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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Freakin' Awesome!!!!!
- - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-29-2013 00:42
Was up at 240 today literally hanging from the side of the tower at that height and LOVING IT!!! Clipped in to the structure, feet dangling and hanging around, way cool!! Wind picked up later and the tower was moving. That was a weird feeling while welding!! Was only 30 feet from the top, saw the beacon light flickering away. Well, there's a feather in my hat, most dangerous job in world, check that off my bucket list!!! LOL!!
Parent - - By 2006strat (***) Date 01-29-2013 01:00
Now thats badass.  Hate to be your helper rolling all that up!  Will the inspector make a trip up there with you?
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-29-2013 01:33
Inspector gets pictures!! Leads stay on the tower til we come down and they follow us. I've got them dangling about 40 feet up to thwart any thieves and just connect the truck in the morning then gear up for the walk up to work! A few days ago it was a different tune but this is great up here! Can barely hear the welder running!! LOL!!
Parent - - By 2006strat (***) Date 01-29-2013 02:39
How did u land that gig?
Parent - - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 01-29-2013 02:49
GREAT PICS!!  except for that goofy looking fella blocking your lens:lol::yell::lol:
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-29-2013 11:08 Edited 01-29-2013 11:12
Hahaha!!!! Yeah, guy kept photobombing me!!!! Even at 240 feet could not get away from the guy!! :lol: I'm hoping for clear skies this morning so I can get a few pics of the mountains again while I'm hanging around waiting to weld. Yesterday had to move around into position and was standing up and walking on one of the antenna brackets that stick out from the tower. Had to laugh to myself and thought how I never thought I'd ever be walking on one of those!!!
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-29-2013 11:04
A good friend hooked me up.
Parent - - By Chris2626 (***) Date 01-29-2013 13:03
Thats awsome, my first thought was bungie jumping off that thing or maybe the worlds longest zip line from that height.
Parent - By 2006strat (***) Date 01-29-2013 14:45
Hell don't need a bungie.  He has enough lead they will catch on everything on the way down.  Like jumping out of a air plane.  You dont need a shute, just 50' of lead.
Parent - - By Superflux (****) Date 01-29-2013 15:00
Uh... your truck is getting smaller....
Parent - - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 01-29-2013 15:50
Cmon John!!!!  That is basic simple physics:  The truck is not getting smaller.  Because the air pressure decreases as he climbs, he is getting bigger as he goes up!  Sheesh:grin:
Parent - - By unclematt (***) Date 01-29-2013 17:54
LOL. Looks like it is an awesome experience. I had to climb a piece of equipment in a refinery when I was young. Took forever to get to the top. I believe it was about 250 feet or so. Add to that wind gusts and being the middle of January, it was something else for sure. The pics you take when looking off one direction or another show a nice looking countryside. Whereabouts is that?

Have a good one;
Matt
Parent - By Superflux (****) Date 01-29-2013 19:03 Edited 01-29-2013 19:08
Geez, do I feel toopid.
See if you can get them to set up a zip line on it.
Still be a drag in the morning, but would give you something to look forward to at quitting time.
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-29-2013 23:52
Matt, I'm up in the Smokey Mountains.
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-29-2013 23:34
At least up there at that height I am further away from Earths gravity so while I'm out here I'll age slower than you mere mortals on the ground!! LOL!!
- - By 803056 (*****) Date 01-29-2013 22:04
Its nice to see you are getting up in the world Shawn. Good show.

Best regards -Al
Parent - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 01-30-2013 00:22
GOSH DARNIT Shawn....its your Speed not the lessened gravitational pull.  You are literally time traveling up there.   I have obviously spent too much time on the ground or under it.
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 01-30-2013 12:50
Shawn got himself a raise...sweet! makes me nervous just looking at the pics taken from way up there.
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-30-2013 16:13
I need to have one of the guys take a picture while I'm welding. You climb around the outside with your safety attached. Find the best spot to "hang out" then connect one of your positioning lanyards. Next you lower yourself and lean back into it and rest. Then you can load a bullet, strike your arc and roll. Sometimes the wind blows, the tower wobbles while your inder the hood and it messes with your head, like dizzy? Its a weird sensation. Yesterday one of the guys was grinding off my next portion and i climbed inside the tower, tied off my positioning lanyard, sat down into it, put my feet up on the angle across from me and rested my arms like I was in my lazy boy back home. Look between your legs and 220 feet straight down. Was just as relaxed asif I was on the ground.
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 01-30-2013 16:33
That job fits you if you are relaxed up there...certainly not a job for me, I'd be spending more energy hanging on to something than concentrating on the task at hand. I get paralized after I get way up off the ground and become a dangerous hinderance to anyone working around me....add in the tower swaying in the breeze...uggh. I hope your harness isn't effected by the spatter from welding.
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-30-2013 17:03 Edited 01-30-2013 17:26
Your standard climbing harness is around $300-400 for the harness, another $100-200 for safety lanyards. I needed an arc flash harness, kevlar and nomex. A climbing harness, $700, lanyards, $300, positioning lanyard, kevlar and nomex, $130, secondary positioning lanyard, chain style with rebar hook, $90, knowing you won't fall off the tower because weld spatter and galvanizing that no matter how much you grind will never go away and burned thru your standard harness.....priceless!!

I'll admit it. Days before at 160 in this miserable basket and I was not excited about going up to 240 plus. They had another guy coming out to work the lower 160 and gave me orders to head to 160 and work my way up. Told them we might as well run leads out to 240, get up there and get it over with then we can work our way down and take leads down with us. After the long walk to work up to 240 and a few times moving around and working in the harness, building trust, it was no big deal. Look around take in the view. Yesterday they were given the pat on the back and "good job" climbing, think I surprised them.

Its definitely not for everybody. I've surprised myself as to how I can tune it out. Turn on the radio, move carefully, think of each move and not get in any type of hurry and it's a fun job.....now!!! It's also weird that I feel better out of the basket climbing the tower than I did in the basket.
Parent - - By waccobird (****) Date 01-30-2013 16:48 Edited 01-30-2013 17:00
Shawn

Glad you are having fun.

Just wanted to say stay safe and let you see a couple of my tower excursions @ 6 years ago.

Marshal

Caught a lift  by gym pole to top from @900 ft then view from top @ 1024ft
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-30-2013 17:07
Marshal,

Awesome pictures! 900 feet that's up there man!! I'm betting my truck would look like a pimple on an elephants butt at 900 feet!!

All about safety up there! The three points rule they tell you about on a 10 foot ladder really applies up there! Good stuff for sure!
Parent - - By 2006strat (***) Date 01-30-2013 18:36
Dont know about where your at, but here in freeport tx, the wind is about 30-40mph.  Blowing my hooch all over the yard.  I cant imagine being 200ft up today. I need a harness just for the ground here.
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-31-2013 12:03
I got out there yesterday morning and the trees were flexing sideways. When the guys showed up I told them the rain is coming and the trees are shaking like a dog pooping razor blades. Told them if it's my call then blame me, I ain't climbing with tornado warnings all over east Tennessee!! Not to long after that it started pouring down rain and did not stop all day! Stayed in the hotel watching sucky t.v. Next time I bring my boys PS2 and some games and maybe our old dvd player!!
Parent - - By Superflux (****) Date 01-30-2013 18:40
Was on a Boiler in Sutherland, NE in the winter having to walk 265 feet up the stairs with a heated rod caddy every morning. Ughhh. Good thing I was in my 20s and in shape.
The nearest porta-can was about 50 feet below, so you saved that trip for the, well you know, the really important function. All winter long we'd go to one corner to take care of business. The yellow "whizz-sicle" must have been a cubic yard or more. I was only there for about 3 weeks, but always wondered about the poor fellas working down below when the spring thaw came....
It would have been my luck had I stayed to get moved to that exact area.
I'd would have had to drug-up.
Nothing like being up high. Always thought if times were tough, I'd go to Denver and be a window washer on the skyscrapers.

Enjoy that gig. Hope the missus and young'uns appreciate what your going through... no matter How Much Fun it is!
Parent - By Stringer (***) Date 01-31-2013 01:32
Gives me the willies looking at the pictures. Probably safer than the drive to work.
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 01-31-2013 12:05
Thanks John, my wife and kids can't believe it. Hope the clouds clear so I can get a view from 220 but not sure if that will happen today. Four more stiffeners and four welds on these two legs at 220 and we drop down to 200. Then it's 40 more feet to go and I'll be rolling off this and headed west to home!! Thank goodness!!
Parent - - By Rig Hand (***) Date 02-02-2013 04:02
I would love to work on that tower with ya, I'd love to be the guy on the top too. Every morning about 9:30 or 10 my coffee kicks in and I have to take a...... Well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 02-02-2013 11:38
Luckily that only happened once! I drink a bit of joe before I get there, unload my gear and just before I harness up, tuck in behind the tower for a wee. It's worked well this way. Don't drink anything and round about 4:30 I'm ready to come down for relief at the end of the day!

We're trying to finish it off today. If we do before I come down I want to head to the top. My highest record set, 240-250, thinking I want to go that extra 30 and see what they have on the top of that tower! Would love to get a picture sitting on top of it!!! LOL!! Don't know if that would be allowed though!

They asked if I wanted to work out of the basket today. I told them no, I'd rather work from my harness. I feel more comfortable out of the basket than in the basket!!! I've been climbing around on the outside of that thing like an old pro here the last few days. It's pretty cool stuff to me. Can't wait to get back home and hit the climbing gym, that 40 foot rock wall won't be doodly anymore!!
Parent - - By Rafter_G_Weldin (***) Date 02-05-2013 03:10
Its not up high but you should try welding off of a fairy on a stationary landing. The rocking of the boat when a ship goes by while you're burning 7018 overhead is a trip.
Parent - - By aevald (*****) Date 02-05-2013 03:14
Hey Shad, that's why you get paid the big bucks!!! Right? Throwing a little ribbing your way I hope you know. Best regards, Allan
Parent - By Rafter_G_Weldin (***) Date 02-05-2013 05:38
Thats right Allan lol its all in good fun
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 02-05-2013 13:56 Edited 02-05-2013 13:59
Been there done that. They stuck me in a john boat with my welding rod, stinger, hood and a life jacket. Had me about 20 feet offshore while tugs pushed barges up the river. Had to weld beam seats to the piles and the river was coming up. Was only a few inches off the top of the water where the weld had to start. With that I was able to get a handle on the waves as they were pretty evenly spaced. I remember saying while hanging from the tower on a one inch strap blowing in the wind, with the tower wobbling and my arm being blown that welding off a john boat was not so bad after all!! Now, the snow storm that blew in while dangling from the tower at 180 feet....a whole different story!
Parent - - By 2006strat (***) Date 02-06-2013 01:38
Try welding in the garage on something and your lacking just about two inches to finish and your wife comes home *****ing about the smoke in the garage, how i might start a fire burn the while damn house down, goes inside comes back out bitc4ing cause it smells like smoke inside the house now, then *****es some more cause the retarded kid(i dont know what really is wrong with him) is watching you weld and you half to stop welding till he sees another car to chase.  Then the neighbor sees you welding and brings some sh!t over that cost $10 at walmart new and wants you to re weld it.  By that time your tired if ****!ing with everybody you roll your sh!t up and lay on the couch.  All that didnt get paid for sh!t
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 02-06-2013 01:55
I've had days like that, better off sitting in the lazy boy flipping thru channels.
Parent - By Tex (**) Date 02-07-2013 05:19
Are we kooked up with the same gal, Strat? I swear that Ive had that same conversation.

Tex
- By Dualie (***) Date 02-05-2013 06:06 Edited 02-05-2013 06:15
I have welded from a boom lift on a barge to a stationary object before.    its gotta be about the same, and by the same i mean a stone cold pain in the rear sketchy some beach.
- By iwannaweld (*) Date 02-07-2013 02:13
I got hooked up with a tower dawg crew last fall its deffinately been an experience. My highest welding job before was some hvac support mounts at 120' out of a boom lift. Now that im with these guys ive been on water towers, monopoles, and guy wire towers. My highest now is right around 200' mostly welding gussets and brackets so they can add more antennas to the towers.
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Freakin' Awesome!!!!!

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