On 24-Jun-14 6:26 PM, Jon Anderson wrote:
Didn't take long to find work down here once I decided 'vacation' was
over. Put together a resume and stopped by the largest local employer,
an abattoir. That's a nice non-descript name for slaughterhouse. Walked
in the gate with a resume, and by chance, crossed paths with the head of
maintenance. He was impressed with my resume, called back 8pm that night
and asked if I could start 8am the next morning! Turns out their
fitter/turner had tendered his resignation the day before I showed up.
They are in the middle of upgrading to expand export sales and were
wondering what the hell they would do. Not many fitter/turners out this
way...

Now, for some time I've discussed my work with respect to what's
available here, and was told by most that I would be looking for a
fitter/fabricator or fitter/turner job. But nobody could tell me what
the hell the fitter part of the description was. So I get hired as a
fitter/turner.

So, spent some time getting a tour from the outgoing fitter and come to
realized what a fitter is here, something akin to a millwright in the
States.
Turns out I am responsible for maintaining the rendering plant, pumps of
all sizes and descriptions, steam systems, shaker table, conveyors, and
things I know jack all about. Water/tallow separator, for lack of the
proper name - a rotary grinder that produces meal (what's left of sheep
bits after all the liquids have been extracted), something called a
'cage' that I think does that separating, and a whole lot more. Main
project at the moment is making what they call 'pins', these are welded
along the rail that rolling carcass hooks travel, stopping them at
various stations for whatever bits get trimmed off. The pins retract to
allow travel to the next station. Not a single existing two look alike,
and some are so worn it's a wonder they work at all. Mine look like
bricks ****houses by comparison. Get to start installing them Friday
when the beef line is down. There's a huge variety of work that I'll
cross paths with, from repairing robots to working on stuff driven by
electric motors I'd guess rate upwards of 100hp. BIG motors. There's a
welder/fitter, a couple general laborers, and a few sparkies in
maintenance. Outside of electrical which is strictly for the sparkies, I
might get called to work on just about anything else in the plant.
No boring repetition here!

Might have found a better paying job elsewhere, but with the nearest
such job likely a 40-80 minute drive and fuel running close to $6/gal
(approx), working 5 minutes from home is good. Probably get a bicycle
and ride to work come spring. (yeah, it's winter here, and friggin cold...)

Only bummer is having to buy tools I already have, in storage there.
Working on getting quotes to ship my stuff over, so trying to get by
with the minimum for now.
Have to say, been received better here, than many jobs I held over
there. Fitting in well with both the guys my age, and the younger kids.
It's obvious I'm in over my head a bit, and of course, I don't know
where anything is, nor whom I need to order stuff from, the guys have
been great helping me come up to speed.

Working at an abattoir isn't exactly what I aspired to, but have to be
realistic. This IS farm country... But outside of living in Sydney or
other urban area, it's the best match for my varied skills. Making good
money, and within a couple years should have a nice shop built out back
and a mill and lathe again, paid for in cash.

Jon
(or Jono... lol)


Yep mate you'll be called Jonno for sure.

Here in Oz or at least in Western Australia the trade has always been
called Fitting & Turning or Fitting & Machining. It encompassed fitting
plus pretty much all machining (lathe/mill/grinding etc).

The first I knew of other systems was when a pommy bloke joined a
company I was with and he was a Turner and had not been trained in
milling machine operation at all.


I'm surprised you need to buy your own tools. Most places I've worked
trades guys are supplied with tools. Having said that most guys usually
have their own favorite tools they own & take to work.


Glad you've landed on your feet.



Cheers from West Oz.