“Simple” welding repair on loading dock goes wrong!
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- #mobilewelder #fieldwelding #repair
What a rough day out in the field, doing my best repairing this loading dock transition. It kicked my butt! I’ve had harder days for sure. But with all the trouble I encounter due to my own ignorance and lack of information on the task at hand, I had a hard time on this job! Being a mobile welder and fabricator goes like this sometimes! You just have to roll with the punches and hope the next welding job makes you your money back. Welding in the field is always interesting. Maybe that’s why I’ve stuck with it all these years. I hope this video gives you more insight into a independent mobile welders life. A lot of curve balls get thrown at you as a independent contractor or any sort. You just have to do your best to hit!
Instagram- @meltinmetalmobile
I have found out, if a forklift is around and tools are around, the forklift will find them....almost every time
Yep. Had a large part rigged up and ready to move with the crane. Turn around for 5 seconds and hear the dude running over everything I had in the area. Thankfully the company I was with replaced everything free of charge
After six years in production maintenance I have learned that if you paint something yellow, put flashing lights on it, and wire up a siren the average forklift driver will hit it. Every. Single. God. Damn. Time.
@@jman0870 because everyone is “confident” in their abilities once they get their licences and think they can do whatever they want. This applies everywhere.
@@wrathmachine7609 thats the problem with licensing.
I had a nice ratchet strap for holding appliances to my regular dolly, unloaded a refrigerator at the scrap yard ( I haul a lot of scrap), turn around to slide the fridge back and the forklift guy crushed my strap ratchet (was a strap without hooks that looped over appliances). Like dude, did you have to squeeze the forklift right next to me, I would have been done and out of there in 20 seconds. Yes I should not have set the strap on the ground, but was right by my truck / dolly and was trying to get the fridge where it was supposed to go quickly and out of the way. I learned not to set anything on the ground like that again.
just for future reference, the back of the forklift is a lot heavier than the front if you need it for the weight!
That shiz isn't even a forklift. Its electric. He shoulda asked them to grab a real forklift
@@Uhsnuh whether is gas or electric it still has a counterweight and they still all way a lot.
@@Uhsnuh you have to use electric ones for warehouses especially if its produce!
You can also put a Block under the mast while tilted back and then tilt forward to lift both front wheels off the ground, place both front wheel weights on the block. This trick wont work with the carriage as it will just go slack on the balance chians
@@blakemassa1909 It's a home depot
As a Facility Maintenance employee for a 125 acre large commercial business here in SoCal and just retired after 40 years, all fixes are temporary, you can repair, but some how some way they will find a way to destroy it, they always do, you did great man.
That is why a good welder is always in demand--stuff wears out & breaks
You got that right! I worked at a local Caterpillar repair shop, and man, the things that came in that was fubard, just would blow your dam mind. A few things that I seen, I wanted to talk to the operator and buy him a beer just to find out how he did it! One of the best was a hydraulic shear that attached on the end of the arm of an escavator. This type of shear is used a lot on highway overpass demolition once the concrete is jackhammered away. This thing snips the steel beams. The pivoting jaw was 5 inches of solid steel. It was broken into 3 pieces! If you would have ever asked me if that was even possible, I would reply with "no way in hell!" As a welder fabricator for about 10 years, I've never dreamed of something like this being possible. Well it took me just over 3 days to weld up because we cut the remaining jaw piece at 90 degrees and did the same with the replacement piece. Everything was beveled down to 0 degrees, and the overall joint was close to 30 inches long. I was using a different wire that burned a little hotter than regular what we normally used, and was . 044 instead of . 042. The jaw was still attached to the unit which made it hell, because I had to do my stringers on one side and then flip that heavy bastard over to do the same using an overhead trolley crane. Once I reached 80% done, I didn't have to flip it anymore, just finish it out. I've never welded anything that thick in my life and it took just over 3 days and 99 pounds of wire! Needless to say, I was glad to see it go! I've seen escavator booms come in split almost in two and twisted to hydraulic bed lift cylinders fully extended and bent like a banana.(these \ere more often than you would think).This experience only further supported my viewpoint that "There is no such thing as indestructible!" You can bet your bottom dollar that it's usually the dumbass that always finds a way to prove that very thing. Lol
I worked in a department at work called "Special projects" It was a little bit welder fabricator, a little bit maintenance tech, and a lot of new installation. I used to joke with my boss that we were pretty much just millwrights, but I guess he was correct when he said that we really were not. I installed over 500 feet of new new air pipe for new equipment, fixed things, and fabricated new things to be used as well as installing new machinery or equipment we made ourselves. What you said is 100% correct. People will find a way to break anything that you fix, or my favorite was breaking things you just installed a couple of weeks ago. 90% of the job was thinking about the first way someone was going to break something and trying to prevent it from happening. Also the most important part was thinking about any possible way someone could hurt themselves with something you made.
@@Monsiemage I'm apart of the special projects crew at my job as well haha. I work in a packing house though. Lots of welding fab and installs
They say the more you comment on somebody station the more gives that station to chance to grow so here we are
Tools are never a loss when you invest in them.
Was just going to say the same!
It's never a lost job when it means it paid for a new tool investment!
RIGHT got us with the click bait LOL nice video but don't scam us NooB melter
a good tool that lasts years and is used daily is worth its weight in gold x10
his grinder got ran over too
Exactly
Great video, was a union pipefitter for 50 years, at 70 now I like to see you young bucks work! keep the vids coming! JC.
Thanks 👍
Reminds me of something my old GC used to say - "I lose money on every job, but make up for it in volume"
I've made this repair many times. Forklift drivers dragging the fork tips run under the lip. I recommend replacing the apron with a new one as trying to flatten the damaged plate will cost more in labor than a new plate. Pre-drill your holes at the shop & drill double holes 3 inches apart. This will allow one anchor to hold down the plate right beside a second anchor that you will weld. Then weld the first one & repeat. Good video. Keep in mind also that those electric forklift batteries have hydrogen off gassing while running or charging and it's pretty explosive. I saw a battery cell explode just from a guy grinding too close to the lift.
The guys paying for it ain't complaining so whoever else don't like it can go fly a kite some days everything goes wrong and some days you feel you're the luckiest man on earth
glad to hear this, I'm new to all this and aside from the learning curve, I feel like every new job has new wrong paths that I seem to have to go down each one of them first.
But you learned not to repeat your mistakes. Boom.
What I believe caused that bow in the middle of the sides was that you tightened down the long edge first. I think if you would have tightened down the bowed sides first, then drill your hols in the concrete, it would have stayed flush. I think the plate had no where to go with the long edge tight.
😅
Being a self is a hard gig lot of problem solving, unforeeen circumstances as well as not everything goes to plan ! Great work
Merltin metal always doing great job and the most cool thing is he shows the reality in the field some others channels or welders just show the good jobs making money but not when they lost
hello.. 🙏..Greetings from Indonesia.... 👍 Great... I really like your tutorial, it can increase my knowledge and skills, it's part of my job... Once again I say thank you... greetings from.🇮🇩 Indonesia
Love the positive attitude dude! Wish you the best success with your career and your channel. Good things happen to good people
Extremely typical for on site “welding” repairs. You have to be versatile in the problem solving department. I say well done. I’m in the same line of work. You definitely win some and lose some.
*You do what you gotta' do to fix the problem today and sleep well at night.*
I work in the dock and door industry and those old school L plates are a nightmare! Props for coming up with a quick solution, most of the time we need to use quikcrete cause its 99% of the time broken underneath (at the angle)
Don't feel bad man... sometimes we all lose at one moment or other... that's just more experience in the pocket. It's rough for everyone wright now, I wanted to buy a better truck then the smokin one I have wright now but got a call this morning from my landlord saying me and my wife have to leave our rental in 30 days. Hard times build backbone..keep your head up!
Hey man, true words
stay strong brother
@@DROGOC0P thank you
Well, he didn't really lose, though. Sure, the truck is a pain, but better maintenance fixes that. The angle grinder can be fixed with a knife and a screwdriver. And the metal sheet is surely gonna get used somewhere else.
Always make sure you have good fire insurance ....
its very hard to start a flood with a welder.
except when welding on a water tank... big boom! max flow rate!
dont challenge the internet someones gonna find a way, trust me
there was a recent death caused buy someone welding on a very large water tank. the whole thing exploded.
i tried soldering on a tank ~95% full of water and the steam vapor nearly made it explode.
you think it being water inside would prevent spontaneous explosions since it wasn't fuel vapor but science says otherwise.
someone could easily start a flood with a welder. enough heat in the wrong place is all you need.
Lol not true…..
So easy to video the good jobs. Your audience will want to see the "warts and all"
Well done 👍
Thank you very much!
Your repair looks great! For future reference, look for a fastener called a drive pin. I’ve repaired a ton of loading dock transition plates with them. These fasteners have a 4” x 1/2” shank with a wave in the middle of the shank. They also have a button head so they won’t get caught by a fork. Once you pound them in the wave straightens and locks them in place. No tightening red heads then taking the nut off to weld , this makes the plate loose. The drive pins pull the plate tight to the concrete in one step.
always good to see another video from you Anthony, cheers from Orlando, Paul
Just found your channel, I do similar work, 2 things that crossed my mind we’re to cut a slit in those bows to pound/shrink them down, weld em back up, and grind the concrete out from under those ends. Good work
I did a good bit of dock repair work years ago, but every time it was about 20 degrees, wind was blowing, and the door couldn’t be shut! Several times it was apparent that employees regularly pissed out the door and all over the leveler! And then there’s the inevitable trash fire! Good job on this one though! Another commenter mentioned the channel iron trick, and it works great! Stay safe, stay well!
I had to do a repair almost like you did. ON the side you had issues with lifting I put two anchors in. with about six inches of space between them. I could then remove one nut, weld then the other. A note about fork lifts. if you had used the back that is the heavy end of the lift. Come up along side of the bolt and that plate would go down. Good job
It’s all good my friend you win some you lose some ! Keep on meltin metal brother.🤙
Take a short piece of 2 or 3 inch channel and drill a hole for the anchor. Using a little longer wedge anchor, crank it down. You can then get in from the 2 open sides to make a weld. Pull the " bridge" off, cut, grind ,repeat.
Very smart idea right here, thanks for sharing will definitely keep this in the old memory bank, 👍🍻
Cutting a large nut in half or a little less than half and placing that under the nut and washer works well as well. All you need is a tack to hold the plate in place and you are golden. I’ve done it more times than I can count and nuts don’t flex like strut.
This is what we do at my warehouse.
I like that you show your good days and your bad. Thats how business goes its not all gravy. Keep up the great work and videos😊
Nice work A!
The repair turned out great! Them Metabo tools can sure take some abuse and still keep working! Keep up the great work!👍
Great work! I’ve done dock plates. They always suck more than anyone could ever imagine.
Once again easy ain't easy 👊👊👊stay strong my brother
Ive just stumbled apon your vids and all i can say is thank you!! Just thanks for your honesty!! I like to see the trouble shooting you go thru and how you fix the problem instead of putting some paint on it and calling it good!!
On site welding repair work is rarely straight forward, in perfect conditions and with the best materials.
Pretty isn't always better than cost effective and strong.
And another thing, not everyone will take on jobs like the one you did or l do.
Great work young man!
As a steel worker in construction I've seen loading dock repairs look worse than that and the owners were happy because the longer a dock is out of commission the more money they are losing. Looks clean and well done, I feel being a mobile welder you have to expect no jobs are ever going to be simple jobs lol.
Hey man sorry about ur rough day man but thank you for posting these days anyway I have a dream of working for myself one day and these are the sides of the trade no one wants to show so thanks man and I hope u fixed ur truck
I would say you did a good job, handled the curveballs like a champ, and especially grinding an angle on the top of the plate, that shows workmanship. Hopefully you charged per hour on this one! any field work like that I always charged per hour, that's the only way to not get burned when curveballs come.
I always wondered how you fix them ran for that the bolt sticking up I just learned something new thank you that's pretty awesome
You nailed it
Great video thanks for all your time
I used to fix loading dock ramps and weld on trailer bump boxes to the building. Every summer on the weekends. Worked fixing the tractors during the week and what they broke on the weekends. Glad i dont miss it.
Great work... Really enjoy your videos...
My pops and I have the same truck as our ranch truck. A 96 f350 XL. It was a city of Phoenix work truck. Has 114k miles and is fully mechanically sound back from the Ford dealer. It also has the same bed you got with the lockers and the bed is also that brown/red primer. Only diff is it has an orange work light bar on the cab roof. Sweet vids man
you got the IMT crane? I love that thing
@@MeltinMetalAnthony I wish, the spot it was mounted is visible but it was removed from one of the previous owners. Keep on Melting Metal! I'll be tuning in
Well done, brother
Reminds me of every day. so much for clean skilled labor bench top career.
As a door guy and a welder myself next time you run into this situation again is a large fender washer under red head so you can distribute your weld wider and dont remove nut melt them into the washer and washer into plate you will find yourself saving time and a stronger weld
Garage doors? Quit my business and going to school for welding.
Mn sucks for being a door guy now.
I enjoy watching every one of your jobs!
I worked for company removing and installing the dock levelers. A lot of times they would get trash in there make nice fire cutting old one out.
Dewalt drill i have used has selector switch to hamner its cheaper then buying a hilti. If your have to weld under thie levelers please use safety block..i knocked out 6 them one day before. great video WELD ON BROTHER
sure, but you have to buy 2-3 dewalts to last as long as a single Hilti.... so its cheaper to just buy the better tool upfront because you will save time and money in the long run. work smarter bro.....
I learned that little trick with the redheads when installing forklift guard rails a few months ago. Nice!
At first, I thought you were talking about the guy at the counter!😆
Nice video. Thanks
And the 4.5inch makita grinder is my most fav for pretty much anything
good luck Anthony with your future!
Great video. You got the job done. Just what they wanted. You accomplished what they needed.
At least I learned something Don’t assume it’s easy till it’s all done
Great save
Must be a rookie. I'm not buying material until I look at the job COMPLETELY
must not work for large corporations who want out done asap
no matter the cost
If I’m not physically looking at it, I will try to get pictures.
When you submit a quote to a business for repair, your quote includes time and material. They pay for the material, even if you don’t use it. In this case, it would of taken even more time to do the prep work, find out that you did (or didn’t) need material, went and got the material, came back, yeah no. Contractors look at the problem for what it is, and prep for it accordingly. Sometimes you end up in the wrong, and that’s just a part of life. Nobody knows everything
"All I need is the tip"
Lmaoooo I love the trades.
Nice work being flexible and willing to adjust as needed!
Way to get it done-all things considered it turned out well-you solved the problem for your customer.
props on that one got the job done right all that matters
Great job!
Pretty much standard day to me.. They say... it will only take 10 ok 20 minutes! 8-9 hard hrs later...
Good video man. Jobs are not always what they seem and you handled it very well.
actually, I have found out that hitting the nut to get a larger surface area, can damage the threads on the bolt
Agreed. Thought the same thing when he said that
Yeah I wouldn’t hit those nuts either, especially since you knew you’d be cutting off the ends of the anchors anyway
I was taught to use 2 nuts, one right on top of each other. That basically doubles the amount of thread engagement and dispersing the force of a hammer hitting it. Never had an issue.
@@Sffker Actually if you look at the bolt, it is designed to being hit. It is thinner in the top to counter any deformations from being hit with a hammer, so you can apply the nut after.
@@plurplursen7172 actually, I’ve seen and installed plenty of anchors myself, so you’re not telling me any breaking news there pal.
Subscribed.. The comments are great too
Epic mullet. This video could've been made back in 1987. There was a lot of work involved in that job. I've gotten myself into jobs that I've regretted before. You handled it well. Please keep putting out your content and good luck with everything.
Went through the same problem but luckily the forklift did more damage we had to sawcut and re-pour the dock in. Afternoon job turned into a 4 day thing
Good job!
Well done, just get it done and make them happy. Interested in the oil leak and whats going on with the new dodge.
Thanks for the vid. Take care. Dave
Tools are a investment. You can do only what you can , days are like that.
when drilling holes in concrete, it was always easier for me to blow the dust from the holes by using the oxygen from the torch (if one is handy) rather than blowing it out by mouth. Hey but the main thing is you did a good job even though it turned out to be more of a problem than you originally thought👍
good idea!
Oxygen is very flammable be careful
@@TheNigel55 please tell me you are joking
Oxygen ignites very quickly just a very small spark
@@TheNigel55 acetylene ignites very quickly, oxygen is just a necessary part in a combustion reaction.oxygen is NOT the fuel source
Soon as i seen that Dock plate and realized what you were fixing and the plate you bought to fix it I knew you was about to get a surprise. I used to make those threshold plates for those docks at one of my old shops for a company in my area that installs those things. When you started prying on it i was like "Yeap he doesn't know that thing is an L shape and bolted inside under the dock plate." Everyday is an adventure in the field.
You can replace the cord on that grinder and it will be good as new. Super easy to do.
Sad to see about all the troubles on that job, but end of the day you fixed it. It's a pain in the butt if someone trashes your tool's especially during a job. Keeping heads up man, next day is another chance to win the jackpot. Greetings from Vienna. Tom
That’s how I feel, next week I’m on carnival ride repair! Those things are always a pain, the owners always wait till they are almost completely rusted out to get repairs.
thanks Man you do a great job
I switch back and forth between task also... gives other muscle groups a break
Hey man just some tips, buy some electronic duster(compressed air) at Home Depot for $3 and it cleans out your drill holes fantastic and also tap your read heads harder! Great work man!
Hi! I'm from Russia. Love your channel!
Hey, thanks!
Keep up the great work
This gives me confidence with the weld's that are not pretty but hold in place and get the job done with no come backs and done efficiently...
Hey, pretty don't matter if it works, hell, most people focus so much on the pretty they forget it has to work, I've always been a fan of function over fashion.
Yep. Forklift drivers are bonkers. I worked in a pulp mill for awhile, and the shit they tried to combat destruction by forklift was insane. One of the trucks had a 4” deep dent in it’s solid steel counter weight?!? I cant even imagine what he hit to do that!
Anyway. Awesome video as usual.
Appreciate the channel Tony! Keep working hard bud!
That forklift driver is a menace. 4:03 "Now lift it up" -> Forks go down.
😂
Things happen on the job... well done sir!
well done man
I feel your pain brother fight the good fight
Hey you got it fixed without MAJOR reworking and cutting. Yeah the mag-drills are slow but they get the job done. Just a suggestion take it or leave it when you set blind bolts like that shoot some cement block adhesive in the hole before setting the bolt, it will give just that added bit of holding power and keep the bolts from working out.
I’m not familiar with adhesive but if anchor bolt is done correctly into solid substrate you don’t need anything. Adhesive cut actually cause the wedge anchor to slip.
@@donsmith9081 yeah the adhesive helps with preventing the bolt from working in the hole and loosening up. For that ramp it stops the up and down movement of the bolt in the hole and coming loose
@@patrickradcliffe3837 After 30 years in construction and installing hundreds of wedge anchors, I have never had one anchor fail- unless concrete was not sound- cracked or old or going into light weight concrete where you need to epoxy studs. When I was younger I have overtightened them and broke them off- 3/8 and even 1/2-once.
I appreciate the reply.
Only just found this channel but keep it up mate! This channel will do well, see day to day life and welding skills. When it grows can expand into bigger things and maybe teach people indepth welding etc. Great channel mate
Thanks
I think you did pretty well on this. I do this for a living and the only thing different you did than I do is you removed the nut from the anchor. I weld around the nut, cut half the nut off and spiral over the whole assembly. The company I work for has 25 years doing docks/t-plates/eod/etc and they swear by the half nut technique
I will give that a trying I get called out again
So you end up with something that looks like a carriage bolt head sticking up?
@@ProleDaddy that’s the general idea I suppose. A welded carriage bolt head lol
@@d14_x80 That may be alright some places, but some equipment that would be an issue for. Do any customers ever tell you they want it flat and do you ablige in such cases? I'm curious how a dock leveler would hold up in that case.
@@ProleDaddy this is only for a T plate application only. The plates themselves are bent on the end and run into a groove cut into the floor. The anchor and it’s corresponding welds are at or below floor level.
In the case of this particular repair, it’s an old plate that doesn’t seem to be recessed into the floor much.
As far as it being flat, I would oblige the customers needs as best as possible. If it’s unable to be installed in the proper fashion due to customer request, I’m going to assume they would not warranty the work. This hasn’t been an issue as of yet though
Great video! Problem after problem you just kept going. Well done!
Hey, new to the channel and just wanted to say I love the( on the job videos man. )
I had a very happy feeling "being there" recalling going out in a truck to do "maintenance / repair" jobs. I'll give it to you that you are way more streetwise than me with welding jobs. What I felt to be in-common - that feeling of "How am I going to do this?" / "This has more problems than first met the eye - what new plan can I come up with?" / "What is it I can do with what I have, that I can do by the end of today?" / "What's the best I can give to the customer that they have paid for?".
Looks pretty neat to me for beat-up steelwork where forklifts have done their "best".
Everything turned out great, good work good finished and a new tools, sounds great to me. I have to do several work to buy me a new tool. On a good full day of work i can make about 50 dollars (I'm on México), and the tools aren't cheaper, so i have to think it twice before buy anything.
I would have lifted plate, cut anchors off with cutting wheel or sawzall, Drilled new holes (with lite gauge fb underneath to protect bit) cleaned out underneath, installed anchors and welded out. Not cutting plate or torching anchors because of possible dingle berries that could be more work to remove.
My favorite saying is: Give a lazy man a job and he will show you the easiest way to do it.
I love the channel. Keep up the good work.
Ant... I've done a bunch of these dock repairs. I wish I could have been there to give you a hand. Sometimes another set of hands and ideas can go a long way.
I had my doubts but you got’r done. Subscribed.
Inspirational Tony! Love the way you train your hair!
Hey man keep the content coming. Dig fabrication vids.
I like what I see, have to see your videos on how young got started. Hope the trucks good
Not only is it bolted but the corners have metal bolts ( can’t remember the actual names ) but the protrude into the concrete 4-6” we repair these at work and we cut the concrete about 1ft from the metal edge all around and chip away all the concrete and replace