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)

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.

On 6/24/2014 9:33 PM, Kennedy wrote:

Yep mate you'll be called Jonno for sure.

If I'm lucky... Screw something up royally and I'll likely earn a more
colorful nickname... lol


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.

Hand tools, wrenches, shifters (Crescent wrench in the States),
screwdrivers, etc. Most of the guys have at least their own battery
drill. Thing is, it's a big plant, I walk more in one day than I did in
a week in my own shop back in the States. One can be called out anywhere
to fix or install something. Having one's own tools means not having to
share and track down a shop tool. Not sure how much is standard practice
in NSW, how much is company policy, or how much is personal preference.

Plant is in the process of being sold, lots of talk of a big expansion
in the works. New head of maintenance I think is a great bloke and
really wants to get on top of things, moving from reactive to proactive.
He's also interested in stocking more shop tools, but big changes will
have to come after the sale goes through.

Jon

On 24-Jun-14 7:54 PM, Jon Anderson wrote:
On 6/24/2014 9:33 PM, Kennedy wrote:

Yep mate you'll be called Jonno for sure.

If I'm lucky... Screw something up royally and I'll likely earn a more
colorful nickname... lol


As long as they don't call you "passion fingers"


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.

Hand tools, wrenches, shifters (Crescent wrench in the States),
screwdrivers, etc. Most of the guys have at least their own battery
drill. Thing is, it's a big plant, I walk more in one day than I did in
a week in my own shop back in the States. One can be called out anywhere
to fix or install something. Having one's own tools means not having to
share and track down a shop tool. Not sure how much is standard practice
in NSW, how much is company policy, or how much is personal preference.

Plant is in the process of being sold, lots of talk of a big expansion
in the works. New head of maintenance I think is a great bloke and
really wants to get on top of things, moving from reactive to proactive.
He's also interested in stocking more shop tools, but big changes will
have to come after the sale goes through.

Jon

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 20:26:15 +1000, 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)

Call it a bleeding "slaughterhouse" mate so we Yanks can understand
what you are talking about.

And yeah..thats one of the reasons I remain in "maintainence"...its
never boring.

Gunner

"Libertarianism IS fascism... Fascism is corporate government – a Libertarian’s wet dream"
Tala Brandeis
Owner at Tala Brandeis Associates"

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)

Sounds like a fun and varied job. Do you get employee discounts on
company products? No job is ever worth the hell of living in an urban
area.

On 6/24/2014 3:26 AM, 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)
Just wait till Summer comes and all that biologic material gets warm!

Paul

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 09:45:01 -0700, Paul Drahn
wrote:

On 6/24/2014 3:26 AM, 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)
Just wait till Summer comes and all that biologic material gets warm!

Paul

Yummmy!! The smell she is gonna be unique!


"Libertarianism IS fascism... Fascism is corporate government – a Libertarian’s wet dream"
Tala Brandeis
Owner at Tala Brandeis Associates"

On 6/25/2014 2:45 AM, Paul Drahn wrote:

Just wait till Summer comes and all that biologic material gets warm!

Oh yeah, gonna be a real treat, lol. For this job, I'm blessed with a
less than stellar sense of smell, but it's still going to come through....

Jon

On 6/25/2014 2:07 AM, Pete C. wrote:

Sounds like a fun and varied job. Do you get employee discounts on
company products? No job is ever worth the hell of living in an urban
area.

Don't know. I like lamb, but not sure I want to buy in 100lb boxes...

And this is just lovely country. Crispy brown in summer, but right now
it's all green, and the air is clean like I remember from my youth. No,
cleaner.
Wish I had my good camera with me the other day driving to work. Wispy
mist over an open field, higher thin fog, and scattered clouds beyond.
Sun was a bright ball just above the horizon coming through the fog, and
the moon clearly visible just above through the broken clouds.
Would have made a bitchin shot.


Jon

Jon Anderson wrote:

On 6/25/2014 2:07 AM, Pete C. wrote:

Sounds like a fun and varied job. Do you get employee discounts on
company products? No job is ever worth the hell of living in an urban
area.

Don't know. I like lamb, but not sure I want to buy in 100lb boxes...

I love lamb, please sent 100lb boxes


And this is just lovely country. Crispy brown in summer, but right now
it's all green, and the air is clean like I remember from my youth. No,
cleaner.
Wish I had my good camera with me the other day driving to work. Wispy
mist over an open field, higher thin fog, and scattered clouds beyond.
Sun was a bright ball just above the horizon coming through the fog, and
the moon clearly visible just above through the broken clouds.
Would have made a bitchin shot.

Sounds like here in rural N. TX.

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 10:29:03 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 09:45:01 -0700, Paul Drahn
wrote:

On 6/24/2014 3:26 AM, 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)
Just wait till Summer comes and all that biologic material gets warm!

Paul

Yummmy!! The smell she is gonna be unique!

Poor Jono. His brand new wifey may have get used to new smells if the
job odiferizes him and his clothes. I sure hope not, though.

Rebuilding a pump which has been sloughing blood and entrails might
not be something one wishes to do more than once (if that.)

G'luck, Jon! Even if the job doesn't last long, may it at least last
long enough to fund the shipment of your tools over there.

--
Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.
-- Robert J. Sawyer

On 6/25/2014 6:23 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:

Poor Jono. His brand new wifey may have get used to new smells if the
job odiferizes him and his clothes. I sure hope not, though.

But the dogs sure are happy to see me when I get home! LOL....

Rebuilding a pump which has been sloughing blood and entrails might
not be something one wishes to do more than once (if that.)

Not as bad as it sounds. Well, there is one job that I dread. Heads,
hooves, entrails, etc, get dumped into a big pit. Twin auger screws feed
this mess to one end, where another auger screw takes it up to the start
of the rendering process. This auger has been cracking at the bottom on
a fairly regular basis, and sooner or later I'm going to have to get
down in there, clean out all the 'stuff', and reweld.
The other decent paying job I looked at, 40 minute commute, involved
monitoring a plant that removes PCBs from transformer oil. Plant runs
24/7, 10 hour shifts. I could easily fall asleep on an overnight shift.
Something go wrong with the process, and maybe hear about me on the news...
I do have my eye on the maintenance position where my wife works, a
retirement village. Brand new facility. Current maintenance guy should
be retiring in a few years, and I'll have a more than excellent shot at
the job. There is an excellent benefit there, called a celpack card
(sp?), a portion of ones pay, up to $16k/year available on a debit card.
Cannot be used to get cash nor pay off credit cards, but can be used to
buy most anything. That money is tax free. With both of us working
there, that's around $32k/year tax free. And no mortgage/rent.
And good pay in the mean time.

G'luck, Jon! Even if the job doesn't last long, may it at least last
long enough to fund the shipment of your tools over there.

Thanks! My boss likes me, and I think I've got a job there as long as I
want it.


Jon

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:13:23 -0500, "Pete C."
wrote:


Jon Anderson wrote:

On 6/25/2014 2:07 AM, Pete C. wrote:

Sounds like a fun and varied job. Do you get employee discounts on
company products? No job is ever worth the hell of living in an urban
area.

Don't know. I like lamb, but not sure I want to buy in 100lb boxes...

I love lamb, please sent 100lb boxes

Me, too, but first ask yourself "Just how much does it cost to send a
100# box of lamb with 20# of dry ice around it from Oz to USA?" Once
you do the checking, you'd probably rather have a nice $600 Kobe steak
flown in from Japan instead, as it would be cheaper. Shipping from Oz
is Ucking Funreal.

FedEX International First @ $12.80/lb x 125 = "only" $1,535. thud

--
Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.
-- Robert J. Sawyer

On Wed, 25 Jun 2014 06:39:02 +1000, Jon Anderson
wrote:

On 6/25/2014 6:23 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:

Poor Jono. His brand new wifey may have get used to new smells if the
job odiferizes him and his clothes. I sure hope not, though.

But the dogs sure are happy to see me when I get home! LOL....

Careful you're not dinner some time, wot?


Rebuilding a pump which has been sloughing blood and entrails might
not be something one wishes to do more than once (if that.)

Not as bad as it sounds. Well, there is one job that I dread. Heads,
hooves, entrails, etc, get dumped into a big pit. Twin auger screws feed
this mess to one end, where another auger screw takes it up to the start
of the rendering process. This auger has been cracking at the bottom on
a fairly regular basis, and sooner or later I'm going to have to get
down in there, clean out all the 'stuff', and reweld.

Ick!


The other decent paying job I looked at, 40 minute commute, involved
monitoring a plant that removes PCBs from transformer oil. Plant runs
24/7, 10 hour shifts. I could easily fall asleep on an overnight shift.
Something go wrong with the process, and maybe hear about me on the news...
I do have my eye on the maintenance position where my wife works, a
retirement village. Brand new facility. Current maintenance guy should
be retiring in a few years, and I'll have a more than excellent shot at
the job. There is an excellent benefit there, called a celpack card
(sp?), a portion of ones pay, up to $16k/year available on a debit card.
Cannot be used to get cash nor pay off credit cards, but can be used to
buy most anything. That money is tax free. With both of us working
there, that's around $32k/year tax free. And no mortgage/rent.
And good pay in the mean time.

Good.


G'luck, Jon! Even if the job doesn't last long, may it at least last
long enough to fund the shipment of your tools over there.

Thanks! My boss likes me, and I think I've got a job there as long as I
want it.

I'll bet the turnover rate there is tremendous. Best of luck to yas.

--
Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.
-- Robert J. Sawyer

On 6/25/2014 2:09 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Wed, 25 Jun 2014 06:39:02 +1000, Jon Anderson
wrote:

Not as bad as it sounds. Well, there is one job that I dread. Heads,
hooves, entrails, etc, get dumped into a big pit. Twin auger screws feed
this mess to one end, where another auger screw takes it up to the start
of the rendering process. This auger has been cracking at the bottom on
a fairly regular basis, and sooner or later I'm going to have to get
down in there, clean out all the 'stuff', and reweld.

Ick!

Well talk about timing, that ****er broke this afternoon. It's one of
those stay until fixed things. Nastiest friggin job I've ever done. At
least someone else had to pull the guts out.

So it's a screw conveyor, which runs in a rounded bottom trough. Got
some high top rubber boots out of stores and work pants from the
laundry. Climb down the ladder, and it's a friggin mess. Wet and
slippery, bits of guts everywhere. I'm bent over facing down hill,
welding up to 2' away so can hardly see what I'm doing. Have a real nice
electronic welding hood my stepson gave me but can't get it to flip down
far enough. Wish I had my Huntsman with the large lens. With no firm
footing, feet slipping, and having to pull hood down with one hand just
so I can see through the lens, I'm one-handing the stinger, filling huge
gaps, all the while surrounded by the aroma of cooking sheep bits. And
the thing really got mangled this time. No way my repair is as strong as
the last. Told them it's going to have to come out and be fixed proper.
There's a short section of new conveyor that we can replace the bad
section with. I think something's out of alignment causing the problems.

There's enough work, they're advertising for a fitter/fabricator to help
me out. Hope they hire someone before it breaks again....

Climbing up the ladder after I finished, I felt every single one of my
57 years... On the positive side, after handling this job, I can deal
with anything they throw at me.


Jon

On Wed, 25 Jun 2014 19:41:41 +1000, Jon Anderson
wrote:

On 6/25/2014 2:09 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Wed, 25 Jun 2014 06:39:02 +1000, Jon Anderson
wrote:

Not as bad as it sounds. Well, there is one job that I dread. Heads,
hooves, entrails, etc, get dumped into a big pit. Twin auger screws feed
this mess to one end, where another auger screw takes it up to the start
of the rendering process. This auger has been cracking at the bottom on
a fairly regular basis, and sooner or later I'm going to have to get
down in there, clean out all the 'stuff', and reweld.

Ick!

Well talk about timing, that ****er broke this afternoon. It's one of

Condolences.


those stay until fixed things. Nastiest friggin job I've ever done. At
least someone else had to pull the guts out.

Every little bit helps.


So it's a screw conveyor, which runs in a rounded bottom trough. Got
some high top rubber boots out of stores and work pants from the
laundry. Climb down the ladder, and it's a friggin mess. Wet and
slippery, bits of guts everywhere. I'm bent over facing down hill,
welding up to 2' away so can hardly see what I'm doing. Have a real nice
electronic welding hood my stepson gave me but can't get it to flip down
far enough. Wish I had my Huntsman with the large lens. With no firm
footing, feet slipping, and having to pull hood down with one hand just
so I can see through the lens, I'm one-handing the stinger, filling huge
gaps, all the while surrounded by the aroma of cooking sheep bits. And
the thing really got mangled this time. No way my repair is as strong as
the last. Told them it's going to have to come out and be fixed proper.
There's a short section of new conveyor that we can replace the bad
section with. I think something's out of alignment causing the problems.

Oh, yeah. If it keeps breaking, repair isn't the answer.


There's enough work, they're advertising for a fitter/fabricator to help
me out. Hope they hire someone before it breaks again....

Cross every appendage you have, wot?


Climbing up the ladder after I finished, I felt every single one of my
57 years... On the positive side, after handling this job, I can deal
with anything they throw at me.

The downside of that is that, now they can count on you, they will.
g

--
Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.
-- Robert J. Sawyer

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

Good timing!

play it safe- it sounds like there's lots of large nasty machines to get
caught up in there.

On 6/24/2014 5:26 AM, 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...
....

Just out of curiosity, how large a facility is it? The beef plant here
is about 6500/day while the hog facility about 50 mi away is 20000/day
just for comparisons...

--

On 6/28/2014 6:24 AM, Cydrome Leader wrote:

play it safe- it sounds like there's lots of large nasty machines to get
caught up in there.

Yes, it's a heads-up place for sure. What's really creepy to watch is
the robot that cuts the sheep carcasses. They come up on the feed chain,
there's two robots with big fingered grippers that alternate plucking
the carcass off the hooks, one is at the sawing robot while the other is
getting another carcass. Then this giant 3' diameter blade on another
robot parts the shoulders, ribs, back, and rump in a matter of seconds.
It's caged of course and the infeed has a very sensitive floor mat.
I've been inside once to help with the out feed conveyor. Have to remove
a key from the operator panel and insert in a lock at the door. Only
when this key is in place, can a 2nd key be removed, and the door
opened. Still, it's creepy being in there.
I do consider myself pretty heads up looking out for myself, but this
environment is well outside my experience, so I'm doubly careful.

Jon

On 6/28/2014 8:09 AM, dpb wrote:

Just out of curiosity, how large a facility is it? The beef plant here
is about 6500/day while the hog facility about 50 mi away is 20000/day
just for comparisons...

Wow, nowhere near those numbers! Somewhere around 1500-3000 sheep a day,
and starting this next week the beef floor will be doing about 100 a
day. The new owners are planning to significantly expand beef
processing, but still not even close to those numbers. There are some
big stations in Australia and I presume, much larger abattoirs. But
around here, sheep and cattle run in much smaller numbers and all I have
seen, are free range. Farmers alternate crops with grazing of animals.

Jon

On 6/28/2014 2:12 AM, Jon Anderson wrote:
On 6/28/2014 8:09 AM, dpb wrote:

Just out of curiosity, how large a facility is it? The beef plant here
is about 6500/day while the hog facility about 50 mi away is 20000/day
just for comparisons...

Wow, nowhere near those numbers! Somewhere around 1500-3000 sheep a day,
and starting this next week the beef floor will be doing about 100 a
day. The new owners are planning to significantly expand beef
processing, but still not even close to those numbers. There are some
big stations in Australia and I presume, much larger abattoirs. But
around here, sheep and cattle run in much smaller numbers and all I have
seen, are free range. Farmers alternate crops with grazing of animals.

Still there'll be more than enough to keep ya' goin' methinks...

No sheep around here, though.

Not surprised they're trying to expand beef processing capacity; there's
been a couple major US chains recently come out w/ ad campaigns they're
switching to Aussie beef. The purported reason is they can't source
enough US "responsibly raised" beef but that's purely hogwash. It's
clearly a marketing ploy to play into a target audience who are totally
ignorant of production and get cheaper beef in the process. The implied
castigation of US-produced beef is a real stink in the producing areas
of the US right now...

--