Rig Welders

By EMWelding (*)

Date 05-15-2008 00:30

go into debt, thats what i did, eventually it will pay off. I have a sweet rig, the hard part is finding the work.

By psyco33 (**)

Date 05-15-2008 00:43

I agree finding the job is the hardest part. amen
psyco33

By mody454 (**)

Date 05-15-2008 01:34

hey psycho you still in arkansas

By Billyjoe (***)

Date 05-15-2008 02:41

I welded for other people an bought one piece at a time ,good way to make money, to get set up, is work shutdowns,
powerplants,steel mills , papermills and so on ,it take me little over a year befor I had my frist rig ,that was 32 years ago . but I had a wife an two little boys,at the time, I still work shutdowns sometimes ,the last few years I work pipeline work, a lot of travel but alot of money ,I run 3 welding truck now ,but sometimes it a pain , keeping good welders , are sometime hard to do ,an the insurance is high ,but there so much money out there right now it unreal,
we are in Maine right now, but the job is going to play out in sep,08 for a few months ,But get back to your ??? work shutdown ,Billyjoe

By Billyjoe (***)

Date 05-15-2008 02:47

If you do good work the work will follow you ,I never have to look for work ,people call me all the time,

By mechan

Date 05-15-2008 03:23

Billyjoe, Where are you working at in maine?

By mody454 (**)

Date 05-15-2008 11:52

is that the one ranger is doing in maine

By Billyjoe (***)

Date 05-16-2008 03:53

yes, ranger is the company

By ibeweldingsum (***)

Date 05-26-2008 16:19

hey billyjoe do ya know a josh cravey or matt cravey?

By cwf07

Date 05-15-2008 09:58

psyco33 did you get that fax .

By psyco33 (**)

Date 05-15-2008 19:34

No...didn't get it.
psyco33

By KSellon (****)

Date 05-15-2008 22:06

Hey Psycho---I have been trying to get ahold of you--call me...$$

By ALPAV Date 05-18-2008 15:09

MY HUSBAND IS LOOKING FOR RIG WORK CLOSER TO HOME .(AR-OK-TX)
HAS ANYONE HEARD OF ANYTHING ? THANKS FOR ANY INFO.

By BooTLeG (*)

Date 05-15-2008 03:47

i really dont know what shut downs are :/

By mody454 (**)

Date 05-15-2008 11:53

its where a plant shuts down and they go in and do repairs and stuff while there is no production going on

By Kix

Date 05-15-2008 12:18

I heard for that pipeline that's going start up in the northern slope of Alaska, rig welders are going to be pulling down 1700.00 a day if they have their own rig and 1300.00 a day if they don't. That's coming from one of the head guys at the U.A. I might need to start looking at rigging out a nice truck here shortly.

By Cole Welding (**)

Date 05-15-2008 21:18

Hey guys. I have a welding rig. i built it about year and a half a go and i didnt put it to work because my dad got into bad health and so i went to work in a welding shop again. And to make a long story short my dad told me to buy me a camp and go down the road.. But i dont want to go to far in case something happens at home... I need some help to where to go to and how do i get started working my truck because i only done local work near the house. i have experience but i would like to get to learn to tig weld in plants .... or even pipeline... I grow up in welding and i went through the hard times in the 80's... does anyone have any ideas?????? any info will be helpful thank you
Cole

By dbigkahunna (****)

Date 05-15-2008 22:27

That is BS.
They aint paying that and the job is not gonna happen anytime soon.

By Kix

Date 05-16-2008 12:55

I guess we'll see. He told me about this as well. http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=PR&Date=20080415&ID=8488612&Symbol=CEG There's gona be some new nukes going up here in the near future boys.

By dbigkahunna (****)

Date 05-16-2008 23:42

Well good luck up there. I am still calling Bunk.

By Kix

Date 05-19-2008 12:56

Oh I'm not going, the wife would leave me for sure.;-) I thought that sounded to good to be true as well, but he was only drinking Coca-Cola when he told me this and I'm not one to call a man in the position he's in a liar ya know. Maybe someone fed him some bunk information.

By tighand430 (***)

Date 05-20-2008 15:10

Highly doubt that they'll pay that much on the line when they get it started but it'd be nice. Probably go with whatever the mainline scale is in Fairbanks. The new nukes are in the works right now. They are pre-fabbing the pipe for VC Sumner right now in SC. There are about 5 or more new units with orders in and probly more to come. I just hope we will be able to get the scales up since most the new units are in the south.

By Billyjoe (***)

Date 05-16-2008 04:12

I heard about the work in Alaska ,I was told that they are going to rebuild alot of the pipelines

By ZCat

Date 05-24-2008 03:21

they don't use rig welders for pipeline work in Alaska, that I ever saw.

these Alaska rumors just get wilder every day haha

By TRC

Date 05-24-2008 12:07

And you can bet you sweet bippy the main line isn't going to be manually welded.

By Billyjoe (***)

Date 05-16-2008 04:09

Shutdown are ,, you go into a ,let say a steel mill ,for exp , what they do is shut down part of the mill an rebuil it ,
There always doing a shut down at power plants ,Paper mills,steel mills ,TXU,has plants all over , B E & K do a lot of shutdown ,Zacker, Brown & Root ,Austin Power, are good shutdown jobs ,dirty work but good money, ever year they have to go into this plants to rebuild them ,that what a shutdown is ,go to the Hotsheet.com join the site (free to join) an you can find out where all the big boys work. Most shut down last 3 to 6 months,working 12 hours a day 7 days a week ,till the job is over,hope this help you.
Billyjoe

By Superflux (****)

Date 05-17-2008 17:39 Edited 05-17-2008 17:45

Just a couple of thoughts on some of the posts in this thread.

Yeah,We will eventually have to start building nukes again. When??? Word on the streets say they are going to to downsize them (no more 1350MW's) and go with the German/French design and size. I personally think that Westinghouse, GE and American pride will not allow a European design to be large scale produced in this country.
Chernoble showed the world what a 1500MW is capable of (I know, ours are a far different and "safer" design)!
I hope we do start building Nukes again. They are best, cleanest and safest type construction projects this roaddy has ever been on (hot work on nuke outages DO NOT count!)

As far as that BIG money in Alaska, sure go for it! "There aint no better money to be made, than on the next job!" Yeah, they are actually going to be paying better than that! My uncle's best friend told him all about it, and he had a Chevy Impala that he bought brand new back in 1966, got 100 miles to the gallon and GM paid him $6000 for it and told him to......

By stanantonio Date 05-18-2008 20:01

I agree how long will that stupid rumor keep resurfacing. Its like the same as all those canada jobs and over seas jobs jobs and everybody has heard it from a friend of a friend. Keep chasing those wild dreams I say! I guess if you really wanted to get the inside scoop you find an alaskan rig buddy or a canadian rig buddy and get a contact ph number. Not what your buddy Earl said over a casual conversation of beer. And if you really want to know good luck trying to get in I have tried that route years ago( Chasing Wild Dreams)

By Kix

Date 05-19-2008 13:20

Yeah, I would of called bull-sit if it was coming from my buddy Jed as well, but coming from one of the guys that will be responsible for manning that job over some dinner and a Coke, you decide. I'm not really worried about it because I'll be to dam old to be up there freezin my sack off by the time that stuff breaks loose. Give me some credit guys, I could of come up with a hella of a lot better rumor then that and had ya's eatin out of my hand. I also have other wild dreams to take care of that will probably never happen because the wife keeps coming up with a new dam excuse every other night.

By Billyjoe (***)

Date 05-22-2008 03:54

I take to a welder west of Ft.Worth an Ranger is hiring west of FT.Worth for pipeline rig welder

By Cole Welding (**)

Date 05-22-2008 14:20

do you have a number for Ranger in FT Worth?????

By fordsux8269 (**)

Date 05-22-2008 23:00

I am from Fort Worth and would also like the number if you have it

By psyco33 (**)

Date 05-23-2008 13:31

It's not Ranger it's Pumpco
Ranger called me and had work in Mexico Mo
Pana IL at the moment more to come
psyco33

By pipelinetrash23 (**)

Date 05-23-2008 16:21

is there any other welders that need helpers??? i am looking to be a helper... been doing it for about a year or so,

By Idylwyld (*)

Date 05-24-2008 20:05

The US is at a major cross roads with nuke power. As our energy needs grow and grow and grow we will have no choice but to build them. How many will ultimately depend on the American publics acceptance or rejection of nulear power.

I personally hope 30-40 nuke plants are built in the US in the next 20 years. The company I work for http://www.enritec.com/ will grow as the demand for enriched uranium goes up.
My company will expand in the next few years with Arevas recent announcement of a second uranium enrichment plant in Idaho Falls, Idaho. I forsee in the coming years at least one more enrichment facility or expansion of the one being built currently.

We will need to resolve our nuclear waste storage issues. Yucca mountain may yet be the answer. An idea being looked at is recycling the stuff. Not a bad idea if we can make it work. Time will tell...

I like your analysis of GE and Westinghouse not allowing European companies too much of a foothold in nuclear plant design and building, Hadnt considered that. You very well could be right. Unfortunately the US is way behind in nukes and must put forth some serious effort to play catch up on the issue.

By swsweld (****)

Date 05-26-2008 03:05

If the USA is so worried about greenhouse gasses, foreign oil dependence, record high fuel prices and global warming then WHY are we not building nuclear power plants like there is no tomorrow??

For the last 20 years we (the people on this forum and others like us) have been asking this question.

Al Gores house probably leaves a larger carbon footprint that a operational nuclear plant. Maybe when gas prices reach $7.00/gal the NIMBY's and environmentalist extremist will see the need for nuclear power and to expand drilling as we aggressively pursue other options.

Sorry to get off course from the original post, Bootleg.
But to answer your question; you can work new construction, shop or outages to save money and to learn the ropes. Nuclear power plants are one great option. You must learn the right way or go down the road. Nearly every weld and fit will be inspected. Many guys I worked with at nukes have started their own business.

New power plants created alot of very good craftsmen where they were built, and that is a good thing.

By ibeweldingsum (***)

Date 05-26-2008 16:42

most of us had to start out with mainly nothing and build from there. I borrowed most of the things i needed from some damn good freinds and just went for it. as i made money i was able to replace the borrowed stuff with my own. It's nice to have freinds who have been there and know what it's like. my point is you never know until you just get out there and give it a try. If you have the skills the money is there for the taking. Just keep in mind you can't give away junk work but you can get premiem money for premiem work. I've been at this for 25yrs. made alot of money and lost it all to do to bad decisions and poor judgement on choosing the right people to handle my money. but the money is always there if you build a good reputation and have the right attitude. I'm back with a vengence now so I know anybody can do this.