Cool pic from work today -

"Cool pics"... We began each run with three 50 gallon dewars; two were plumbed up and ready to go with a third for backup. Having this much LN2 on hand made us popular. People were constantly dropping by to "borrow a cup". I hated these dewars. The valves were crap, and leaked continuously, both gas and liquid. The pressure relief valves would "dump" without warning, scaring the bejeebers out of anyone in the room.

When filling an empty container (inside is at room temp.), you first need to "temper" the container to chill down the inside. You do this by putting a little LN2 in, then waiting a bit for it to boil off, chilling the container. Lather, rinse, repeat, then fill the container. One day, the post-doc was tempering a glass two liter dewar. I was standing about four feet away, watching. With a large bang, that end of the room was suddenly filled with fog and silver "snow". The dewar was old, and had apparently (and suddenly) reached the end of its service life and imploded. The silver snow was the reflective coating inside the vacuum bottle. It happened so quickly I didn't even have time to flinch. Thankfully, no one was hurt, not even a scratch.

This is one of the grad students tempering and filling a 5 gallon dewar...

sooner.boomer said:

"Cool pics"... We began each run with three 50 gallon dewars; two were plumbed up and ready to go with a third for backup. Having this much LN2 on hand made us popular. People were constantly dropping by to "borrow a cup". I hated these dewars. The valves were crap, and leaked continuously, both gas and liquid. The pressure relief valves would "dump" without warning, scaring the bejeebers out of anyone in the room.

When filling an empty container (inside is at room temp.), you first need to "temper" the container to chill down the inside. You do this by putting a little LN2 in, then waiting a bit for it to boil off, chilling the container. Lather, rinse, repeat, then fill the container. One day, the post-doc was tempering a glass two liter dewar. I was standing about four feet away, watching. With a large bang, that end of the room was suddenly filled with fog and silver "snow". The dewar was old, and had apparently (and suddenly) reached the end of its service life and imploded. The silver snow was the reflective coating inside the vacuum bottle. It happened so quickly I didn't even have time to flinch. Thankfully, no one was hurt, not even a scratch.

This is one of the grad students tempering and filling a 5 gallon dewar...

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LN2 scare me more now then it used to. I was working at CSIRO in AU when one of the scientists died in a
Liquid nitrogen storage facility.

https://www.smh.com.au/news/Nationa...-on-complacency/2007/04/23/1177180559591.html

Coroner correctly deemed systemic complacency as the root cause, so I’m not suggesting these things can’t be done safely - it was just a wake up call for me, who until then, as a young, pudgy IT guy, had considered the worldly extent of workplace safety to start and finish at “sitting correctly” and “good typing posture”...

Let’s just say that I don’t consider workplace safety to have such narrow horizons any more.

Not a good story there snrkl. Hope this sort of thing doesn't happen again.

We have a dewar with 7000 litres of LN2 and a smaller one (4000l?) of Ar, and a smaller LOX one on-site. Must take a pic one day . Lots of protocols in place if there is a spill or leak. IIRC the figure is that one litre of LN2 displaces about 7000 litres of air. Also, lots of other bottle gases like helium, hydrogen, oxygen, CO2, and sleds of acetylene.

snrkl said:

LN2 scare me more now then it used to. I was working at CSIRO in AU when one of the scientists died in a
Liquid nitrogen storage facility.

https://www.smh.com.au/news/Nationa...-on-complacency/2007/04/23/1177180559591.html

Coroner correctly deemed systemic complacency as the root cause, so I’m not suggesting these things can’t be done safely - it was just a wake up call for me, who until then, as a young, pudgy IT guy, had considered the worldly extent of workplace safety to start and finish at “sitting correctly” and “good typing posture”...

Let’s just say that I don’t consider workplace safety to have such narrow horizons any more.

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That is terrible. Also, why I have two oxygen sensors in the room I use LN2 in (one at head height and one at ceiling for He fills) that get routinely checked, and the elements replaced on a fixed schedule. It is really easy to get complacent though, and it is extra risky when you get people of different backgrounds in a single work space. In our lab we have chemists and biologists, and the number one rule of the lab is: "If a chemist runs past, follow them without question." New people and visitors think it is a joke at first, until they look at what we are routinely using.

The LN2 never scared me (except for the idiots at Texas A&M). We were working in an explosion proof bunker, and had the physical plant increase air handler throughput considerably (1000 scfm?). We also had CO detectors that never went off until the batteries died. There was no danger of asphyxiation (even after "burrito day" at the cafeteria).

Hydrogen, on the other hand, freaked EVERYBODY out (except me - I guess I'm too stupid). It's used as a carrier gas in GCs and other analytical equipment. One evening I was working late in the lab. I heard a loud bang from the lab next door, a loud conversation (couldn't make it out), then running feet. I stuck my head out of my lab and asked the backs running away down the hall what the problem was. They wouldn't stop. I could hear gas venting under high pressure in their lab, so I went in. I found a plastic line from a hydrogen cylinder had split. I cranked the valve on the cylinder closed and went back to my lab.

krislhull said:

Maintenance Control?

I would show some photos from work, but I'd face disciplinary action for pulling a camera out, so I will post a photo I took outside of work featuring what I work on! I love my job as a flightline mechanic!

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Where are you based ? its doesnt look like MacDill . We have a KC135 group here also .

Andy Greene said:

Where are you based ? its doesnt look like MacDill . We have a KC135 group here also .

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That photo was taken in Everett, WA. I work for Boeing on the KC-46 program. The photo is of the first full up KC-46 on its first flight, the F-16 in the background is one of two Edwards based F-16s that are on TDY to McChord AFB to support testing on the tanker.

daveyfire said:

Out of the norm for most folks, except those on TRF!

[YOUTUBE]yk_SdAUTRYw[/YOUTUBE]

Katie's "wait for it..." is perfectly timed :lol:

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Wooooowwwwww,,
Is that insane David....
Is that what you work on ??
Is that the scale that you're involved in ???
That's just insane...
You're going to throw the earth out of whack if you keep testing those,, lol..

Teddy

Here's a little bit of welding my co-worker found. The weld patch is about 5" long, almost worth a "There I fixed it!" meme for the internet.



We don't deal LN here, but our clients have a lot of Freon and ammonia refrigeration systems and the parent company handles a fair amount of LNG. I prefer ammonia to Freon because ammonia lets you know it's there before it displaces oxygen enough to kill you.

That looks like one of my practice fillets on some scrap. I don't do it very often so I get a little out of practice and weld scrap together until the results are acceptable again. Usually doesn't take too long luckily.

Onebadhawk said:

Wooooowwwwww,,
Is that insane David....
Is that what you work on ??
Is that the scale that you're involved in ???
That's just insane...
You're going to throw the earth out of whack if you keep testing those,, lol..

Teddy

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Yep! This was a subscale test, though. The real one should be tested next year. And there will be up to six of them used at once, plus something bigger in the middle...

daveyfire said:

Yep! This was a subscale test, though. The real one should be tested next year. And there will be up to six of them used at once, plus something bigger in the middle...

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Freakin WHAT!!!!!

That was subscale ????
Are you kidding me right now,, lol ( that was for Jason, lol )...
Dood,, you better be careful with that crap,,
you'll make the Earth's rotation speed up,, lol..

Is there a designation for that ???
Like Z times itself 400 times,,lol...

Teddy

Onebadhawk said:

Freakin WHAT!!!!!

That was subscale ????
Are you kidding me right now,, lol ( that was for Jason, lol )...
Dood,, you better be careful with that crap,,
you'll make the Earth's rotation speed up,, lol..

Is there a designation for that ???
Like Z times itself 400 times,,lol...

Teddy

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Assuming that's a similar scale to the Atlas V strap-ons, probably a ZA or ZB. Those are 80% ZA-1270000 motors.

First off.......Andy that first pic you posted is pretty cool. My brother is a lineman....I'm sending him a copy, know that he'd appreciate it.

Second....as to my work pics, it seems I work in a kinda different environment than y'all. Certainly meets the criteria of "out of the norm for most folks daily grind", yeah?



s6

LithosphereRocketry said:

Assuming that's a similar scale to the Atlas V strap-ons, probably a ZA or ZB. Those are 80% ZA-1270000 motors.

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I think you mean AA or AB since I know that the Space Shuttle boosters were AD, and SLS boosters will be AE.

If we are going to apply an informal hobby scale, let's at least be consistent lol.

Nytrunner said:

I think you mean AA or AB since I know that the Space Shuttle boosters were AD, and SLS boosters will be AE.

If we are going to apply an informal hobby scale, let's at least be consistent lol.

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Sure, just one designation beyond Z.

Now a ZA on your scale... now that would be cool...

OK, just did some math. So the most efficient rocket engine possible is a laser- its Isp is the speed of light. Let's say we started disintegrating matter and feeding all the power into our laser. We have so much time on our hands, we disintegrated not just Earth, or the Solar System, or even the Milky Way, but the entire Local Group, the 50ish nearest galaxies. That surely should be enough, right?

Nope, it's not. By a factor of 25,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Exponentials get big really fast.

stealth6 said:

First off.......Andy that first pic you posted is pretty cool. My brother is a lineman....I'm sending him a copy, know that he'd appreciate it.

Second....as to my work pics, it seems I work in a kinda different environment than y'all. Certainly meets the criteria of "out of the norm for most folks daily grind", yeah?

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s6

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Ok, you win.

stealth6 said:

First off.......Andy that first pic you posted is pretty cool. My brother is a lineman....I'm sending him a copy, know that he'd appreciate it.

Second....as to my work pics, it seems I work in a kinda different environment than y'all. Certainly meets the criteria of "out of the norm for most folks daily grind", yeah?

View attachment 332626

s6

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/me chooses to believe that you ACTUALLY work for the company that digitally puts the little white border lines around people’s photos, like the one you just posted, and you’re actually stuck in a dark dingy office 6 days a week like I am.. but worse: working split shifts..

“I reject your reality, and substitute my own...”

[emoji12]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

stealth6 said:

First off.......Andy that first pic you posted is pretty cool. My brother is a lineman....I'm sending him a copy, know that he'd appreciate it.

Second....as to my work pics, it seems I work in a kinda different environment than y'all. Certainly meets the criteria of "out of the norm for most folks daily grind", yeah?

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s6

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yep,,
I give,,
You win Stealth,,
OK,, what's the deal,,
What's your job ??
And are they taking apprentices ??

Teddy

Cl(VII) said:

Ok, you win.

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snrkl said:

/me chooses to believe that you ACTUALLY work for the company that digitally puts the little white border lines around people’s photos, like the one you just posted, and you’re actually stuck in a dark dingy office 6 days a week like I am.. but worse: working split shifts..

Click to expand...

Onebadhawk said:

yep,,
I give,,
You win Stealth,,
OK,, what's the deal,,
What's your job ??
And are they taking apprentices ??

Teddy

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These pics are actually from TWO of my jobs. (yes I do other work too).

One is for a music festival where one of the operating principles is "music in concert with the landscape", so we do performances in some pretty spectacular places. It's roots are in classical, but we do other genres as well...jazz, latin, "trad/world/folk", etc....have worked with folks such as Bela Fleck, Chick Corea, John Pizzarelli, Chris Thile, and such. I'm the Operations Director, which means handling all the logistics/production of physically making it all happen.

The other is a outdoor/experiential education non-profit, where we take folks (mostly youth groups) on river trips, up in the mountains, desert expeditions, etc. Our curriculum is general natural history, including stuff like geology, watersheds, paleontology, wildlife, native American culture/history, etc. I'm the Operations Director there also, dealing with logistics, training, equipment, and again, physically making it all work.

Oh, and Teddy....yes we are taking apprentices! In fact I'm doing some interviews this week for next season's apprenti. Wanna put in an application?

Now, since I'm detecting perhaps a wee bit of jealousy in these reactions, let me bring you a bit more perspective. Yes, I get to work in some stunningly beautiful places, and yes I'm in the field a fair bit (and yes it's awesome). BUT! - these are both non-profit agencies and some of you might remember that I'm not flying rockets anymore these days....some of which is due to not being able to afford it. You connect those dots. Also, I do PLENTY of office time (in a semi-dingy office in fact). Most of the time I'm not actually in the field, and I do my fair share of staring at a computer screen. Lastly, when I was flying regularly, my job had me working weekends throughout the field season - roughly April through October - and as you are all aware club launches and such always happen on weekends. Which is one of the reasons why I was only able to attend one or two club launches a year usually, and was extremely lucky if I managed to be able to go to three or more.

But yeah, my jobs are still pretty dang cool.

s6

stealth6 said:

These pics are actually from TWO of my jobs. (yes I do other work too).

One is for a music festival where one of the operating principles is "music in concert with the landscape", so we do performances in some pretty spectacular places. It's roots are in classical, but we do other genres as well...jazz, latin, "trad/world/folk", etc....have worked with folks such as Bela Fleck, Chick Corea, John Pizzarelli, Chris Thile, and such. I'm the Operations Director, which means handling all the logistics/production of physically making it all happen.

The other is a outdoor/experiential education non-profit, where we take folks (mostly youth groups) on river trips, up in the mountains, desert expeditions, etc. Our curriculum is general natural history, including stuff like geology, watersheds, paleontology, wildlife, native American culture/history, etc. I'm the Operations Director there also, dealing with logistics, training, equipment, and again, physically making it all work.

Oh, and Teddy....yes we are taking apprentices! In fact I'm doing some interviews this week for next season's apprenti. Wanna put in an application?

Now, since I'm detecting perhaps a wee bit of jealousy in these reactions, let me bring you a bit more perspective. Yes, I get to work in some stunningly beautiful places, and yes I'm in the field a fair bit (and yes it's awesome). BUT! - these are both non-profit agencies and some of you might remember that I'm not flying rockets anymore these days....some of which is due to not being able to afford it. You connect those dots. Also, I do PLENTY of office time (in a semi-dingy office in fact). Most of the time I'm not actually in the field, and I do my fair share of staring at a computer screen. Lastly, when I was flying regularly, my job had me working weekends throughout the field season - roughly April through October - and as you are all aware club launches and such always happen on weekends. Which is one of the reasons why I was only able to attend one or two club launches a year usually, and was extremely lucky if I managed to be able to go to three or more.

But yeah, my jobs are still pretty dang cool.

s6

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As a pre sales engineer a few years ago, I used to look after the Northern Territory government.

It takes a long time for those guys to trust you - they call us “Seagulls” - we fly in from far away, poop everywhere and leave...

After spending two years flying in and out building trust - one of the local departments finally clued me in that I was “inside the circle” - they had a PoC they wanted run with the parks and wildlife folks - they wanted me to install some gear in one of the rangers huts in the bush... only way in/out was with the local ranger and it meant travelling with him for the whole week, in some of the most remote and beautiful landscapes in Australia (google images of “kings canyon Northern Territory” for an idea what I’m talking about.. )

And given there was only about 4 hours work needed on site it meant plenty of time to take pics...

And the ranger was a keen fisherman who tended to work a little each day, then go fishing...

And then it happened.

I got offered a better job... (the one I’m doing still, 6 years later...)

I resigned and I left about 4 weeks before the trip...


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This is part of a bargeload of power poles being loaded to send to Puerto Rico. I'm not on site, but I did check the side walls to make sure the poles would make it there. Our company has 9000-odd poles to move, a couple thousand on each barge.

stealth6 said:

First off.......Andy that first pic you posted is pretty cool. My brother is a lineman....I'm sending him a copy, know that he'd appreciate it.

Second....as to my work pics, it seems I work in a kinda different environment than y'all. Certainly meets the criteria of "out of the norm for most folks daily grind", yeah?

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s6

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Now that's God's country, right there!

I don’t get much of a chance to work in the lab anymore. I just sit in an office, writing proposals and dealing with whiny students. But every now and then (usually over January break) I find some time to actually feel like a scientist.

I used to hate vacuum distillation in grad school, but today it feels pretty cool.




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These are from a while back, but I just came across this thread today.

I work as a science teacher at a small K-8 public school in rural Oregon. A couple years ago we built what I believe (with nothing to really substantiate this belief) is the largest rocket ever built by a team of middle school girls.

Another work photo, taken on a field trip to OSU where the engineering students built and flew BMS school rockets with my eighth grade students.




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