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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Dodgin' cow pies- on the job pics
- - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 08-31-2010 11:02
So, not a big outfit pipeline job but will keep me busy for a time. Seems they are moving the mainline over due to some flooding issues with the road and are gonna widen/raise the main road. Going through the pasture now dodgin' cow patties and flies!! In a day or so gonna be off in the bush somewhere. Guy doing the trench was supposed to clear a path.....he don't have the tread dug yet as you can see. Got 5- 6" welds done yesterday, didn't start welding until 9:30(they were clearing brush) then they went to lunch at 11, I got back at it at noon and seems like they called it a day at around 3:15, my fifth weld. Had to drop some pipe and put the cattle fence back up. Gonna shoot for 7-8 welds today, trying to run some 5/32 but don't have much of that and a brand new 50lb of 1/8. Buy 50lbs of 5/32 from airgas will hurt, need to get it from my regular guys for the better deal. Ok, I'll shut up, here's some pictures. Will post more
Parent - - By Johnny Walker (***) Date 08-31-2010 14:13
Looks like a good job y'all need another welder?
Parent - - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 08-31-2010 19:00
Good for you Shawn!  You must be doing something right, your getting work and staying busy.
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 08-31-2010 22:07
Slow but sure Tommy, slow but sure. Banged out 7 today with one set for the morning so I can get there before the company boys. They don't start til 7:30 and get to the site about 8 so want to get out there and try and get a good solid 10 hours or better tomorrow. Got another job lined up for next week Tuesday so trying like mad to get this done but always stand back and take my time and make sure I weld it right! Guy said yesterday my welds looked to pretty to cover up with tape! For me though, I think I can do better.
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 08-31-2010 22:02
If I had another 1500 feet I'd say sure but should have this done this week. Besides that the guy on the job was saying today, "don't kill yourself now, if ya need to take a break take a break, there's no deadline or big rush on this". The ditch ain't even dug yet and not sure when that is scheduled to be done so we're just slapping pipe together and dropping it on the ground.
Parent - - By bigrod (**) Date 08-31-2010 19:12
we run alot of 4" lines up here and if you get used to runing 3/32 root then an 1/8 hot pass real hot with out grinding the bead out and then a 5/32 cap they go alot faster.  me and 3 other welders laid 4,900' of 4" last week in about 5 hours.  Just make sure you keep your hot pass clean and dont poke through it! haha just thought maybe could get some more pipe laid!  just a helpful hint.

           Jeremy
Parent - - By rondar (*) Date 08-31-2010 20:37
I'm curious, how would that pass x-ray????????
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 08-31-2010 21:59
We'll all stand around this one and hide it from the kodak man!! LoL!!
Parent - - By TRC (***) Date 08-31-2010 22:07
Hey Shawn if your looking for pointer I would lower the pipe to around 18 to 20" or so to the bottom of the pipe. By the looks of the photos I would be straining to get up to the bottom. Do you use a mud board? I use two mud boards, one on each side of the pipe. Also make they are  adjustable for height- Ted
Parent - - By Pickupman (***) Date 08-31-2010 22:24 Edited 09-01-2010 00:08
Nice rig Cumminsguy, where did you find the Budd style wheels? Got one question for Bigrod though, do the inspectors on your job's really let you get away with not cleaning and grinding your root pass? Where is your pride in workmanship man? Procedures are written for a reason and most companies don't allow following them only when it's convenient. I can't believe you actually come on here and brag about something like that.
Parent - By weaver (***) Date 09-01-2010 00:48
no joke, I always grind my roots out. 1/8 6p root, 6p hot pass, then fill, and cap with lh. have to take pride in your work.
Parent - - By bigrod (**) Date 09-01-2010 01:42
I have laid miles of xray'd pipe for EOG, DCP, XTO and Dorechester.  All welded the exact same way, if you pay attention you CAN burn out the wagon tracks and all of the slag... hot passing i have my 300d in 3rd gear and on 70.  and by the way, I take a lot of pride in my work.  All of the inspectors that i have worked with have no problem with this.  From the time i put 4" pipe in the clamps till it's clamped is about 15 minutes.   I even made a 12" .188 wall tie in the other day beaded and hot passed with no grinder because it was raining and it passed xray.  Its having confidence, not just not taking pride in one's work.
Parent - By weaver (***) Date 09-01-2010 03:05
no disrespect, up here the inspectors wont let a guy burn out the root. you have to grind, that and i hate welding downhill,
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 08-31-2010 22:38
Hey Ted, other than dodging the platter size cow patties I could just drop to one knee and roll around to the bottom. Pretty nice pasture though, have had to lay down a few times and have not even thought about my mud board, just about could lay there and take a nap! Today we move to a cut hay pasture and spent all day trying not to burn it down!!! Hahaha!! Thanks for the tips!
Parent - By pocket change (**) Date 09-01-2010 02:46
by burning out the slag! like big rod said run it hot. xray cannot tell you what size rod you used they maybe able to speculate but cant tell you exactly. I have seen 5 /32 beads that were flatter than 3/32 on the inside. I would recomend buffing it if it were me.
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 08-31-2010 22:14
Heck, I'll run an 1/8" root on 4" then run it all the way out. Timed myself today, from the time we threw the clamps on, tacked it, welded it all the way out and moved my gear into "mobile mode" and pulled the truck 40 feet ahead it took me 34 minutes, ground the root, wired between passes, all 1/8 rod. I want to run the 5/32 but I also need to turn my machine around so the controls are on the driver side of the truck, just a hassle to go back and forth. I'm hoping when I go to swap my machine around it will just come off completely and be replaced with something bigger! I just can't do the no grind thing on the root pass, gotta grind it, make it clean. I figure if there's no junk in there to begin with then there won't be any junk in there when I'm done. But then again I don't have the experience alot of you guys on here have or maybe I'm just picky.
Parent - - By sae350 (*) Date 09-01-2010 00:15
I thought you had a short hood you are workin on? If it were me, I would run 5/32 the whole way. Your beads would fly in there. Theres nothin wrong with being picky and doing a good job.
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 09-01-2010 02:04
Yeah, working on it in my mind! LoL!! Finacially speaking.....it's at a stand still. Get some good work going and then wife wants me to pay for the house or the clutch goes out on the rig. Getting some good contacts though and getting around so seems like my efforts are beginning to show.
- - By pocket change (**) Date 09-01-2010 02:13
I agree with the grinding thing when running 1/8 5p+ beads. When running 3/32 beads there is not much of a hump if any to grind down "no wagon tracks left to grind out" so what are you going to grind out, the bead? There is alot of front ends that do it this way has nothing to do with pride in your work. If you grind 3/32 beads down to no wagon tracks the hot pass hand will be paying you a visit on the third burn through. I have worked for gas companines before that if you were working on the front end you tested this way! I know some that dont pipeline think this is unheard of "its not". I would'nt worry about being fast on this job it sounds like you are working for a laid back contractor or on a job that is time & material. I always like those jobs! Glad to see another welder working
Parent - By Pickupman (***) Date 09-02-2010 23:29
Hey Cumminsguy, hows the project coming? Are they calling you back for the tie ins, and abandonment of the existing? Let us know whats going on.
- - By C6.7weldrig (**) Date 09-03-2010 01:54
No pics of any welds???
Parent - - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 09-03-2010 05:43
hey give him a break....he knows to many pipeliners on here to show off.   If I had busted off a bunch of 6 inch lately I would not be posting my welds "to brag"  on here.  All that matters is he did it, he got paid, they liked the work.
Parent - - By Chris2626 (***) Date 09-03-2010 10:17
nice work dude
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 09-03-2010 11:36 Edited 09-03-2010 11:46
Well, got more pics. Why no pics of welds? I think alot are worthy of pics but why bother. I know they look good, no need in showing off there's always somebody out there that is gonna have a better looking weld, my goal is to make the best.....one day maybe. Besides, like Tommy said, to many pipeliner's on here that been doing this forever, no need in me showing pics when people already know what a weld looks like!! LoL!!

Pickupman- Still waiting on the trencher to get out and dig the ditch. Supposed to be here today but we'll see, supposed to rain today so don't know what will go on. Ran 320' on Tuesday, 280' on Wednesday and 320' on Thursday and they cut me a check for the 4 days, that was nice! Had about 1000' of pipe roll off the pipe jacks onto the back wheels of my truck yesterday, luckily I was on the outside of the pipe and watched her go. The local guys have been sitting it on the jacks and had already run my root, hot passes and stood up and saw the pipe moving away from me, thought, wtf??? Then crash.......I can see why pipe jacks...not so good and cribbing good!!
Parent - By Pickupman (***) Date 09-04-2010 02:44
Glad you didn't get squished. I saw that happen with some 6" too. We had it strung on skids but we were working in a road ditch and it rolled right off the skids and down against the truck. Scared the packing out of us. Thankfully everybody was watching it and got out of the way. Keep us posted on how things are going.
Parent - - By C6.7weldrig (**) Date 09-03-2010 23:19
I didnt mean anything when i asked if you had any pics of the welds..... that is the most important/interesting thing to me.
I see pipeline construction every day, but dont always get close enough to check out the welds.
I've been welding for a living for over 10 years but am just getting into downhand pipe welding... So it is helpful to me to check out all the welds that i can.
If you don't want to show pics of the welds for some reason that is fine.
Sorry for asking.
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 09-04-2010 00:20
No problem Steve, no apology needed just not big on showing pictures of my welds, not cause they're bad, just don't.
Parent - - By weldwade (***) Date 09-04-2010 21:25
Glad you didn't get smashed when it fell over! Looks like you had a good time doing that job Shawn and I bet they call you again. Keep up the good work and things will continue to get better and better. I worked with a welder in the Oil Patch when I was a kid that lost three fingers on his right hand because he had his hand in the wrong place. Still had his thumb and index finger to hold the stinger. What I really liked about the guy was his attitude about safety, he was a great teacher of safety and really opened my eyes and changed my mind set. What has always worked for me is to take 15 to 30 seconds before I start a task and try to make an open minded assessment of that situation to double check that I have addressed everything that can bite me or others.
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 09-05-2010 10:44
weldwade, yeah that was a bit of a surprise to me when it went over. There was a time several feet before that where I was cautious about it because I saw the terrain we were in plus they said be careful but this was when we were getting back up onto mostly level ground. It was an eye opener for sure and made me realize that I need to be on my toes. It looked like the darn thing was falling in slow motion though, it didn't just go bam!! then it was on the ground it was me watching it and thinking, this is falling over, ahhhhh??? my truck?? my tires??? going, going......wow, that was interesting. I like safety myself, came into this world with 10 toes/fingers, two arms/legs, two eyes and would prefer going out with them all in tack.
Parent - - By hillbilly (**) Date 09-05-2010 12:26
Glad to see you working man! Like stated above, it looks like persistence is paying off for you, it might be slow, but they did call YOU.
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 09-05-2010 12:50
Hey how's it goin Brian? You working up in Clarksville yet? I was over at the convention center a week ago for a day job...cleaning up some scraps for a buddy who's out of town on a job. I'm glad to be on this job, told my wife after the first day I was out there, " I can't believe they're paying me to do this, to much fun!".
Parent - - By hillbilly (**) Date 09-05-2010 16:29
I was, but not no more (: Call me sometime ill tell you all about
my experience on the "big job”.  Got some work in the shop at the moment, so I'm alittle busy.
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 09-05-2010 17:06
I've talked to a few boys from another place up in around that area that were on the "big job" and they said it was a pain in the azz! One guys said he thought he was going to work in a nuke plant or something with all the hoops to jump thru!
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 10-07-2010 10:45
Well, thought I'd update this post. We got all the pipe in the ground, got one end tied in to the main and am going back out today to tie into the other side. Then tuesday the fella is coming out to drill the lines, stop the flow so I can cut off the old main and cap everything. Only a few more days on this job, gotta say, this has been great!!
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Dodgin' cow pies- on the job pics

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