ABS aluminum welding specifications are bad enough but the NAVSEA rules are even worse. It rains like hell in the Pacific Northwest, water wicks into rubber weld lines of our TIG and MIG machines, aluminum is porous and holds rain water no matter how long you preheat it, even if you get the water out the hydrogen gets held in until the weld puddle touches it. Re qualifying welding processes (to pass RT, UT, NDT) is a real pain and expensive and it fails anyhow because Guido (related to the Soprano's) squirts WD-40 on the wire spools in the middle of the night (if I could only catch him). Porosity and incomplete fusion are killing me. Each RT or UT fix generates three more shots, two more repairs, three more failures and an never ending cascade of disaster. It keeps getting exponentially worse.
Gas supplier wont release the dew point specs for their gases, Guido has the fix in, pay up with shovel leaners (think Cal Trans) or you will fail. Why are we getting big black stains in the middle of a 10 inch continuous MIG or TIG weld? New wire, bag the machines each night, use desiccant bags, replace hoses monthly, stainless brushes, ABS, DNV & NAVSEA certified welders, certified processes that use to work, new welding machines, TIG MIG, PIG none of it works for very long. RT guys high five when they fail a weld because it means more profit on a CPFF contract.
I am going to have DCMA and DCAA investigate and then sue the hell out of everyone. What the heck, I'm going to call in NCIS and send everyone to Leavenworth for a long, long time. My lawers are free and theirs cost real dollars.
I love my job, piss, moan, snivel.
OK. That felt good, its out of my system Now I will conquer the shipyard bastards, win the fight and get my ship back on the water.
Nosigma.
Gas supplier wont release the dew point specs for their gases, Guido has the fix in, pay up with shovel leaners (think Cal Trans) or you will fail. Why are we getting big black stains in the middle of a 10 inch continuous MIG or TIG weld? New wire, bag the machines each night, use desiccant bags, replace hoses monthly, stainless brushes, ABS, DNV & NAVSEA certified welders, certified processes that use to work, new welding machines, TIG MIG, PIG none of it works for very long. RT guys high five when they fail a weld because it means more profit on a CPFF contract.
I am going to have DCMA and DCAA investigate and then sue the hell out of everyone. What the heck, I'm going to call in NCIS and send everyone to Leavenworth for a long, long time. My lawers are free and theirs cost real dollars.
I love my job, piss, moan, snivel.
OK. That felt good, its out of my system Now I will conquer the shipyard bastards, win the fight and get my ship back on the water.
Nosigma.
