Funny welding story | SouthernPaddler.com

Funny welding story

jpsaxnc

Active Member
Jan 28, 2012
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I worked for two research universities, building custom research equipment. All of the equipment has to be extremely clean for use, much of it was used in very high vacuum experiments, some of the experiments required very large vacuum pumps, that had to be set up in the basement, requiring piping to reach the labs. A new building was built and 3, 6" vacuum lines with flanges welded on needed to be shortened, when I looked into the vacuum lines the inside surface was covered with a scum of grease and dirt, I squirted some acetone on a paper towel and cleaned the mess off the area I had to weld, I was tiging the flanges back on the lines, lines one and two went fine, when I struck an arc on the third line there came a rumbling sound and the reinforced concrete floor started shaking madly! in an instant a red flame 2 feet long shot out of the pipe, I jumped backward out of the equipment room I was working in, just as a student came through another door to tell me that the floor was shaking in his lab and knocked all of his stuff on to the floor.
 

jpsaxnc

Active Member
Jan 28, 2012
34
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Kayak Jack said:
A canon! Had those fumes gone into the vacuum pumps, it could've been even more exciting, ehh?
The whole thing was a mess. Those vacuum lines needed to be sterile on the inside, the crud would eventually damage the roughing pumps in the basement and then there were secondary roughing pumps in the labs, turbo molecular pumps and cryo pumps, separated by gate valves, all stages under vacuum, that could be contaminated as well, which did happen, but not from the crud. Some kind of chemical drier was attached to the vacuum system some where, (back wards), so these lab pumps were some how drawing in this white powder which damaged them. The entire building was a disaster, a year behind scheduled, every body in a rush to move in, and virtually nothing was working the way it should, there was pandemonium. The contractor was obligated to make it right, but the knowledgeable folks wanted it fixed right now, so the dept. sent there (not bonded or certified in anything) workers over to fix the various problems, voiding the warranty. After 3-4 months, everyone that had to move out, could now move back in. It's kind of sad, because the Chem dept. supervisor that didn't know the first thing about construction or any of the systems involved,(the guy was a chemist) was the guy appointed to over see construction of the building and sign off on the paper work when it was complete, they could not have found anyone less qualified to do the job. So the value of his positional stock, took a bit of a dive and another unqualified decision he was tasked with ended the same way. That such smart people can stumble over the obvious blows my mind.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
No one can begin to match humans at making dumb mistakes. In fact, it seems to be a design feature of our species.
Human error can be minimized, but never eliminated.

Well, it can be eliminated, but it's a price we don't want to pay.
 

jpsaxnc

Active Member
Jan 28, 2012
34
0
JEM said:
jpsaxnc: You have any skills welding stainless? I need a cut water made.
Hi Jem, 24 years tig welding 304 SS. unfortunately I have no welding equipment now, no space in my little shop, and I only have a 40 amp line coming into the shop.