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#10959 06/25/02 08:47 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 218
S
spkjpr Offline OP
Member
Last nightat the industry that I work for ,we found some liquid-tite that was bubbled and burnt like a fried egg. The wiring inside was also toast. The junior man,who is actually older than I, said it looked an arc welder had burned it up. I had often heard of this but never saw it. But it makes sense. We then looked at what was being welded and found it sitting on wood blocks on a steel deckplate,knowing it was insulated we then looked for the cause. The only way we found it could have happened was that the stinger, electrode holder, had the plastic insulator broken off the nose. Could this be possible? Both of us say so, but the General foreman says " no way!" Just wondered if some of the Industrial Maintenance guys have had similair occurences.

#10960 06/25/02 11:44 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 360
T
Member
Need a little clarification. Was the liquidtite burnt from the outside in, or was it burnt from the inside out.

It is very possible to break the cover off of the stinger and wind up welding something you don't want to weld.

We replace stinger insulators all of the time. They are only bakalite, with allen screws holding them on. They are designed to be a consumable part.

trainwire

#10961 06/25/02 12:19 PM
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 717
G
Member
Used to have a picture of a piece of liquid tite that a welder destroyed. He clamped onto the pipe for a ground, and the LT looked exactly as you describe.

Now the fun part...draw your ground path [Linked Image]

#10962 06/25/02 11:19 PM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,527
B
Moderator
Wow—that brings back memories. Found the same thing a highschool ag shop. It was a 3-foot span of ¾-inch liquidtight with it’s grey vinyl jacket ‘drooled’ off. The students had clipped the welder ground clamp on an I beam, and one kid had placed his work on an outdoor bandsaw “table.” That’s when I found out that ½- and ¾-inch UL-listed liquidtight has a helical ground conductor the size of 18AWG. The otherwise similar non-listed material had a piece of string in place of the copper(!) The circuitous ground-return/bandsaw/welding table had been used like this for several weeks previous. [The instructor wasn’t too happy.]

The one thing worse is a lazy welder who hooks his ground on the wrong end of a conveyor and strikes an arc in just the wrong place—it can destroy heaps of ball bearings in minutes.

#10963 06/26/02 05:47 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 360
T
Member
I work for a railroad. We had a situation where two of the metel monkeys got their "work" leads all tangled up and just grabbed a clamp and stuck it to the locomotive they were welding on. They were working on seperate tracks in the same building. When the leads got straightened out, sure enough the "work" leads were backwards, so the welding current was going through the locomotive, into the track, out to the switch where the tracks came together, and back up to the correct lead. Figured that the ground path was just short of a quarter mile long. [Linked Image]
Fortunatly for them, at 10 tons per axle, there was enough weight on the bearings that no damage was done to them as the electricity tried to find its way to the track.
Trainwire

#10964 06/26/02 08:08 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 218
S
spkjpr Offline OP
Member
Hey. Trainwire. My Dad retired from the railroad, he worked for the MOPAC befor it was UP and actually retired from the UP. Almost took a job in the same shop he was at. Oh and to clarify, the outside of the seal tite was burned and the way it was twisted it burnt the wires inside. Thanks, now I can show the General foreman I'm not lying or crazy.

[This message has been edited by spkjpr (edited 06-26-2002).]

#10965 06/29/02 12:58 AM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Broom Pusher and
Member
Trainwire,

Were you around when I was posting the Locomotive info to the site?

It would have been great to have an "Insider" add information too!

If not, try checking through the post archives for said topics and [if you feel the urge to type], add some comments.

Scott S.E.T.

P.S. Long time Railfan [So. Cal. carriers, like ATSF (BNSF now), SP and UP]. Had a Friend who worked for ATSF, that did Amfleet service [Amtrak commuters with the EMD F40PH Locos pulling the 1/2 cans], and one brother-in-law who was an Electrician for ATSF, who went to Amtrak in the late 70's.

SET


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
#10966 06/30/02 07:34 AM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Broom Pusher and
Member
On the subject of Fried Wires,
[Linked Image]
This place comes to mind! [Linked Image]

Funny how a person with high Law skills and knowledge would allow the Seller to get away with the stuff he did...
[Linked Image]
Realtor / Seller, Home Inspector and Fire Marshall is shown on the Right.

[Linked Image]

[joke]Incredible, but true!!![/joke]

Scott S.E.T.

P.S. Had to come back and edit the post... URLs need double slashes ( // ) to work right. Including them in a post is a good thing... [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by Scott35 (edited 06-30-2002).]


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
#10967 07/01/02 05:59 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 360
T
Member
Amazing where you'll find railfan.
Scott:
Since I have been a member of the site for only a few months, I have no idea of which postings that you are referring to. The 32volt lighting system under "violation photos" is some of the stuff that I work on.
I would love to read through the postings if you would give me a hint as to where I should look for them.

Trainwire

#10968 07/01/02 07:36 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,236
Likes: 1
Member


-Virgil
Residential/Commercial Inspector
5 Star Inspections
Member IAEI
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