I take big pieces of steel and turn them into smaller pieces of steel. The process from start to finish is not really rocket science, if you can do simple math and have a good understanding of how to follow what is called a “cut list”, then you should do ok. By the way, a cut list tells you how much material to cut from a single piece and how much “drop” you should have left over for future use.
Not following the cut list sets one up for not having the material that is shown in inventory. Not a good thing.
Here is the steel as it lies in the rack with great anticipation, I can almost hear them saying, “Oh, choose me! Choose me!”
The next step in the process is to somehow get it out of the rack, you might have to dig one out, but the fork lift is available to help with that, just don’t turn the rack over in the process. It’s a drag to clean up. So having got it out of the rack it is placed on the roller beds to be consumed by the Great Gobbler, or the Shear of Sanity. Its the green one, and the way the punch is set up you will go crazy trying to get holes punched in the right location.
After the steel has gone through it’s transformation, it winds up in purgatory, the place where it waits for me to label it with a part number and job number. Also where it is decided whether or not it gets further transformed.
The cut list tells me what dimensions the blank will be, the coalition drawings tell me what to do with the blank. Those you see on the clip board above.
Above what you see is the final stop before going on to their place of final attachment. where they will become part of a sky scraper or a football stadium, or a race track or hospital. These in the pic are destined for an Am Track Maintenance Facility in parts unknown.
You already know what I do to feed my soul, this is what I do to feed my body.
I am what I am
very interesting--but looks like hard work. but, as in everything else, someone has to do it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. I've wanted a tour of where you work. Now I see that guillotine machine and wish it had a safety shield. Be careful please Mr Crane.
ReplyDeleteVery dedicated work you do Mike. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Mike! I enjoyed seeing the machinery and the stacks of steel before and after cutting. Also it's interesting to know the what types of structures the pieces will be used for.
ReplyDeleteMike: For my carer in life I made the drawing that told what size the steel had to be and what holes needed punched for my project. We had a fab shop that would put it into shapes such as water tanks.
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