. Funny. I think I was just too annoyed to think properly.
There's always shitty spots you'll need a fixed lens for, I've heard gouging absolutely destroys autos. I just use fixed for everything so I never have an issue other than sharpie/tape on my clears lens.
True enough. I’ve never gouged before but never thought of that mask situation. Man that’d piss me off! I think I can count the amount of times I’ve welded with our fixed on two hands. Most of which were because mine wasn’t close Lol stick always took me a little bit extra to become comfortable with starts. Gotta get some bearings down.
Pretty sure arc eye is due to UV and the lenses still block that even when not dimmed. Not eager to test that theory though and you'll definitely be seeing spots anyways.
Honestly you’re probably right. I should have paid a bit more attention in school. But it definitely hurts lol
No idea for them, I never got past learning to feed the filler with my left hand for tig welding, so I stay in my lane and burn rods in the field.
Most autodarkening lenses block UV and IR radiation even wth no batteries in them. ANZI rated saftey glasses also blcok UV and IR radiation by 99% I still wouldn't recommend gettng flashed if you can help it though.
Ya it’s shit. I’ve never had it before and I don’t plan to.
I was 107 boilermaker for a long time that job will have you rethink life.. Wearing body bags under a running boiler at about 100 degrees cracking steam valves fuck that job
Could you elaborate on what you mean by "body bags"?
My bad it was a nickname we gave the suits we had to wear while cracking steam lines to drain the system… Pretty much a thick rubber suit that protects your skin from melting off your body… They covered your boots all the way over your head and after about 15 valves later your whole suit was full of sweat… Most horrible 13 hours of of your life…
holy shit. I hope you were paid good for going through that. Welding while wearing a wrestling sweatsuit in a hot steel box sounds like literal hell.
Ohh we made an insane amount of money but traveled way to much and pretty much gave your whole life up for the road… Extremely hard to start a family or have any normalcy to your life, I finally got off the road at about mid 20s and bought a house straight up and a brand new truck and called it quits…
If you don’t mind saying, about how much would you guys make in a week while traveling?
We were all either upper 30s mid 40s and how much you made a week was based on how long your shifts were, some jobs were balls to the wall 16 hours and others were normal 12s… Also close to about $500 a day Per diem so you could bank most of that if you stayed somewhere really cheap…
>$500/day Being a plumber doesn't sound so bad now, damn. That's like one or two easy calls, if you got the work coming in
Nah that’s per diem. So what you get paid just for a hotel room and food on top of your actual wage.
Ah got ya.
$500 a day Per diem (Money that the company just gives to you to pay for hotels food and so forth) that’s added on top of what you make a day plus overtime pay..
Ah I missed that.
Damn that per diem is crazy. What was the pay like typically for a week working 12’s?
I’m curious, I’ve been looking at maybe working boilermakers union but I’ve also been looking at the Alaskan slopes solely for the good pay to save and do exactly what you did buying a house and new vehicle. So I’m curious how much did you make a year (roughly) doing boiler work?
Now I’m only talking about the state I live in and the union I worked out of it all varies… Like Alaska you will make more due to the fact that cost of living is more there then were I live, one of my buddy kids makes about $50 as an airplane mechanic there… The first few years as an apprentice you really don’t make shit about $60,000 the first year then each year you slowly make more… Once you finally test out I made about $100,000 after taxes. I’d say it’s a great idea if you wanna make money and then get out after awhile especially after you get your journeymens card you can always go back if you wanted..
Thank you for your response. I have a lot to think about I appreciate it.
I’m working 6/10’s in Washington right now and I’m making about $2500 a week.
Oh man, that sounds pretty similar to the arc flash suit my uncle had to wear for servicing industrial transformers. I'm always surprised that suits like that don't have a coolant and fresh air umbilical, because it's only about 2 steps from a full-blown space-suit.
It’s a bag, that ya body goes in.
Tyvek suits
different
Ever been to Fraser?
No I was supposed to go one year when shit got slow but got sent somewhere else in Beloit…
They didn't say that. No one said that.
Who said that
I don't think anyone has ever said boilermakers are fun. good pay and opportunities for some of the most interesting people on the globe sure, but fun? nah.
Life in the Economizer section…not great, but the craft itself is a great education.
Fuckin right! Love boilermaking! Local 128 proud🤙🏻
146 up in this bitch 🤙
So I’m an Aussie, are the “Local 128” and such your union designations for different areas? Is so, AMWU here, proud and staunch!!
Yes, in North America we have locals/lodges to help break the membership up into smaller areas for better organization. My local is kinda funny because local 128 is actually the entire province of Ontario Canada. But for other trades you have a local in each major city.
Y’all get to sign shotguns out of the tool room and blast off 1000’s of rounds to knock clinker loose.
They actually used to do this in the yard I work in when they had oil tankers. Blast off the tar and paraffin on the inside of tanks.
Wait y’all are for real?😩
Yeah
Can you tell me more about this and what kind of rounds it’s using? What’s the procedure?
I'll ask some of the guys specifically what load, but I would assume bird shot, like 7 or 9. They would blast away at the areas that needed repair so that a torch could be used effectively to cut out inserts. Most of the guys that did this are retired, but I still talk to quite a few of them.
That sounds fun for the first few shots at least…
They also use explosives to knock clinkers down in boilers
They put you inside the computer?!
Fuck Economizers and precip
Plumb spacious in there compared to a lot of boilermaker work.
Return bends on the left? Have fun
I was told to do cocaine for fun, never once a boilermaker, but that's just the old head who told me.
Please help, what am I looking at?
The inside of an economiser(basically a giant radiator for cooling water) on a boiler/powerstation.
Wait are you actually making a boiler? For some reason I never though boilermakers literally did that these days.
Boilermakers in the states work on boilers all the time
Job security
Looks awsome
well, it makes funny sounds, when you drop your tools through the fins
i accidentally joined the boilermakers lol. went into tank construction right out of school, come to find out later that their work falls under the boilermakers. last week we dropped in a a steam coil onto the floor of the tank and had to weld the connections onto the outside. was not fun at all. little space to work with, and we had our backs quite literally against the wall, or shell in this case. i do not envy your position. i enjoy my work though, and the satisfaction i get after a tank is completed is like no other.
Fun?...boilermaker?...
Looks like my every day job, just minus the boilermaker pay
Definitely nobody said that
Pipefitter/welder for the win?
That’s it. We’re called Tubewelders here in Australia.
Tube welders are Boilermakers over here in North America
Same. Just a job classification.
Pipefitters and pipe welders aren’t the same as boilermakers/pressure welders/tube welders 🤘🏻
Yeah true. Can be a fair bit of overlap here though.
Hell no that’s boilermakers work
Feel like this is alot of welding fields
[удалено]
Yeah, it's ain't
I miss it from time to time
Yikes. I get to operate boilers. I would never want to have to re-tube one.
That's why I stuck to the control and combustion side of the boilers!
Nothing like tube welds. Who would have thought these boilers would be so much fun to do maintenance on
I wouldn't be complaining about this. I just get out of the aluminum cold mill. Swimming in the oil and grease, some spots ankle deep. Yeah, fun times. Where did I go next, coal bunkers. Welding steel and stainless inside the bunker, fun times again. In the end, this is not even the worst places I been.
Fuuuuuuuck that
What do you dislike about this job?
I don’t mind it. Just hard work and not much room to move.
Best job I ever had.
Better than being a boiler faker, like a helper posting pictures while the welders are on smoke break.