A Scrapper's Dream - Page 10

Some pictures of the many pipes that run throughout the structure.

A lot of neat items have been found in the plant. This picture is one of my favorites. This is 3 - 4 ft. in diameter and will be cut and saved for decoration in the finished building. The plan is to attach it to the wall in the entry to allow visitors to turn or spin it.



The building is filled with absorbers to deal with the vibration produced by the power plant. This is an early example, more to come.

Some pictures of metal that has been dropped through the chute to the basement.

This is some random metal on the second floor before the pictures in post 183.

To date we have removed 680 tons of steel from the plant. We are behind schedule a month an a half into the project with a full crew, but improving everyday. No accidents and everyone is starting to learn to read metal. Most of all, we are beginning to work as a team. This has proven most valuable in the safety part of the job.

That place looks like a good setting for a Metal Gear video game.

Well at least your learning and quickly for that matter. So what have you learned about the torches and what's working best for you patriot?

Hey Patriot, thanks for the update on your interesting project. I forgot to mention earlier to save those explosion proof lighting fixtures, sirens and such. You'll probably have some electrical breaker and switch boxes that are bolted up tight with a ring of bolts around them. They can be cast iron or aluminum. These are also worth saving from the scrap. I have a company that buys all the ones I get.

I like the gear idea also, keeping the history of the building alive. Maybe a panel with some original gauges lit up would be a nice idea also.

Originally Posted by PistoneScrapProcessing

Well at least your learning and quickly for that matter. So what have you learned about the torches and what's working best for you patriot?

A lot of what I have learned has been posted on several threads about this project. To summarize on torches, in my shop I use acetylene but keep propane tips and bottles handy. This is for the ability for precision cuts and to be able to weld when needed. For scrapping farm equipment in the field propane or petrogen torches would be my choice. Petrogen equipment is expensive and I would not consider it if I already did not have access to it. As far as demolition or salvage work, petrogen is the most cost effective in my opinion. Learning to use the equipment properly is the challenge, but Petrogen Inc. provides great customer support.

Pnutfarmer, thank you for the insights. I appreciate all insights and advise.

I will have to be breif on this since im posting this from my office at work. Somewhere in the turbine room,will be a set of lifting cradles for taking apart the turbines and generators,so make sure you save them for you or the buyer to use. Also there will be a bridge crane above. Dont wreck that till you get out the turbines. You may have to rig up a genny for the crane. I have done a few of these and its always easier tom use the tools intended for these. Pulling the copper out of the conduit is quick and easy if you know the trick (more on that when I have time) Washing the welds off the beams can be done so a smooth surface is left. Make sure your burners are using a big tip and lots of oxy to do so. I will get back to this later,since I have a broken shear to fix

above all have fun
Bill

Home now in the command post with a coke in my hand and a few minutes. Looking at the pics was like a step into my past. Looks like you have things well under control and is the safest looking jobsite I have ever seen. To bad my present employer would sort of frown upon me leaving work to go play for a few months. The company I work for,sends me out on the same jobs only on a smaller scale but it remains the same that when im done there is no structual damage and beams are clean.
Natural gas will burn at roughly the same temp as propane,is there any available (not familiar with the area) a gas main for something in the plant ? In my younger and crazier days i cut a ship with NG and OXY. It will run on a propane tip. Mapp gas is also cheap here.
In my younger and crazier days the company I worked for as a burner (this would be circa 1981) asked me to use a petrogen torch to see if I liked it,since they thought it was cheaper to run. I cut and entire train of boxcars with it just to try it,gave it back to them,lit my propane Harris and thats the last I heard about it. Never run one since. Nothing bad to say about the torch other than a balance issue,but thats me,most other burners would not notice it. In closing,I have to comment on the pic of your burner washing with a short torch......that boy has bigger kahunas than I do. The fact that the sparks are around him tells me he is using to low a pressure to wash with on the oxy side.
On the legal side: right now,send all of your burners and future burners for a lead level test(blood test) It will save your butt down the road on future compensation claims. Some of us burners like myself gain high levels over the years just from the dirt we work in. It works as a bargining tool. Nough said
Do not pull any major conduit till you are setup security wise. This stuff piles up fast and is very tempting even for employees. (I was once on a jobsite that super arrived first and found crane running and 15 ton box of buzz bar missing)
I really should finish my coke and listen to the beck and call of my waterbed. Training a new welder at work tomorrow so I need my sleeptime

nitey nite
Bill

Patriot 76 Im a new member and just registered tonight. . You said your fairly new to this scrapping profession ? Do you have a degree in business management( not like thats important) I know many people who didn't go to college thats are smarter and more well off then most of the people I did graduate college with. .This story is such a inspiration and I will defiantly be following this for the next year. I can only say way to go on the job and If and when this project is said and done. This will be a amazing thing to put on your resume. . Like another member said. You're ONLY as good as your employees . . So true I had to be a nurse manger once. 50+ year old woman taking orders from a 26 y.o. kid. . It went pretty poorly in the beginning till I made it known we all were the same employees of the Hospital . Titles before and after names didn't matter... Being a good boss means being a TEAM player.

GOOD LUCK p76

DayV

Welcome to the forum. I graduated college too. I have always operated on the boss is the guy that can do it better and faster. The company I work for now does the team player thing. Entirely new concept to me,but I have to say that I have never worked in such a polite enviroment. Is that a benifit of being a team player ?

Originally Posted by dayvirus

Patriot 76 Im a new member and just registered tonight. . You said your fairly new to this scrapping profession ? Do you have a degree in business management( not like thats important) I know many people who didn't go to college thats are smarter and more well off then most of the people I did graduate college with. .This story is such a inspiration and I will defiantly be following this for the next year. I can only say way to go on the job and If and when this project is said and done. This will be a amazing thing to put on your resume. . Like another member said. You're ONLY as good as your employees . . So true I had to be a nurse manger once. 50+ year old woman taking orders from a 26 y.o. kid. . It went pretty poorly in the beginning till I made it known we all were the same employees of the Hospital . Titles before and after names didn't matter... Being a good boss means being a TEAM player.

GOOD LUCK p76

DayV

The start of this thread is misleading. Collecting aluminum cans represented my career as a principal, teacher, and coach. At the time the most scrapping that could be done was collecting aluminum cans. As a 20 yr. old, building sawmills as a millwright was a passion. Scrapping full time was the result of early retirement and a desire for an independent lifestyle. A college education to me only means you can survive the process. It does not mean you are any smarter. The saying: "The more I learn, the dumber I feel" has been taught to me over and over by many high school drop outs. The best example is the burners I taught from scratch how to cut iron. 1/2 of them are twice as good as I am and now teach me secrets. Since we are a team, they do not mind sharing. Welcome to the forum and good luck.

Originally Posted by hmburner

Home now in the command post with a coke in my hand and a few minutes. Looking at the pics was like a step into my past. Looks like you have things well under control and is the safest looking jobsite I have ever seen. To bad my present employer would sort of frown upon me leaving work to go play for a few months. The company I work for,sends me out on the same jobs only on a smaller scale but it remains the same that when im done there is no structual damage and beams are clean.
Natural gas will burn at roughly the same temp as propane,is there any available (not familiar with the area) a gas main for something in the plant ? In my younger and crazier days i cut a ship with NG and OXY. It will run on a propane tip. Mapp gas is also cheap here.
In my younger and crazier days the company I worked for as a burner (this would be circa 1981) asked me to use a petrogen torch to see if I liked it,since they thought it was cheaper to run. I cut and entire train of boxcars with it just to try it,gave it back to them,lit my propane Harris and thats the last I heard about it. Never run one since. Nothing bad to say about the torch other than a balance issue,but thats me,most other burners would not notice it. In closing,I have to comment on the pic of your burner washing with a short torch......that boy has bigger kahunas than I do. The fact that the sparks are around him tells me he is using to low a pressure to wash with on the oxy side.
On the legal side: right now,send all of your burners and future burners for a lead level test(blood test) It will save your butt down the road on future compensation claims. Some of us burners like myself gain high levels over the years just from the dirt we work in. It works as a bargining tool. Nough said
Do not pull any major conduit till you are setup security wise. This stuff piles up fast and is very tempting even for employees. (I was once on a jobsite that super arrived first and found crane running and 15 ton box of buzz bar missing)
I really should finish my coke and listen to the beck and call of my waterbed. Training a new welder at work tomorrow so I need my sleeptime

nitey nite
Bill

Thank you for the recommendation on the lead testing. It had not been considered before, but will be in the future. You are correct about the oxygen pressure and two foot torch. Each burner selected the size torch when they started cutting. Many use the shorter torches because the four footers are harder to use. The cylinders are six floors below us (yes we have flow issues) and burners jump between cutting three inch material to quarter inch. Therefore we find a happy medium and avoid running up and down the stairs. Tank and hose location dictate the material they have to cut to avoid hoses running in all directions. Challenging cuts are left for the best and everyone else is routed around them.

More details about the torches is posted on a thread A Scrappers Dream: Cutting Torches. Thank you for the information.

I am only 15, but I hope to do a big scrap operation like this one day, I live in Omaha also. Thanks for pics

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