Thread: Interesting Old Equipment, Projects & Work Places

Originally Posted by 4bee

3T As a team they are probably excellent because that is the Training, but as a sole Mechanic out in the donga without any backup could tell a different story.

They'd be on the horn after each turn of the spanner. "Was that right Sarge?"


Btw. when I say horn I meant the radio not the other sort.

Originally Posted by bob10

Perhaps you should ask Blknight about that.

I've had them...

typically guys who were just riding coat tails, didnt want to do the job so would feign lack of confidence at the task until someone who could get it done quickly was sent.

there are worse out there but they work cheap and usually wind up in simple jobs that you have to do for them so that you can get your parts done.... things like basic clean up, sequence, more than one instruction at a time, pretty much anything more involved than "sod off over there and stay out of the way" will leave them standing there cock in hand looking at the thing that wouldn't stump a 6 year old with any kind of moral standing, work ethic and interest in the trade waiting for you to come and mollycodle them through things like,, put the flat washer on, put the spring washer on then wind the nut on and tighten it with the torque wrench till it goes click.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

I've had them...

typically guys who were just riding coat tails, didnt want to do the job so would feign lack of confidence at the task until someone who could get it done quickly was sent.

there are worse out there but they work cheap and usually wind up in simple jobs that you have to do for them so that you can get your parts done.... things like basic clean up, sequence, more than one instruction at a time, pretty much anything more involved than "sod off over there and stay out of the way" will leave them standing there cock in hand looking at the thing that wouldn't stump a 6 year old with any kind of moral standing, work ethic and interest in the trade waiting for you to come and mollycodle them through things like,, put the flat washer on, put the spring washer on then wind the nut on and tighten it with the torque wrench till it goes click.

Never had that experience. Different generation?

Originally Posted by bob10

Never had that experience. Different generation?

bit of a blend some generation, some locational spoiled brats but lots of nationality based incidents.

of recent....

Ive got an extension lead plugged in to a compressor so I can charge up an air tank, guy comes up and asks me where the extension cords are. I tell him, 20 minutes later hes back and simply unplugged the compressor to take the extension cord, his reasoning, he cant find the leads. pack up what Im doing (compressed air stuff so I cant leave it charged) make it safe, wander down, open the door pick up the leads.

The issue.. He thought the door was locked, which could have been fair enough excusing it had the key in the lock.

This thread has been a great read so far. Seems like I have couple of years to go before I have the years of work that some have had. Feel old at the moment though. Crook leg, that`s another story though. Do remember working as a labor hire temp at a site in Altona Victoria. I was there for about five months, would have been the early ninety`s. The facility made the polymer for polystyrene. The process used hexane, ammonia and a gas that from memory was something like h13. They put a smell in that gas. If you got a wiff you had 15 seconds to move. The hexane also gave the place a extra element of impending doom. There where two three story high tanks of hexane on site. All tools where tied, and a company rep followed you around with a gas detector. Fun place. Whilst there we had a fire drill, well sort of a fire drill. We all wandered out casual like to the assembly area. Company foreman then informs us that in this place there would most likely be no fire, just a boom, a really really big boom. The blast radius would be at least five kilometers. Interesting as Altona was only two kilometers down the road. It was a old plant. I would guess from memory that nearly all the bolts and nuts where square headed. They where trying to to do some renovations while I was there. The fire water pipes had more holes than a pope sprinkler. I would fit a blind, they would pressurise that section, welder would mark and patch the holes. The pipes where rusting out quicker due to the chemicals put in the water to combat legionnaires that was rampant in the plant. Hmm I wonder sometimes why I was glad to leave that place.
Cheers Hall

part 3 - brickworks: Firing:

After about 10 days or so the green bricks were then moved on the pallets to the kilns for firing.

: https://collection.maas.museum/object/54041


There were 4 or 5 very basic types of"Scotch" kilns. These types of Kilns have been in use for hundreds of years in various similar forms. The bricks had to be stacked in the Kiln in such a way that provided passageways for the hot firing gases to circulate evenly through the stack. A very labour intensive and back breaking job!

Once the kiln was loaded the end was bricked up with old bricks and roughly sealed with clay.

Initially fires were lit using mill offcuts. This phase was called "steaming" as the bricks still held a lot of moisture and needed to be heated slowly. Once it appeared that a satisfactory moisture level had been obtained oil firing was commenced. Heavy bunker oil was used, fed into each "firehole" via a portable nozzle under pressure.


The supply lines for the oil were buried underground and wrapped with trace heating tape. Bunker oil is a horrible smelly product, and constant attention was needed to maintain the burner nozzles. A long probe containing a thermocouple was inserted into roughly the centre of one side of the kiln and connected to a portable temperature reading instrument.

Cannot recall what the probe material was, but as the required temperature is 1,000 degrees C, it must of been some form of alloy.

The fireman looked after the burning, but I used to get called to attend to the temperature probe, as it was prone to bending and failing with the heat. I think the whole firing cycle took around 5 days, and then several days for the kiln to cool down.

The modern brick making process uses a "tunnel kiln" for firing in a much more efficient process, where the heat is recycled and used at the primary end.

to be continued

Originally Posted by Hall

This thread has been a great read so far. Seems like I have couple of years to go before I have the years of work that some have had. Feel old at the moment though. Crook leg, that`s another story though. Do remember working as a labor hire temp at a site in Altona Victoria. I was there for about five months, would have been the early ninety`s. The facility made the polymer for polystyrene. The process used hexane, ammonia and a gas that from memory was something like h13. They put a smell in that gas. If you got a wiff you had 15 seconds to move. The hexane also gave the place a extra element of impending doom. There where two three story high tanks of hexane on site. All tools where tied, and a company rep followed you around with a gas detector. Fun place. Whilst there we had a fire drill, well sort of a fire drill. We all wandered out casual like to the assembly area. Company foreman then informs us that in this place there would most likely be no fire, just a boom, a really really big boom. The blast radius would be at least five kilometers. Interesting as Altona was only two kilometers down the road. It was a old plant. I would guess from memory that nearly all the bolts and nuts where square headed. They where trying to to do some renovations while I was there. The fire water pipes had more holes than a pope sprinkler. I would fit a blind, they would pressurise that section, welder would mark and patch the holes. The pipes where rusting out quicker due to the chemicals put in the water to combat legionnaires that was rampant in the plant. Hmm I wonder sometimes why I was glad to leave that place.
Cheers Hall

Seems like I have couple of years to go before I have the years of work that some have had. Feel old at the moment though. Crook leg, that`s another story though. Do

Be careful what you wish for Hall.

Interesting Stuff OF.



When I was a little kid we used to go to Hallets Brickworks Pug Hole at Thebarton on the banks of the River Torrens, (probably the oldest clay workings in the state) the place was full of Clay excavations, Water ponds, Reeds & Snakes undergrowth & was a great Adventure Playground & not without some dangers from Snakes & the Speeding returning Clay Tipper Wagons on rails. This was hoisted up by a winch , emptied & then let run down freely back to the workings controlled by the wire cable.

Sometimes when the rail track was blanked off by Clay Banks & undergrowth, you didn't hear the trucks coming until they were right on you. Gave one a bit of a fright & concentrated one's mind to say the least. We would roam barefooted ignoring the shouts of the workmen. How dare they, trying to get us off Dangerous Active Industrial workings. Bloody cheek.
There was also a rubbish dump in one corner of the pug-hole where kids being the scavengers that they are found some interesting stuff.

One day I spotted a 100 gallon Orange Water tank that I thought could make a good Fort. Why not? Rolled it all the way home aprox 2 miles got to the front gate to be met by my old man who told me to take it straight back. We had a Red Kelpie Dog that followed us everywhere, so we (dog & me) about faced & rolled it all the way back to the dump.

He must have heard us coming up the bitumen road when we left the pug hole.

My late elder Brother, bare footed as usual, trod on some very hot ashes from burning rubbish. As luck happened a neighbour riding his treadlie home from work saw us, lifted my bro onto the crossbar & walked him home to be greeted by a worried Mum & Dad. I recall his feet were doused with Picric Acid & when I google that it seems it is fairly dangerous stuff but my My mum did have some so on it went. Seems it can be a burns treatment & I suppose they took him to the Doc's.

Great places Pug holes.

The Hallet's Brick constructed Kiln chimney still stands today & is the land mark/ focal point for a Weekly Market. I believe the kiln interior is now a posh display area with a coffee shop etc & they do tours through it.

The Kiln was a monster Hoffman Kiln.

Adelaide. Torrensville. The Federal Brickworks was taken o… | Flickr

Finding good "plastic" type of clay is always a problem for brickmaking. The site where I was had a worked out old pond, which was used as a water supply. The clay was trucked in by a local contractor from various places around the area. I guess that the stock pile had a working face of about 30 feet or 10 meters or so. It was built so that the trucks could drive up the angled side of it and tip the load.

One day there was a hell of a commotion from the area that could be heard all over the plant. Everybody rushed to the stockpile to find one of the trucks sitting on its wheels at the bottom of the working face! I think that what had happened is that the driver was turning around to get into position to back up to dump his load. He must of got a bit close to the edge while side on, and over he went! The truck was an old Foden with a fiberglass cab(GRP), and the only damage was a couple of cracks in the cab and it had popped the windscreen out! The driver was a bit shaken up but otherwise uninjured! Not sure about his underwear! We checked it over and it was driven away.

Just as a point of interest, the same contractor bought the first hydraulic excavator to come into the area, which was used to dig out and load the clay onto the trucks. The plant manager took me to look at it as it was such a novelty!

At the plant we had an old "Bucyrus" dipper type excavator, which although it still ran, had been pensioned off. I used to start it up and play with it from time to time just to keep it preserved. It had a strange mechanism to engage the tracks, using a small crank handle that had to be rotated a set number of turns, depending which way you wanted to travel. There was only one old Italian bloke that knew the sequence, and the bugger never did tell me what is was!


bucyrus shovel .jpg