The Construction Thread

[rosco rathbone]

Everyone laughs when I talk about dirigibles doing the heavy lifting.

Wait and see.

 

[thør]

Everyone laughs when I talk about dirigibles doing the heavy lifting.

Wait and see.

Helicopters do a pile of the work up here.

 

[thør]

Auditors say developer took shortcuts on Chinese dam

"Developers of a controversial Jinsha River dam said yesterday their practices were "orderly" in response to a report from the country's top auditors that said there were problems on the site of the world's third-largest hydropower project.

Safety issues emerged after the construction company cut its original building plan by 27 months to speed up the project, the National Audit Office said in its report released yesterday on the 67.5 billion yuan ($9.88 billion) Xiluodu project.

The quickened timeline increased the risks and difficulties and added to the cost, the audit office said.

The report also claimed the management team was not controlling its budget or its bidding procedures, and said the developers had collected nearly 10 million yuan worth of alleged illegal gains through fees.

But the developers of the dam, which is second only in size to the Three Gorges Dam, said yesterday the audit office "overrated the problem".

"They have exaggerated the problems a little. We have explained to the auditors before that we have run the project according to a long-term plan," Hong Wenhao, construction director of the Xiluodu dam project, told China Daily from the site, which borders Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in southwest China.

"The office said we have shortened 27 months of construction. Well, they have overrated our efficiency," he said.

"There will be no safety risks under our current working procedures because we do not allow any shortcuts when we build major projects, such as the near-300-m-tall dam."

Last month, the construction company raised the height of the dam from 278 m to 285.5 m to allow for design changes, making the dam 100 m taller than the Three Gorges Dam.

Hong said his construction team was about one year ahead of schedule. He said that was about the same as other major hydropower projects, including the Three Gorges Dam.

Construction experts said the project was likely to be ready to accept water as early as 2013. By then, the annual generating capacity of the 95-story dam will be 64 billion kWh per year - equal to the entire hydropower capacity of Iceland.
"The engineering capabilities of these construction workers are sufficient to secure the dam's quality. They have shortened their construction plan but have not cut corners," said Jia Jinsheng, a senior hydropower researcher and the newly elected Secretary-General of the International Commission for Large Dams, an NGO that exchanges experience on dam engineering.

The Xiluodu project has been at the center of controversy before.

In 2005, the dam was found to have threatened rare fish species and failed an environmental impact assessment. China Three Gorges Project Corp, which runs the project along with several others in the region, paid a 200,000 yuan fine, the maximum penalty that could be issued, before environmental protection officials finally approved it.

As for now, though, there seem to be few worries among residents near the project.

"There is no concern for construction quality or environmental damage among our guys here," said Wang Yulin, Party chief of the Xinhua district in Xiluodu township, who lives near the project.

There are more than a dozen hydropower projects underway along the 2,300-km Jinsha River.

"Although there seems to be no immediate problems, for this extraordinarily-tall dam, both its construction quality and impact on local ecology are the essential concerns," said Ma Jun, a Beijing-based environmentalist.

Last month, the Ministry of Environmental Protection halted two State-run power giants' hydropower projects on the Jinsha River, the Ludila hydropower project and the Longkaikou project, after they failed to get the ministry's approval."

 

[rosco rathbone]

This is cool: On ebay, I got my International's Apprentice School book for 1979.

By this point, rivets hadn't been used in a generation, but the book still has about 50 pages on rivetting, with all kinds of drawings, charts, and all kinds of crazy shit. Temperature/color guides for heating rivets, drawings for various weird dolly bars for use in tight corners, in case you need to whip one up in "the blacksmith shop"...and tons of old photos of rivet gangs in fedoras, wifebeaters and high waisted pants, working on planks tied off with one rope.

I guess some old coots must have felt that it was important not to lose the tradition entirely, but in the other edition I have, from 98, it's gone.

 

[thør]

This is cool: On ebay, I got my International's Apprentice School book for 1979.

By this point, rivets hadn't been used in a generation, but the book still has about 50 pages on rivetting, with all kinds of drawings, charts, and all kinds of crazy shit. Temperature/color guides for heating rivets, drawings for various weird dolly bars for use in tight corners, in case you need to whip one up in "the blacksmith shop"...and tons of old photos of rivet gangs in fedoras, wifebeaters and high waisted pants, working on planks tied off with one rope.

I guess some old coots must have felt that it was important not to lose the tradition entirely, but in the other edition I have, from 98, it's gone.

Rivets are still used on some locomotive type boiler repairs.

It's important not to lose traditions, because then, people won't be able to understand how stuff was built. People need to know that when looking to extend the life of structures that were built before we were born.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Rivets are still used on some locomotive type boiler repairs.

It's important not to lose traditions, because then, people won't be able to understand how stuff was built. People need to know that when looking to extend the life of structures that were built before we were born.

I always wonder about that...dying trades and how they might be needed again after the comet hits.

Man, this book is so cool. The detail level is insane, and it's aimed not at engineers but ironworkers.

So many crazy pictures of years gone by. One guy from maybe 1970 in a long sleeved psychedelic paisley shirt under a denim jacket with the sleeves cut off, with old school belt with the back-breaking safety rope walking a beam. Huge mustache, hair down to here.

 

[TikkaT3]

I feel sorry for some steel workers

I just got my first set of drawings back from the engineer this week. 64 pages and only 7 marked up for approved with corrections noted.

Now the poor guys out in the shop have to build it. The old guy training me kept pounding me with “too much information and you make it hard to read, too little and they waist time running to you every 15 minuets to ask questions.

I have my fingers crossed but we all know it will be a long and question filled project from this moment on. In a way I feel bad for the fab shop but, a guy has got to learn somehow.

 

[SkAoUt]

Rivets are still used on some locomotive type boiler repairs.

And of course aircraft.

Its been ages since I riveted but I remember certain rivets had to be kept in the freezer.

 

[thør]

And of course aircraft.

Its been ages since I riveted but I remember certain rivets had to be kept in the freezer.

And some pots and pans, like AlClad, are riveted. Beats spot welding!

 

[rosco rathbone]

These are real rivets.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I just got my first set of drawings back from the engineer this week. 64 pages and only 7 marked up for approved with corrections noted.

Now the poor guys out in the shop have to build it. The old guy training me kept pounding me with “too much information and you make it hard to read, too little and they waist time running to you every 15 minuets to ask questions.

I have my fingers crossed but we all know it will be a long and question filled project from this moment on. In a way I feel bad for the fab shop but, a guy has got to learn somehow.

If they fuck up, they'll have credible deniability blaming you

 

[thør]

These are real rivets.

LOL.......

Riveting........

 

[rosco rathbone]

LOL.......

Riveting........

Yeah, I've heard that theory..

Rivetting was hard, more like blacksmithing than anything.

These days, any moron can gun up a TC bolt, it even tells you when the torque is right.

I think I posted a picture here of the single 1880's era rivet that me and my partner took a whole day to remove.

 

[TikkaT3]

If they fuck up, they'll have credible deniability blaming you

Yea I know. I can see them salivating at the prospect of busting my chops for the next month or two. And I don't even want to think about what is going to happen when they try to fab a set of joist out of rolled 6x6x3/8HSS. It never gets rolled rite but everyone know it's the detailer fault.

 

[thør]

I think I posted a picture here of the single 1880's era rivet that me and my partner took a whole day to remove.

I saw it.....

I'll have to scan some photos of some old riveted riverboat boilers......

Yea I know. I can see them salivating at the prospect of busting my chops for the next month or two. And I don't even want to think about what is going to happen when they try to fab a set of joist out of rolled 6x6x3/8HSS. It never gets rolled rite but everyone know it's the detailer fault.

Tell them to check their measurements....all of them.......

 

[rosco rathbone]

Yea I know. I can see them salivating at the prospect of busting my chops for the next month or two. And I don't even want to think about what is going to happen when they try to fab a set of joist out of rolled 6x6x3/8HSS. It never gets rolled rite but everyone know it's the detailer fault.

Ever see the "Woodrow Wilson Bridge" Extreme Engineering? YOu should netflix it. I think you can watch it streaming.

The part where they show them making the bascule sections in the fab shop is awesome.

 

[rosco rathbone]

New East River train tunnel approach from the Sunnyside Yards and union iron going up in Queensboro Plaza.

You were right Thor about the water-cleaning thing. They pumped it all out.

I wonder if those big pipe braces are going to be permanent. It was a slurry wall so the ground there is wet and low.

 

[thør]

New East River train tunnel approach from the Sunnyside Yards and union iron going up in Queensboro Plaza.

You were right Thor about the water-cleaning thing. They pumped it all out.

I wonder if those big pipe braces are going to be permanent. It was a slurry wall so the ground there is wet and low.

Pretty typical for temporary shoring. I doubt they are permanent.

 

[Saint Peter]

Fuck.

Hold that camera still next time.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Fuck.

Hold that camera still next time.

I was on a train FFS.

 

[thør]

Fuck.

Hold that camera still next time.

Someone behind him on the train had some stimulus money......

 

[Saint Peter]

I was on a train FFS.

I have seen better camera work on Redtube.

 

[Batch]

I have seen better camera work on Redtube.

FFS those photos are fine. Clear even, SaintPerve.

 

[rosco rathbone]

FFS those photos are fine. Clear even, SaintPerve.

Some peeps live in more or less hick towns where little of construction interest ever happens and they cop attitude.

 

[thør]

FFS those photos are fine. Clear even, SaintPerve.

Fucking tinners.........