Work

[Ironwood]

A couple of phone pics of where I am working at the moment.

[Grumpy John]

Nothing quite workin' on the big stuff. I bet it's all 3/4" drive sockets, none of that piddling 1/2" drive toy stuff.

[Ironwood]

Mostly 1" drive stuff here John, though there is still use for the smaller tools as well. I use 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive sockets while working on the engines. Removing and fitting the big components use the big gear with unbelievable torque settings.

[Isac]

They are huge machines Ironwood. My daughter used to drive a haulpak for Rio Tinto a few years back and I was lucky enough to get a grand tour of the Paraburdoo and Channar mines. I watched a blast operation that was unbelievable! Lots of pics. Where are you working? Are you driving or fixing those beasts?

[Ironwood]

I am a diesel fitter Isac. I repair them. I am at a Coal mine west of Mackay. I won't mention names etc, so goggle searches don't find my thread. Posting photos on the internet is frowned upon at most mines, these pics are pretty harmless, but some people do post stuff that can embarrass their employers.

[Isac]

Thanks Ironwood. I'm a qualified mechanic as well. I did my apprenticeship with Dept. Civil Aviation way back which covered everything from lawn mowers to bulldozers and everything in between, including basic aircraft engines. I haven't been on the tools for that long now, but I had some real cool jobs over the years. retired now so fixing photos is way much better than fixing engines (for me anyway). Our world has become so inundated with rules about cameras that it's laughable. I was once flying with a friend in a small Cesna out of Kalgoorlie and we flew over the Nickel Smelter about 20kms south of Kalgoorlie and when we returned we were escorted off the tarmac by feds and interviewed for an hour as we were maybe spies!!! Ah ya gotta laugh

[seaslug]

Impressive!

[Ironwood]

Impressive!

Almost majestic when you see these big ones move.

[Grumpy John]

I used to do a bit of work up that way myself Isac. Cape Lambert, Dampier and 7 mile for Rio Tinto, and Port Hedland for BHP.


A bit of maintenance on a horizontal borer in the Dampier workshop. Yours truly in the foreground.


I was privileged enough to be taken in to the rail depot where they invert the ore cars 360 degrees to tip the ore on to the conveyors.

[Ironwood]

Good stuff John. Do you miss the work ?
I had 10 years away from my trade while I worked in my business in town, I didn't think I missed the work, but am really enjoying getting back into it.

[Grumpy John]

Yes and no. While I was doing it I had a great sense of achievement and I got to travel to some pretty speccy places in Oz. But now that I am retired I could not go back to it. I wish I had done that sort of work in my mid thirties and not my mid fifties, it is a young mans game.

[Isac]

Great shots John. I worked in Newman, Tom Price, Meekatharra and Wittenoom before I left the trade to pursue other interests. Glad I did - I don't miss it at all now.
Here's a couple I posted ages ago from my tour of Rio Tinto at Paraburdoo.
Huge Pit
Big step for an old fella

[Grumpy John]

Love the shot of the pit. Fitter & turner, or diesel mechanic Isac?

[Isac]

Mechanic for everything, including diesel. I worked on the emergency backup power supply diesel generators at the airports around WA, small and large lawn mowers, fuel injection systems and calibration, cars, trucks, D9 bulldozers and everything in between. Excellent training and experience, would never complain. I remember when I first went north after leaving DCA and when I threw all my tickets down for the interviewer, he went outside and told the other 200 plus applicants that the job was taken. That was a fantastic thing to happen. Now if I want my cars fixed it off to Automasters

[Grumpy John]

Okay, everyone seems to be posting images of haulers. I don't want to be left out, so here's mine, a static display at Wickham.
At one of my inductions we were told of stories of these haulers running over Landcruisers, it's not hard to imagine that happening.




Obviously staged, but you get the idea

[Isac]

Love that little clip John. This was at the entrance to the mine at Paraburdoo and this was real which happened at the Channar mine. My daughter knew all the haulpak drivers and this lucky guy lived to tell the tale. Apparently in 2004, he parked a bit too close to the Haulpak when swapping drivers and it was squashed because the driver had no vision of it when taking off, hence the 50 metre rule for parking next to a haulpak. I've got heaps of photos which show just how enormous the place is including a few rapid shots of a blast operation.