Youtube of the day

I was driving down the interstate one day and saw someone driving something similar mowing the bank near a bridge. It was bigger, about the size of a medium bush hog deck with tracks. They had a regular pickup truck with a lift that put it in the bed and everything. Always thought that was a neat idea.
 
jeepinmatt said:
What a giant waste of money and resources.
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When the subsidies dried up, the maintenance cost was greater than the return from electricity. They were likely out of service and needed the pinion gear replaced like most wind turbines over 10 years old

Assuming it’s a ge product: Crane rental pull gearbox send to horsburg Scott in Cleveland by rail or flatbed, rebuild time is 3-6 months if they’re not busy ship back another crane rental reinstall gearbox cross fingers everything went well.

That is assuming the blades are good on inspection, any chips or cracks and those 30-40m long blades need replaced

I’m guessing on top of the economics involved, leaving them up was a liability since they could fall in a windstorm even if not operating

Wind turbines are like ethanol in gas, sounds good till you get into details


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They had the contract for all GE wind gearbox rebuilds after GE quit producing wind turbines right after the subsidies dried up and production went from 300+ / year to 2-6
 
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Interesting video on well drilling and finding water in the Triassic Basins. Starts at 9:27 (video link should go to that time point)

It got me going down a long google-fed rabbit trail

 
I've watched several of these guys UrbEx videos, especially the ones where they're in old industrial facilities because it's all familiar to me because that's the kind of enviroment I work in daily. The chemical plant I work in is spread out over 1000 acres, and we have buildings still in production that are over well 100 years old. I thought some of you, especially the WNC guys like @Pless, @sparkn89 , etc. would find this one of the old Canton paper mill interesting.

 
Hokie_YJ said:
I've watched several of these guys UrbEx videos, especially the ones where they're in old industrial facilities because it's all familiar to me because that's the kind of enviroment I work in daily. The chemical plant I work in is spread out over 1000 acres, and we have buildings still in production that are over well 100 years old. I thought some of you, especially the WNC guys like @Pless, @sparkn89 , etc. would find this one of the old Canton paper mill interesting.

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That one is about 5 miles from my house. Both my grandfathers retired from there and my father, that place fed a lot of familys in the last 100 years or so. I took a tour of it back around 2004 for a class I took in college, I decided pretty quick I didn't want to work in there unless I had too.
 
Pless said:
That one is about 5 miles from my house. Both my grandfathers retired from there and my father, that place fed a lot of familys in the last 100 years or so. I took a tour of it back around 2004 for a class I took in college, I decided pretty quick I didn't want to work in there unless I had too.
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Yeah I remember us talking some about it many years ago. The plant life has provided me with a pretty good life, but it's taken a toll on me too. I enjoy the work I do and most of the people I get to do it with, but I'm getting tired of playing in acid all day and dealing with chemicals that could kill me with one breath. After 17.5 years of it I'm ready for a change of scenery. I'm hoping to hear some good news on a new job opportunity in the next few weeks.
 
Hokie_YJ said:
Yeah I remember us talking some about it many years ago. The plant life has provided me with a pretty good life, but it's taken a toll on me too. I enjoy the work I do and most of the people I get to do it with, but I'm getting tired of playing in acid all day and dealing with chemicals that could kill me with one breath. After 17.5 years of it I'm ready for a change of scenery. I'm hoping to hear some good news on a new job opportunity in the next few weeks.
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Adding in all those chemicals would make it another level of only if I had too. Sounds like a good plan to look for something else. I just remembered @McCracken worked their several years.
 
jeepinmatt said:
I miss the plant life. Big living breathing monster that gives you a sense of purpose in a way. Sales and service office life with no manufacturing is pretty boring. Purpose is keeping the CEO happy, which doesn’t serve my core drive very well haha.
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I used to feel that way when I came to work. I felt like part of a team that could pull off literally anything to get the job done, and we had the resources and backing to do it. I could tell so many mind blowing stories of the things that a bunch of mostly "uneducated rednecks" from the hills of TN people have accomplished here. Now we have half the people, half the resources, and a shit ton "educated" idiots walking around telling us we're doing our jobs wrong. Now us maintenance and operations folks are told we have to work short, can't order any parts, can't work any OT, and the company can't even provide you a cup of coffee anymore or a plastic fork to eat your lunch with. Cut cost by any means necessecary so the CEO can still take home his $17M+ in total compensation, and the share holders can stay happy. That doesn't drive my core very well either haha.

Over the last 17.5 years I've given this place a shit ton of sweat, a decent amount of blood, and even a few tears. I've given up so much time with my family. Working 40+ straight 12hr shifts at times seemingly every year has just been normal and expected here for years. A few years back before I had kids I worked a 5 month period with less than 10 days off. And those days weren't spent out here making cookies. Running a 1-1/2" drive impact with a 4+" socket or using a hydraulic torque wrench torquing 1500psi class piping flanges as high as 24,000 ft-lbs is just a normal day here.

Like I said earlier, I truly enjoy the type of work I do. I'm primarily an electrical and instrumentation controls guy, but quite regularly jump in and grab a wrench or impact and help the mechanics too. I enjoy the challenge of troubleshooting complex control systems, and being the guy that's relied on to be able to figure out the problem and fix it. The hopeful job opportunity I mentioned would be doing that same type of work only in a much better environment and with more freedom.
 
Hokie_YJ said:
I used to feel that way when I came to work. I felt like part of a team that could pull off literally anything to get the job done, and we had the resources and backing to do it. I could tell so many mind blowing stories of the things that a bunch of mostly "uneducated rednecks" from the hills of TN people have accomplished here. Now we have half the people, half the resources, and a shit ton "educated" idiots walking around telling us we're doing our jobs wrong. Now us maintenance and operations folks are told we have to work short, can't order any parts, can't work any OT, and the company can't even provide you a cup of coffee anymore or a plastic fork to eat your lunch with. Cut cost by any means necessecary so the CEO can still take home his $17M+ in total compensation, and the share holders can stay happy. That doesn't drive my core very well either haha.

Over the last 17.5 years I've given this place a shit ton of sweat, a decent amount of blood, and even a few tears. I've given up so much time with my family. Working 40+ straight 12hr shifts at times seemingly every year has just been normal and expected here for years. A few years back before I had kids I worked a 5 month period with less than 10 days off. And those days weren't spent out here making cookies. Running a 1-1/2" drive impact with a 4+" socket or using a hydraulic torque wrench torquing 1500psi class piping flanges as high as 24,000 ft-lbs is just a normal day here.

Like I said earlier, I truly enjoy the type of work I do. I'm primarily an electrical and instrumentation controls guy, but quite regularly jump in and grab a wrench or impact and help the mechanics too. I enjoy the challenge of troubleshooting complex control systems, and being the guy that's relied on to be able to figure out the problem and fix it. The hopeful job opportunity I mentioned would be doing that same type of work only in a much better environment and with more freedom.
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Yep, I loved the actual job at my old employer, but hated the way a bunch of uppity idiots who didn’t know which way to turn a screw prevented actual doers from getting the job done. And once it reached a critical mass where there were more idiots than sensible people, I was out. I miss the job, but I’d never go back there again. Unless they put me in charge with the actual ability to make heads roll and get the job done.
 
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I understand doing extreme sports comes with risk and thats part of what makes it exciting, but the level of non-safety and the crash rate at this years RedBull Rampage seems completely stupid.

Getting hurt from doing a stupid trick on a jump is on thing. Missing a line and going off course is one thing. But going offline and falling a few hundred feet down a cliff seems completely preventable and avoidable and mitigatable.
 
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