3/9-3/20 Catching Up

I missed last weeks blog post, so you are in luck! A double feature is now showing here!

The first week which would be 9th-13th was a pretty straight forward week. At my internship I did more annual maintenance on lawn equipment. At school I was able to fabricate a new engine hook for one of the engines at school. It was actually a lot of fun and gave me an excuse to use the acetylene torch. I cut an approximate 11" of  3/8x4" steel, constituting a "0" bit for my torch. I set the torch to 15-20 O2 and 3-5 for my acetylene. After cutting and drilling my steel I gave it a sleek flat black paint job to give it that clean cut look.

The old one was looking kind of... sketchy. 

Flat black does wonders. 

Looks clean cut now. 

 The second week I learned about vacuum and pressure testing on the fire engine pumps at the shop. By shutting all of the discharge valves and running the primer pump with no water we were able to create a vacuum in the pump, we then observed the gauge to note any significant loss in vacuum pressure. We then pressurized the system with shop air while covering the discharge ports with latex gloves to see if any air was escaping. Once we completed these tests we concluded that the pump packing needed to be replaced and set about taking the old packing out. To take out the old packing we took the plungers out and pressurized the system by flowing water from a secondary tender (T63) to the engine 70's intake/suction port. As the pressure built to about 170psi in the 2 1/2" hose, it forced the old pump packing to be blasted out.

Pretty cool system they use. 

E70 Is a classy Ol' Girl. 

Wood paneling

Detroit 92 still kickin'

NWFR Shop Hours for March: 40.25

BTC Shop Hours for 3/1-Present: 31

3/2-3/6 Weather Packs

Last week I learned how to properly install weather packs for electronics. Sadly, I did not take any pictures but here are a few web images of what I used

After stripping the wire I installed the male/female ends to the bare wires for proper connection. There is a crimp tool specifically designed for weather packs to use that will make your life much easier. However, they can be installed without it but it just becomes more difficult.

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Rigging, MIG Welding (2/23-2/27)

This week at school we had two assignments to complete by weeks end. The first, was to properly and safely rig some miscellaneous items around the shop. A few engines, a concrete block, a press, and a fork lift to top it all off. We had to estimate the weight of each item before we rigged it then show how we would safely rig it for lifting by finding the center of gravity and using the proper rigging straps or chains. A spreader bar came in handy with the engines. 

We were also to complete the first initial passes on a steel "x" for a lack of a better term. We used 1/4"x4" steel with 1/4"x2", tacked them together in an "x" pattern, then proceeded to weld them together. For my first layer of welding I used the MIG welder, I hope that this next week to start in on stick welding. A very useful tool I have been using is a YouTube channel called Welding Tips and Tricks. He also has a website with weekly uploads on everything welding.  

Forklift weighed more than we estimated. By a lot. 

Was right on the money for the Duetz engine.

Second time in my life using a MIG welder, not to shabby I think. 

BTC Shop time for this week: 12 hours

Shop time at NWFR: 16 hours (69.25 total hours for FEB)