How Engineers Repair And Maintain Giant Machinery | Mega Mechanics | Spark
Across Australia, the wheels of industry turn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These machines are tough and the teams of people running them are even tougher. From deep underground, to high in the sky, these heavy metal marvels are essential to our daily lives. But, what happens when these massive machines break down? Teams of mechanics, engineers, fitters, and boilermakers step up to battle against tight deadlines, in some of the harshest working environments on the planet.
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Episode I: Coal Extractor - Gear Box change: 0:00 Part I 19:52 Part II 31:20 - Part III 42:08 - Part IV - Final Excavator - oil leak issue: 6:32 Part I 23:56 - Part II 32:58 - Part III - Final Mining Roof support legs: 10:39 Part I 25:52 - Part II 35:20 - Part III 40:02 - Part IV - Final Dam 14:46 Part I 28:28 - Part II 37:56 - Part III - Final
"Weren't planned for removal." Yes, they were, which is why they're there. No matter how well-designed, all machinery breaks down on occasion, which is why things like removable gearboxes and motors are used. The owner of the machine might keep spares on hand as well. Then there is PM, and preventative shutdowns, where things are removed and rebuilt, to keep the machine running. Things, such as bearing housings in the large weldments, if they're worn out, are welded up, on site, and bored out by portable boring mills, where new bearings are then installed. Everything is designed to be repairable, especially on these multi-million dollar machines.
[Everything is designed to be repairable] Unlike some cellular phones, I bet the battery can be replaced.
I doubt this is a part meant for removal though. It can be done, but given they used actually studs which had no designed or engineered method for removal, except LOTS OF FORCE. I'm guessing the life of the bucket and other surroudning components is meant to be lower than the powered componentry. Given its been going for many many years without a break, and without being replaced tells me its not the likely failure point,
They're not designed for easy removal. I knew as soon as I heard it that the "actually" crowd would get triggered.
@TheMygoran There are some issues with your comment that I ironed out below for you to use in future commentary First, Apple is heading in that direction with parts that are replaceable/upgradable by the consumer...at least that's what I heard....though have never seen evidence of it. But for electronics it's a completely different situation. AR will replace a massive number of consumer electronics and doing this will void the whole issue of recyclability with many electronic products. We aren't even talking about whether or not something is recyclable here. Large products generally ARE recyclable to keep the maintaenance price down (exception space materials like spent rocket boosters
Longwall mining systems are VERY cool, the miners that run them have balls of titanium, no way I'd ever go under one of them!!!
Hats off to all the Men who keep society running smoothly and take pride in Their work. They do it for Their families.
They make really good money though and the jobs seem very fun.
Very interesting. It just goes to show that engineers don't know everything. Great video.
2 hours of pure heavy machinery heaven.
Quick. Somone tagged gretta thunburg. Oh wait she's in German prison
Airbus Landing Gear Pintle Pin R&R. I love the way they over dramatize the pintle pin nut problem. Nuts refusing to go on even new parts isn't really that big a deal. In this case checking the threads on the new pin is the first step in solving the issue. Threads on new parts can have small pieces of metal from the machining process stuck in the threads. Cleaning the threads is fairly straight forward using a thread file. This will also repair the threads themselves (if) the threaded are was bumped on a solid piece of metal creating a slight dent and burr. This could happen if the machinist was a bit distracted while removing the finished part from the mill. Yep they presented the nut stopping due to dirty or damaged threads as more complicated than it really was. That's reality TV for you, if they hit a boring part of the video, create some drama by making mountain out of a mole hill.
Just dropped a part of the big excavator off in AZ pretty cool seeing the site and the actual size of the equipment
I used to work on heavy machinery, there was always something going wrong when working on them, something siezed needing cutting, something needing a sledgehammer or something breaking while demontaging it. It was always under time constraint, and everyone shouting about how much it costed them that I took an hour extra when shit was stuck. I was going to work long into the night on a machine, and the owner of the machine saw me cutting a row of rusty clamps that costed $5 each, and he told me they were reusable, so I packed up, went home in time, and restarted where I left off the next morning, unscrewing the clamps by heating them with a torch, wirewheeling them and repainting them, taking a good hour to save the last 5 clamps, at the end of the day, I had about an hours work left on the machine, I walked by the owner and said "Time to clock out, it should be done within an hour tomorrow morning" He then had to pay me cash in the hand to stay an hour extra and finish his machine, and I wasn't cheap. But it was always the same, and I had enough and quit soon after that incident.
Рэдхг эш😊😅😅😅 Э 😊😅
I just love all the work these men . I think I never stop learning Thanks so mycu for this video...Granny U S A
As someone said "We learn till we die. Gibbon Amazon Forest
it was always relaxing watching those semi robotic welders
I used to do this type of work. I miss it badly, loved working with a good crew and chain falls and ener-pacs to remove and repair broken equipment. But once your health changes your heart breaks 💔
Become a teacher of your art and passion!!
😊❤
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@Larry Postma 😢😢
😢😢😢
Enjoyable film, shame it keeps jumping from one project to another then back, I would prefer to see a single project from start to finish. Very interesting all the same.
@PBMS123 the KZheadr that uploaded it could do us all a favor and save us from a Mitchell and Webb "I'm looking for a gift for my aunt" experience
this is a TV show what do you expect.
Do those hydraulic roof supports not have a mechanical locking system in case of a hydraulic failure?
The most intimate description of outback lovemaking 25:23 - 25:28 Absolutely epic.
Even more nasty..... 25:23-25:51 Nice.
Love all the Aussie nicknames for people in serious positions. “Here is the leader of operations, Wazza”
That's just a normal thing here mate. In one of my jobs when I was a young fella, I was able to lift much heavier loads than the older fella's I worked with, and my name is Ryan, so they call me R Bucket, and ordered me a bucket hat through the company with it emblazoned on it. And thats how I got my name, That's just how it goes here haha. I head a large cyber security firm now, but I'm still called R bucket, and I still wear my hat 😀
When you literally just need to smell the oil to be able to tell which oil it is 😁
That pentle pin bushing bore-out fix was a rare barbed-wire wild-west moment that would probably cause most FAA materials & manufacturing engineers to swallow their tongues.
I would have thought that they could have Frozen the pen to shrink it or something instead of for the whole
looks like they over-torqued the spindle router.
I chuckled at 1:22:20 when he said “as this heavy weight rolls off the scales”. I was like if that A320 is a heavy weight then I’m built like the rock.
Excelente video!
A follow-up series showing the insurance adjusters, physiotherapists and orthopedic surgeons treating these fellows as they age would be interesting.
@Travis Terrell should I Persue software engineering
Not gonna lie, I'm a software engineer and think these jobs look super awesome. I'd go for one of these that works in a garage though, probably. Maybe after a few more years of saving
@Luke Barrow come to Detroit and I will make you a coffee in my Keurig. Your one wish has been granted.
As someone who does this work, I wish the injury unit would have a loyalty card or maybe some injury bingo so I could win a coffee or something while I'm waiting
You mean the "Bio- Mechanics"?
Engineers don't fix anything. What you have there is a team of electricians and millwrights actually fixing it.
thank you, was looking for this comment
Was a rigger for 10 years and now I'm old and in poor health, but I miss building and moving big iron
My dad would’ve loved this he was always watching things like this
I worked with one of these in Denmark. We use em for unloading the coal out of the ships aswell.
These men are amazing. Ian is worth his weight in dark matter.
Some skilled mechanics freeze the bolt and heat up the whole piece and is way easier to change the bolts
2:19:08 I wish my company has group warmup activities like this.
To think some of us feel like this while working on your car at home and live in the rust belt lol
Awesome job
He's a damn engineer... Sounds Epic
Amazing how those "experts" state that 6000 volts flow thru the cable XD
Worked in a mine for 10 years the executives act like they're going to go broke if a machine isn't operating they just want their hundreds of millions of dollars every single day anything breaks they want it fixed fast fast fast even though it's brutally hard
Is there a specific reason why the aircraft mechanics are using hand tools only? I'm a diesel mechanic and I have cordless drivers and impacts. I haven't used a speed handle since school, and I thought it was interesting that one of the techs in this video was removing screws with one.
@Tanya Erskine not exactly. Plenty of use of power tools. A lot of aircraft parts are designed with much slimmer load margins than other stuff, to save weight, and a lot of aviation applications frown up on impacts or explicitly ban power tools entirely. But for the most part it's pretty common and it would be pretty stupid to regulate that out entirely. Electric ratchets and bit drivers are by far the most common as most aviation torque isn't very high. And when it gets high you get a torque multiplier and a 5 foot torque wrench or breaker bar.
@Vincent McKinnon Thanks! I wondered if that was the case.
Aircraft mechanics working under FARs provided by the Admin are not permitted to use impacts/power tools on aircraft. I’m in A&P school currently and we do everything with hand tools
okay will do that. thanks
Hey hey y'all doing Happy New Years anyway anything to do with big mechanical machine you work like this or anything that nature I'm all for big trucks muscle cars anything that nature all for it you guys are awesome I like this kind of stuff thank you again for the content God bless you have a blessed day
Couldn't they just have a whole bucket wheel that they could swap in and out and take the old bucket wheel and repair or replace whats needed and have it ready to be swapped back in on the next cycle or would that just be to heavy to actually do
one bolt per 12 hour shift performed by 4 people? sounds ludicrous. looked way faster than they said it takes
Scaffolding is key..! To all my high flying scaffold brothers..who have families to feed 🤘🏽
Its amazing they never look like they are sweating
"With such a straight forward task, what could possibly go wrong?" C'mon man! You NEVER say something like that before any kind of project! (Yes, I know it was sarcasm)
At 24:50 worker has a lapse in judgement that could cost him a hand. Can tell his hand is a bit to the side, but absolutely no reason to put it there since it is his brain tricking him to think he is doing something relevant. This type of work only takes seconds of poor judgement to have devastating consequences!
Let me guess the parts that did not fit were out-sourced.
The video does not do due justice to how HUGE these machines are. The Bucket on that Hitachi EX5500 is massive. It makes the operator look tiny.
He is the Dam operator, And he knows the gates Dam well
Wow. I felt good about working on my old John Deer.
Deere that's the one I had. lol
You never had a John deer
Wow Very interesting !!! Question. Thousand or so years ago what was the process used to separate the silver/gold. Was Borax and zinc used ? Thank you
If it don't fit the first time use a bigger hammer
"With such a straightforward task, what could possibly go wrong?" the segways between the segments are the most dramatic and ominous narration in any documentary I've ever seen
I have never seen any engineer repair or maintain anything. I know when I see someone that is useless with their hands its when they have a little special engineer ring on it.
Imagine getting only a 1000hrs, off a probably $75k part. Plus labor for removal/install(twice) Yikes. Bet the boys who put the 1k hour part in got a serious talking too lol
All this heavy repair is like dancing with a clumsy giant.
I like technology and science
Teamwork makes the dream work
@Dynamic Solution I hear you. Regardless of the big machine marvel and the skilled engineers involved to maintain it that video is designed to showcase (which I truly appreciate), I'm personally in favor of going all nuclear (not clean, but "cleaner", not safe, but "safer"). I see your point of view though. I'm glad we can agree on the means, even if we disagree on the reasons. Regarding the "end"... Whatever floats your boat when the ice does melt and a large portion of Florida and plenty coastal towns/cities are underwater sooner or later.
@Robert Every human on planet earth can fit inside the city of Jacksonville Florida 2x. We are a mear specs on this huge globe and couldnd change the climate if we tried. Clean energy/global warming are crap invented to bring about the next massive paradigm shift. Kinda like the economic boom ww2 was on US economy, we needed some new massive goal to keep recreating ourselves. Swapping out Every gas station in the us, updating our electric grid, switching to all electric cars, keeps plenty of jobs on the horizon for the next 30-50 years. I'm 100% ok with it because I'm in the US and it keeps us from descending into anarchy but its 1000% not necessary for the reasons they say.
@Dynamic Solution it's a tough technical job, but somebodies gotta get mega-shafted.
@Dynamic Solution You're right. I should support black-lung.
@Robert cringy af right?
Equipment failure happened at Oroville Dam. So yes, it happens. Some people didn't do something.
loved working with a good crew and chain falls and ener-pacs to remove and repair broken equipment. But once your health changes your heart breaks
..em..
Why didn't you guys use heat or even heat and wax to get the large bolts out? Also, why didn't yall loosen the hydraulic hose retention clamps when you stretched the hoses apart? Couldn't what you did cause stresses and possibly premature failure? Just wondering.
As well as something to support the weight of gearbox.
Nope heat would cause everything to grow. A heavy wall sleeve over the bolts and hollow ram then the nut for ram to push against and grease the other end as jacking against the other end would even cause bolt to mushroom before entering the bore. Fitted bolts are a gentle exercise and metal no matter how high tensile can deform.
I don't think the bolts were seized, it was just the side load and pressure I believe. Wax might help but heat would only expand them and make it worse IMO
Even the most conscientious repairman take shortcuts. You hope they really don't short -cut the safety...and their unions can hopefully protect them from the toe -tappeing- clock- watchers profit motivated bean counters.
it, hard to tell just from the videos, in my experience when ever I come along to see what everyones struggling with and ask the obvious questions like that there's always a reason why on that specific job its not possible... so who knows is guess. but I'm curious to know as well.
Very lucrative business development
Yeah, engineers need to plan for maintenance and and gravity. The fact that it took over 32 hours to remove 15 of 16 bolts indicates a poor design for long term usage. There are two kinds of engineers...lol. For something that crucial to providing infrastructure with energy resources, they should have built in pivoting structures (like the radial water gate) which is regularly receiving oil coating and degreasing so that vertical parts can be made horizontal and vice versa. Someone probably did some comparative shopping here when the purchase happened.
"From deep underground" *shows something on the surface, not underground*
LOL at "Engineers repair and maintain". I've never seen an engineer get his hands dirty
Now I can repair my Tonka trucks, great tutorial.
I am proud of you all
Nice to see all the women represented in these jobs that build and make the world go round.
So even on heavy machinery the transmission failed just as much
With that telescoping lifter, jack up the front of it, pop the pivots out of the hydraulic cylinders (the bracers), and swing them out of the way. Roll the sucker out. Hydraulic pressure should be dead, if lines have been cut. If they haven't bleed the lines. Hell, that might solve the bracing issue as well.
Exactly what I was thinking and they eventually did pop the pivots out but only after craning it out. I would have bled the lines immediately.
I know right!
He knows the dam damn well and is damn good at his dam job!
..em..
@Rusty the Crown definitely should've ended that sentence with a "dammit"!
Dam operator.
dammit.
I thought everything was bigger in Texas.. seems like everything is much bigger down under
weld lifting lugs on the base .much love and respect
We won't see adoption of this technology in my lifetime. Or, given that I'm 70, most everyone else as well.
Good Ole Doug, Tha absolute best dam Operator I have ever seen!!!!
Why didn't they weld the lifting point back on the long wall jack?
You did not just say "clean coal" I thought this was meant to be factual.
a lot of "percussive maintenance" :)
Use the AD’s as a break. Sit your watch to the AD’s time and take care of other things that might need to be done! Some of the AD’s are interesting to me.
I think on this pathfinder, it could not find it's path. The path was inscrutable through the dense vegetation. When suddenly getting things done a roadblock appears in the undergrowth, and logs and windfalls have to be climbed over. Just when the mechanical work is done a loose belt is found, unt zee mechanic remembers a slipping belt and so oh yes the tension is completely run out so a new belt is necessary. Remind me to NEVER buy a Pathfinder that cannot pathfind.
If you can't fix it with those three items then get a bigger hammer
It was always under time constraint, and everyone shouting about how much it costed them that I took an hour extra when shit was stuck.
One thing I wish they showed was the amount and variety of cursing in a heavy equipment shop
"The 793 is worth $4 million dollars." Cool. And I just stole and casually drove these around in Just Cause 4 off cliffs. Just Cause 5: Repair Bill.
i wonder what the commission looks like on that and the type of salesman needed to close that deal.
dang look at all those over sized Tonka toys lol 🤣
I wonder how many other women are watching this I’ve loved this stuff since I was a lil girl my dad doing construction
It is a vast and wonderful world. Machines have always fascinated me. There's nothing wrong with being one of the boys. But I'm sure they're are other girls out there who are interested in Mechanic tech at well.
Cool to have a look behind the scenes of the country and the companies that lead the fight against the fight against climate change :D
21:49 ... 60 000 Psi? Yea don't think so. Maybe 6000 but never 60...
i think they should make one of these except it’s two rednecks trying to take an LS out of a rusting Tahoe (speaking from experience)
That mizzy guy just standing their offering "advice " to the guys doing the work I would think would be annoying if he isn't doing the things and getting dirty with them at some times. Especially if he's just they're too babysit. Experience is always nice to be able to bounce ideas off of, but of he is just staying clean and not fully understanding how things work at there being the project lead would be frustrating. Or perhaps he chose that lead and is just over seeing that project to ensure the young lead is capable of handling jobs this large the way he needs. Who knows. Just felt alittle funky seeing him hovering all clean
I've built the reclaimer buckets for the wheel
You can grind the bolt heads off in a few hours and push out the bolt post from the hole You don't unscrew them
They were double threaded shafts not headeded' bolts.
is it just me or is it pretty freaking weird that a video with 288k views has 79 comments.. someone is deleting the comments that hurt their feelies...
What is it about britian that created the worst of the worst, that's done the absolute most damage in the current
@Stuart Cotterill like how hard is it to comprehend that they were British colonies from my comment?
For such a wildly liberal majority, I'm seeing a frighteningly low(zero so far) population of women working in these fields. Curious.
Engineer repairing something lol thats a good one
Theyre not grease monkeys dude?
Pays for Premium to remove ads... content creators: "Not on my watch!"
"The lift point is missing idk what to do!" Idk maybe weld up a new one since your fixing it may as well fix that too
this whole thing is a laugh, he makes it sounds like everyone NEEDS to rush but be careful.... no. they just do the job no rush no stupid risks, the pay is the same for them.
Oh my goodness will they get er done....such pressure.....
How are they not required to wear hard hats? 13:36
Hello men, this is heavy , but not weltmechanik.
Why are they pressure washing the gate of the dam?
I retired as an OSHA certified journeyman mechanic who worked on heavy equipment. We had to fabricate special devices many times to complete a repair job on the fly.. Always told it's costing 100k per day it's down.. FIX IT!!.
He intentionally coats on a coal Hitler stash at the start of every shift