Small O/A cutting job

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Last week I got to cut up for removal a bank vault in a multi story building in Dallas.It was a fun project. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:The walls (8 1/2 feet high), the ceiling (12 feet wide by 16 feet long), and the floor (twelve feet by sixteen feet also) are all half inch plate.When I added the gusset materials and the square footage times 20.4 lbs per square foot I came up with seventeen to eighteen thousand pounds of steel.The most difficult cuts were on the ceiling and floor.  The ceilinig because I was on top amongst all the plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and communications stuff. Not to mention the natural concern for cutting off a limb while on it, can happen, didn't.  The floor was awkward because they'd had carpet glued down and the glue residue gave us some nasty fumes.I did the job for a fixed price.  One of those deals where I bid it to not get it and evidently made a mistake and got it.  Or everyone else was even more afraid of it than I was.I had to cut the pieces into approximately four by four sections so that they could be manuevered out of the building.  The contractor that I worked for on this job is holding some of these pieces back for sale to individuals.  Scrap is five cents a pound.  A local steel supplier is willing to pay more for resale.  If you're looking for some half inch scrap that looks good and are willing to pay twenty cents a pound and pick up north of Dallas call Katie at 972 442 7900. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:It was a fun project.Cutting out the ceiling was a little exciting.  I made my cuts with an inside bevel to that the bevel wouldn't support the piece after the cut was made.  But due to the expansion from the heat the piece didn't fall, 4 X 12'.  So I cut the next section.  Nothing still fell.We took a break.  Things cooled down.Approximately a ton of steel fell all at once eight and a half feet to a steel floor with steel walls.We woke up the dead in Dallas all the way to Houston.I was worried about the back wall because we only had three quarters to an inch a half clearance off of a sheetrock wall.  It turned out not to be an issue because they'd only been able to weld on the inside of the vault.  We just pulled the wall over and I cut it laying flat. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:One of the problems I had was keeping the sparks from the cutting torch off the walls.  The building construction is steel and concrete with sheetrock.  But you do get a lot of heat generated when you're cutting a vertical cut that's eight plus feet long or a horizontal one that's four plus feet.I hung my blanket and then I clamped a piece of four inch C purlin as a channel to catch and hold the sparks.  We ended up with a glowing red mass at the bottom of the purlin on the vertical cuts.  But when we were done the only burn marks on the building were on the floor from our work.  The back wall that was so close had burn marks but they were from welding in the original installation. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Looks like a fund job. Was another business moving in a previously occupied bank?John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:O/A?  You should be using propane for such a job.  It's way cheaper.
Reply:Originally Posted by 76GMC1500O/A?  You should be using propane for such a job.  It's way cheaper.
Reply:No plasma cutter?Neat idea using the C-purlin to catch the slag and sparks.What did you use to support the ceiling panels while you were making the cuts?  Obviously you weren't just going to be underneath several hundred pounds of 1/2 inch steel plate and cut it loose from underneath.  Hey, Bruno and Tony, put your hardhats on, climb up on these here ladders and jam your heads up against these ceiling plates while I cut them loose.
Reply:There is a lot of resistance to using propane for cutting applications.  It works equally as well as acetylene, if not better.  The trouble is, people never learn how to light their torch properly don't want to use it because of that.
Reply:Originally Posted by MoonRiseNo plasma cutter?Neat idea using the C-purlin to catch the slag and sparks.What did you use to support the ceiling panels while you were making the cuts?  Obviously you weren't just going to be underneath several hundred pounds of 1/2 inch steel plate and cut it loose from underneath.  Hey, Bruno and Tony, put your hardhats on, climb up on these here ladders and jam your heads up against these ceiling plates while I cut them loose.
Reply:Originally Posted by 76GMC1500There is a lot of resistance to using propane for cutting applications.  It works equally as well as acetylene, if not better.  The trouble is, people never learn how to light their torch properly don't want to use it because of that.
Reply:One of those little propane tanks you get for your RV lasts about 6-7x as long as a 130 cuft acetylene tank.  You need to use special tips with propane.  The performance is very good.  I only notive a difference when piercing, the propane takes marginally longer to get the metal hot enough to cut.  You've got to open the gas valves on the torch enough so that the flame whistles, then it performs very well.