Me and 5 other guys had to go in yesterday and install a huge gearbox that has been under emergency repairs at a machine shop for 3 weeks.
They had been working ungodly hours in shifts trying to get it fixed.
Fabricating shafts with gears, sending them out to get heat treated, hand grinding some gears for proper mesh, getting bearings, setting clearances etc.
They kept having problems setting the end play on the shafts until they discovered one whole side cover was warped so they had to take it back apart and machine it flat.
Meanwhile the Big Wigs at our company were having kittens of course.
This machine is their money maker.
It flattens and cuts those huge steel rolls.
This particular gearbox is for the Large Leveler, a machine with two sets of basically hydraulically operated roll pins that smash the rolls flat and to whatever thickness they need.
That thing weighs 18,000 pounds empty and it holds 350 gallons of 85/140 gear oil.
Bottom left you will see 9 black colored Torque Limiters, the tenth one isn’t on yet. They are basically clutch packs.
When it’s installed in place, there are heavy truck drivelines bolted to them that run across and bolt to the rollers on the Large Leveler.
240 bolts to hold all those drivelines in alone.
There was the three of us from our Maintenance crew, a guy we talked into coming in who runs the crane on that line who lifted everything and swung it into place for us and two other Millwrights from another outfit who work on these things all the time.
I put in13 hours, another guy was there before me and wound up working 15 and nobody worked less than twelve.
I was wiped out and hurting like a sonofabitch when I got home.
Pain pills wouldn’t even touch it and then I didn’t sleep for shit because I had leg cramps all night waking me up from being on my feet all day.
My damn legs are still aching right now.
So that’s why I didn’t post anything yesterday and I’m here to tell ya,
I ain’t doing a damn thing today except sit here on my ass in the recliner with the heat and vibrate functions going full blast all day.
There is going to be at least one full blown nap coming my way too.
Geez Phil, without fellers like you and your crew society would grind to an halt. I sincerely hope your pain subsides and you get the rest you deserve. Best wishes all round!
Amen to that. Thank God for you and the rest of the men who keep this country running.
I have always been impressed by guys who can work with that big heavy stuff and get it to work right.
HOE LEE SHIT
hOW MUCH hp DOES IT TAKE TO RUN THAT THING ???
Surprisingly there are only two 150 horse electric motors needed.
Should have called Mike Rowe!
I feel for ya, been on a few like that. My and my partners company does a lot of installs,removals and rebuilds of all types of steel processing equipment. The two biggest PITA machines are corrective levelers and coil recoilers. Setting the preload on the bearings is a time consuming ordeal and each shaft in the sequence has different tolerances because of the different speeds.
We haven’t done any big repairs on these yet, but installation is enough of a job;
https://redbudindustries.com/stretcher-levelers/
Interesting machine. looks like it works good on gauge material.
Viewed with awe and respect. That equipment appears to be massive in size and capability. Doesn’t happen often, but a couple times a year, the phone rings and it is off go the races trying to get one of our systems back up. Three managers on the phone telling you how it critical that you fix it, before you even get to the site. Do you want me to figure it out, or do you want to have a meeting to discuss what you think the problem is. Never happens when it isn’t a crisis due to poor planning/ deferred maintenance/or funding issues. Can’t get additional technicians because they hired a crop of new engineers that are still trying to figure out which end of the screwdriver to hold.
Can still the things at 60 that I did at 30, but it hurts a hell of a lot more than I remember. Enjoy the nap and take it easy.
hell, I would love to be able to do the stuff I did back when I was 50 !
even a couple of lidocaine patches and 10 mg of hydro plus doesn’t even
start to mask the pain of trying to do something I used to think nothing of doing. getting old sucks bigtime !
Tell the new “engineers” to be useful and feed the “managers” into the machine, to free up money to maintain the machine with. Most places, the purpose of defending a pecking order overwhelms the purpose of producing a product or service.
But then they would have to deal with us uneducated technicians. The engineers have degrees, which is the goal. The contractors can charge a lot more money for degreed engineers than technicians. I am a “non-viable” candidate for the engineering positions because I don’t have the engineering degree. Apparently I’m dumb. Yet they always manage to call me when something breaks.
Agree with Chutes. Hats off to you, Phil!
Get some rest Phil. Well-deserved.
You deserve to be as lazy as you want.
Hey, what about me? I slaved over a hot keyboard keeping ya’ll entertained and sane.
Go get a manicure!
Try a manscape…
All that stuff looks familiar, always fun when gear box oil got low an then they discovered gold coming out the drain hole. Or U-joint pops and shaft whips around lookin’ for a place to jam into. Other fun thing was trouble shooting grease machine greasing entry end of the line.
Had upper and lower pass lines with levellers feeding shears then to a Miebach welder, three horizontal accumulators, stretch leveler pickling section above accumulators and a 5 stand 6 high mill.
Most fun I’ve ever had was trouble shooting with a competent knowledgeable mechanical type. World doesn’t run without mechanical types. Ya get there before sun comes up and don’t leave until it’s night time.
Then finally they just didn’t make a bottle of aspirin big enough.
God bless you for you, and not anyone nor anything else.
I snickered about the warped plate. I constantly preach and nag to people that the three most important things about machine installs and maintenance are alignment, alignment, and alignment. After safety, of course.
I also tell them to go ahead and ignore what the old guy is telling them, because they can pay me now or pay me later, and paying me later pays better.
I used to run a 2400 Weingarten stamping press. We used giant-ass coils like those in the pic; some up to 30,000 pounds. The machines feed the coils through straighteners similar to the one in the pic(looks like your working in the steel facility itself and that looks to be a slitter). The only way to feed the press was to drop the steel into a pit – supported by a bridge with rollers. This acted as a buffer for the feed speed of the coil. Worked on a lot of equipment like this. It will blow your chesticles out because everything is heavy and accidents hurt! It’s not for bitches, I can tell you that.
I’m guessing like most management no schedules for inspection and preventive maintenance work. Same at my last employer. Fooking idiots.
ps didn’t know you had a leveler in your shop, amazing how fast those things run.
Phil, have you seriously considered a hot tub for your aches and pains? Easy to maintain, you can get a little Coleman inflatable one-man and try it out. Small footprint and runs on 110vac at about 11-15 amps.
When my bones ache and i can’t move it’s amazing how it helps!
An anesthesiology teacher/doctor told me 2 extra strength Tylenol along with 3 regular aspirin (yeah all 5 at once) is the best you can do. I was surprised how well it worked for me, and recommend you try it when your hurting.