A super's comment on my fit-up changed my whole approach

Last month on a job in Gary, Indiana, the superintendent walked by while I was lining up a shell course and said, 'You're forcing the gap instead of letting the plate settle.' He was right. I had been pulling that joint with a come-along and dogging it down, which made the weld shrink worse and led to a hour of grinding. Now I back off the dogs and use a temp tack to check the natural sag before I commit. It takes an extra ten minutes per joint but saves me from rework that used to eat my whole afternoon. Has anyone else had a boss point out a habit you didn't know you had, and what did they say?

2 comments

2 Comments

richardfox27d ago

Hold on there, I get the logic but I've seen that "natural sag" trick bite guys in the ass on bigger shells. Sometimes you gotta force that gap a little to get the fit right for the weld, otherwise you're fighting a whole different kind of shrinkage later. A temp tack tells you the story, but it doesn't always tell you the whole story, know what I mean?

cole_bailey8525d ago

What size shell we talking before that sag stops being your friend?