On Tue, 16 Sep 2014 20:44:38 +1000, Jon Anderson
wrote:

Well, passed my probation with flying colors, so am assured a permanent
position long as I want it. Or can handle it... Spent 18 years working
in my garage on mostly small stuff. 57 is getting on a bit to be working
with some of the big heavy stuff in a rendering plant.

Congrats, I think. Do you have a shower at work? I'd think a
rendering plant could be a bit ripe. You described getting into that
one screw machine and my stomach flipped a bit thinking about it.


Though I'd seen them on American Chopper, I never had occasion to use
the thin abrasive slitting disks for small angle grinders. Have come to
love them!

Wonderful, aren't they? I started using them about 30 years ago and
haven't been without one since.


Forget the brand of oxy/acetylene torch, but prefer it over my long
favored Victor. Tips and the cutting attachment seal via o-rings well
before the nut is seated, and they use a fine vee toothed coupling that
prevents the tip or torch from rotating once tightened. Yeah, one should
use a wrench on the Victor torches, but I and everyone I've ever seen,
hand tightens them.

I've never seen a Victor wrench, either.


Never used any of the modern day battery powered tools, but boy, the
latest Milwuakee 18v brushless tools are impressive as hell. About a
grand for a drill, nut driver, grinder, torch (flashlight), 2
batteries/charger, and bag. Be my first big purchase after I get my
stuff here! Prices on tools are an eye opener. At one tool shop, $30 for
a carbide tipped scribe!

I paid $125 for the same setup (plus recip and circular saws) from
Ryobi, but gave $269 for the Makita impact driver, 2 3A LIon batts,
charger and case. The little 1/4" hex drive Makita is powerful enough
to take the lugnuts off my truck, though.


Though metric at two decimal places is not exactly intuitive yet, I find
general fabrication layout in MM is much faster and easier than dealing
with fractions.

I can imagine.


Inverter welders, wow. First time I've used them and I am impressed.
Would still like to have a Syncrowave 350 if I were rich, but around a
grand will get me a nice little welder that will do stick or TIG and run
off a 10 amp outlet. And they run a pretty nice bead for stick welding.

10A 220V, right?


I feared living way out in the sticks, tools and hardware would be hard
to come by. Well, not a great selection at the local hardware store, but
finding several suppliers that can get stuff here in a day or two. They
won't sell to individuals, but not hard to get an ABN (Australian
Business Number), required to do business with them. No sources equal to
McMaster or MSC yet. Gotta be someone here selling decent selections of
real machining supplies and tools but haven't found them. Not a big deal
right now, not much real machining going on, but when I finally get my
shop back together...

Best of luck with that. The shipping fees to and from Oz are beyond
ghastly, as I'm sure you already know. It can easily triple the price
of small items.


Have been more readily accepted than most places I worked in the States.
There's a lot of trash talk, all in good fun, but the place is
remarkably free of the egos and ****ing contests of jobs past. I'm the
old phart in the shop, but get along with the 18 year old apprentices as
well as the guys nearer my age.
Have long heard about Australians believing in "a fair go", and it's
true. My inevitable mistakes and oversights have been taken in stride as
part of my learning curve. They know I come from a different world, and
even someone with experience in the industry would take months to come
up to speed with this particular setup.

That's great to hear, Jon. Most Aussies I've met have a playful,
caustic wit (much like mine), and we get along great.


Maintenance all carry radios. My boss's name is John, and there was a
lot of confusion at first over which Jon/John was being called. So I
start hearing Yank, Yankee Jon, American Jon, etc, all confusing as
heck. Tried getting them to settle on Yank, with mixed results. Now,
right after I started a couple guys left. So I ended up with a radio
marked Houston. After a while I asked one of the guys which departed was
Houston. He laughed and said one of the outgoing had tagged me with
Houston (maybe having a very limited knowledge of US geography...)
Well, that has become my call sign. Am often hailed with "Houston, we
have a problem over at (insert plant location)" LOL...

Hoboy! Start calling your boss Oz or Wizard, wot?

--
Resolve to be thyself: and know, that he who finds himself, loses his misery.
-- Matthew Arnold