Day 8: Bug-O-System Air Plasma Cutter

Today I learned how to use the Bug-O-System Plasma Air Cutter, which is basically a propane/oxygen flame torch that is mounted onto a five foot track. This machine is neat because it allows to do precise cuts with very powerful plasma torch; as you can see on the picture in the bottom the plasma torch produces a jet of blue flame which is applied across the surface of the material that is to be cut. In this particular scenario we used the torch to cut through a 1/4" inch steel plate about 30" inches long. 

Here is a close up of the torch being fired up. Below is a picture of the torch as its moving the plate, as you can see it basically cuts right through like a light saber. The blue flame is about 1300 degrees Celsius which is very very hot!

 

Below you can see the plate after it was cut. The nice thing about this machine is that it produces a very clean and solid cut making it easy to work with.

 

Day 7: Rectangular Shaped Objects

For the most of today I worked on cutting rectangular pieces with circular holes in the end. These pieces will be attached to the drum lids on the cylindrical tanks that are used to hold the copper wires. I had to use a hand saw to grind an approximately forty five degree bevel onto the ends of the rectangular pieces. It was a time consuming process since I had to fabricate about fifty or so of these small pieces.

Above is a close up of how these small individual plates look. Below is a bunch of the little plates again next to the hand saw.

Day 6: Small Boom Assembly

Nothing much happened today. We basically did some more work on the lids we cut, a lot of sanding out the rough edges and adding finishing touches. Most of the work was similar to yesterdays. I spent half the day alternating between working on the lids and helping assemble another gantry; this one was a bit smaller than the one I worked with at Richwell Steel. There's a picture of it below, I finally manage to get some pictures of from the warehouse so finally I don't have to search around on Google.