OT - Thermite Welding Railroad Rail

[MrWhoopee]

 

[Deleted member 69715]

Thanks for posting that.

 

[markba633csi]

I also like the trimming tools they use after the weld

 

[Winegrower]

I like at the end, after all that, the guy kicks the weld with his boot...just to check I guess.

 

[Eddyde]

Cool video, reminds me of some of the "experiments" I did with that stuff back in my late teens...

 

[RaisedByWolves]

If you guys like this sort of thing this guy has a great channel about railroading on an small coal mine operation.

Shows a wide variety of problems they deal with and the guy is pretty entertaining, obviously working his dream job..

 

[twhite]

If you guys like this sort of thing this guy has a great channel about railroading on an small coal mine operation.

Shows a wide variety of problems they deal with and the guy is pretty entertaining, obviously working his dream job..

I watch him. Interesting viewing.


Cutting oil is my blood.

 

[wudwlkr]

Very interesting to see the actual process. I worked as a transmission lineman back in the 70's and 80's. When building or adding on to existing substations we used to use a similar process to make the connections in the copper cable ground grids. Had molds made of compressed carbon for various cable sizes and configurations with premeasured amounts of a thermite powder for them. Clamp the mold blocks around the cables, place a thin metal disc in the bottom of the powder compartment, pour in the thermite powder and light it. When the thermite burned all the way down to the bottom it would melt the metal disc and allow the molten material to pour down around the cables fusing them together. Was kind of fun but hated handling the mold blocks. The carbon would just turn everything it touched black. Today the grounding grids are put together with compression connections.

 

[rwm]

Casting iron in a home foundry is difficult. I have always wondered about thermite casting for small objects.