AWS Section meeting @ BMT

Date 03-23-2010 17:00

Ok so those of us who were there now know who and what BMT is. on the 16th of March, 2010 there was a chapter meeting in Satsop, WA at Brown Minneapolius Tank. we took a tour of the facility and i was dumbfounded at what i saw. first of all the building is (if i recall right) 360,000 SQ. FT. there is ten or eleven overhead crains. some 10 K some 25K and two 250,000 that could lift in tandom 1,000,000 LBS. the company proclaims they are the largest tank building company in the world, and that they have the largest lifting capacity in the northern hemisphere. now mind you that those are statements made by the company. so what i am getting at is ithat i have not seen a lot of feedback on the event. if any of you were in attendince i would like to hear your thoughts. what i would really like is to see some photos. i know there were individuals there with cameras. also i would like to hear some stories from those who have worked in larger facilities. i think i would enjoy working there. well thanks

By aevald

Date 03-24-2010 02:26

Hello weldstudent, even though there were folks with cameras there, there might also be a no-pictures order in effect as well. Many times companies have what they consider to be "proprietary" processes and they don't allow pictures of anything or only of limited things. Can't say either way for your tour of those facilities, likely your instructor can answer that question for you. As to work in large facilities, if you ever get a chance take a trip up to Boeing's Payne Field in Everett, WA. When I used to make trips up there for work the main assembly building had a roof area of 55 acres, at that time they were adding on an additional assembly bay which I believe increased that number to around 70 acres. The bay doors on the side of the building were the size of a football field and there were 4 or 5 of them. They also had travelling trolleys on their bridge cranes inside of the facility that could transfer across access bridges from one bay to another and essentially access any area of the entire structure. Crane hook heighth was 120 feet or so, they would lift and move entire aircraft sections from the various fixtures to allow for final assembly, picture a center section of a 747 aircraft including both wings being lifted and moved into position for connecting to the nose and tail sections respectively. That's some of the big stuff too. You've got plenty ahead of you to consider and strive towards, learn and enjoy the journey. Best regards, Allan

By fschweighardt (***)

Date 03-31-2010 16:01

I don't know if they are talking about cranes inside a building, but one of my customers in Texas can lift 13,000 tons with their crane, which is 26 million lbs

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 03-31-2010 17:46

Just to help out on the math....

1 ton = 2000#'s
so, ....13,000 tons = 26,000#'s

26 million pounds = 13 million tons

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-31-2010 18:28

Umm John?

13,000 tons = 26,000,000 pounds or #'s

1 ton = 2,000 #'s or pounds, so 13,000 tons multiplied by 2000 = 26 million pounds or #'s. ;)

Respectfully,
Henry

By Cactusthewelder (*****)

Date 03-31-2010 18:32

As I have always said, Budwieser and Calculators Don't Mix !

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 03-31-2010 18:46

LOL....you are exactly right....I am asleep at the wheel....

LOL I'll go back to my corner now....BTW, it's all that new math.

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-31-2010 19:16 Edited 03-31-2010 19:18

Hey John!

Don't worry about it buddy! ;) You just forgot to get rid of those three extra zero's... Believe me you! I know what you meant to write down if it's any consolation! ;)

And Dwayne, that's just one of the many reasons why I don't drink at all anymore (22 yrs next Tuesday!). ;) But, don't get me wrong because I've got nothing against folks that do, it's just that for this hombre, it just makes things worse after it's all said and done. ;) I do envy the gents that can handle their liquor, yet I know I cannot and I'm not ashamed of it one bit either. :)

Besides, I have the best pain meds available through a Doctor's prescription which I only use when I am at the point where I can no longer tolerate it on my own... So I always have more than enough just in case, and I don't have a problem at all when taking a drug test of any type because even with a hair follicle test, they can estimate how far I've been on the same pain meds and contact my Doctor for verification...

Finally, if I'm feeling just a tad queasy from the pain meds, I will not work with any mechanized and/or welding/cutting equipment just out of safety consideration for anyone else around me!!! ;) I would rather lose a days pay or more if the meds start to effect me that way as it has done on occasion and knock on wood, so far - no accidents in the last seven or eight years I've been on these meds!!! :) :) :) Funny thing though, they have never once messed up my brain when it comes to math - go figure huh??? ;)

Respectfully,
Henry

By jrw159

Date 04-01-2010 11:11

LOL, they said there would be no math. WTF?? :-)

jrw159

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 04-01-2010 22:59

And when I questioned the instructor about that once we started to get into math, the instructor replied:
"This isn't friggin math!!! This is Arithmetic!!! This is different than math!!!

And of course, I had to reply: "Well La di da, Bada bing bada boom bada bang to you too!!! ROTFLMFAOAAA!!! :) :) :)
Those were simpler times! ;) Thanks for reminding of them John! ;)

Respectfully,
Henry

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-31-2010 18:51

That's one heck of 'Superlift" crane!!! :) :) ;) Is it used to build "Semi submersibles" and FPSO's???

This one does a bit better by lifting up to 20,000 tons!!! :) :) :) Wow!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taisun

Respectfully,
Henry