Short test video for Patreon only.

Wow, we also had acid dip for the copper heat exchanges, just 2 lads running each of the 4 stations 20min work and 20 min and a pint of milk off , the gas fired lead dip crucible was next to the acid. A few years later they thought it best to replace them with a robot arm, what followed was a steep learning curve for the designers, the main points being,,, 1/Replace the gas burner crucible with an electric (Kw cost was a massive increase in £s ) 2/ at the end they had 5 men in place of the 2 operators I always used to say out management would, Spend a Pound to save a Penny -- --- but not the other way around. Some times the old ways are the best. John

John Harrison

A coworker related how he had been working as a maintenance electrician in a factory with acid dip tanks. While checking a fault he got a shock and woke up between the two acid tanks that were behind him.

Big Clive

A sad story was a night shift maintenance worker went missing and his wife thought he had run off, 3 days later we drained the tank on the large degreaser. Ours had a walk gantry along side the tank, the overhead track dipped the sheet metal casings into the vapour that was held in check below finned cooling coils that would condense the vapour and stop the fumes leaking out into the paint shop area; no protective gear was needed to work next to the units (I bet today they would have all sorts of protection) Sad to say a body is mostly water and fat, so there was not much left for identification. The biggest danger is letting the Trich get hot since you only smell Phosgene once and then your ASS is Grass. The factory was an interesting place to work. One of my tasks was tuning the gas burners for the very large bright brazing furnace, I used a hand held O2 meter to get the NGas mix right. John

John Harrison

Yeah, I can remember the solvent tanks with a layer of water on them to prevent it evaporating. And all manner of delightful solvents like carbon tetrachloride. Not sure I fancy being near a heated solvent chamber these days.

Big Clive

My eyes are watering from here!

We had very large Trichloroethylene decreasing vapour ovens (sort of the best way to describe) with the overhead production track routed through them back in the 1980 it was one of the biggest in Europe. We also had a few other smaller units, I have a few stories about them but I will keep it short. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichloroethylene This stuff is now banned in paint preparation. Looking into the ovens was very odd with the vortices created by the components moving through the condensing vapour that was around 80'c, very uncomfortable to stand in. This should not be confused with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,1,1-Trichloroethane The solvent that used to be in Tipex typewriter correction fluid, this also has a high than water density which made the refill bottles unusually heavy. The other dodgy stuff that my dad used to clean with was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tetrachloride Amazing the solvents we used back in the 1970s-80s without a care in the world. My dad is still up to no good at 85y just a bit slower these days, chopping wood for the fire etc. John

John Harrison

Patreon thought I was a creator when I tried to watch the video: With COVID-19 having such an impact on our world and creative communities, Patreon is committed to keeping creators and our team safe during this uncertain time. i.e. don't cough on your microphone, we might catch something... :-/ BTW Youtube lets me watch it so maybe it was a glitch...

Stephen Eyles

Doesn't make much difference to us 'recluse' types anyway - prefer not to be in crowded places at the best of times and it's nice to have a peaceful cycle ride as my daily exercise :-D

Stephen Eyles

Used to be really good at clearing your sinuses. Really bad if you sprinkle them into boiling water and then rub your eye!

Neil Tonks

You can buy them in Boots or Tesco, I bought some a few weeks ago, they are less than £1 for a small tub

The Tinkering Shed

And clive, don't forget the clive!

NightshadeLenar

Life is good 🤣

AESFTW

2AM, watching a crystal melt, all during a pandamedic (meme ref). What happened here? Lol.

NightshadeLenar

Weekend and a once in a lifetime social lockdown.

Big Clive

I can feel this in my eyes. I've noticed some larger models of this which they claim to be 150w at 110-120vac. Perhaps this larger ceramic disk would prevent from leakages down into the lamp base. I'm tempted to make some orders now.

AESFTW

So I'm not the only one up at silly o clock on a Sunday lol

You can get just about anything on eBay.

Big Clive

I didn't realise you could still get menthol crystals

Neil Tonks

Im glad I keep patreon notifications on for these tid bits. Woo Night owls!