Employed Again!!! Yay!!

[alan627b]

Employed Again!!! Yay!!

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I got a bite from one of the applications I put in, due in part to my good next door neighbors. They all work at one of the bigger auto salvage firms in this area, and I was advised to put in an app. for an equipment operator.

So this morning the phone rings, offering me a job running a wheel loader loading scrap metal and whatever else they need done with the machine.
Pay isn't any worse than any of the "sh*t jobs" in the paper, and better potential than most of them, and will be all season and all year. And I still get to run machinery, best of all.

There will also be scrounging, er, salvage opportunities and the ability to keep tabs on any old cars that get brought in. This is my favorite yard to go to to old car and truck parts. it's a pull-your own type of yard. I think most of their loaders are brand J but as long as the heaters work I say BFD!!

More details as they arrive, I hope I can keep this one this time! And that it's worth keeping.

Stay tuned,
Alan
__________________

[Nick Drew]

Many congrats Alan !!

Let us know how it goes and a few pics of your new mount would be great too !!

Nick

[Neversweat]

Steve

[Jeremy Rowland]

Congrats Alan its always nice to find work.

Jeremy

[Holger]

Congratulations Alan!

[alan627b]

I got a little free education today, since I had to go down to the south yard to do paperwork anyway, I figured it was time for a visit. After scrounging parts for a while, I wandered over and watched the loader scrapping cars.

There are a mix of Volvo and John Deere loaders with forks and various types of grapples. The really interesting ones have what is called a Scorpion. It has a hydraulic pincer that is used to literally tear engines and wiring out of cars.

They start by folding the hood back and jamming it into the interior of the vehicle, or tearing it off completely in the case of pickups. The operator then either comes up on the side of the engine compartment, or sometimes nose to nose, lowers the Scorpion and tweezes the engine and transmission and tears it right out of the vehicle, then deposits it in a container, along with radiators, a-c condensors and transmissions. It's amusing to watch as the poor vehicles get disemboweled. Picture a huge pair of wire cutters with a serrated edge, and you have the idea.

He then goes back, aligns the forks straddling the firewall and puts pressure down on the vehicle, and employs the Scorpion to tear the entire firewall and dash out, grabs the vehicle, and carries them both over to another area where the copper wiring is manually cut free and salvaged. He then grabs another vehicle and repeats the process.

After the wiring is stripped out, he returns and grabs the hulk, and carries it over to a truck trailer mounted crusher called an E-Z crush, where the car is flattened to about a foot high. He jams the hulk in it, holds it with the forks, and uses a cab mounted control to start the crusher. He can then let the machine finish the job while he goes and grabs another victim. I think they usually wind up with a pile of 6-8 vehicles crushed together, which the operator then forks and carries to another area where the pile is stacked until trucks show up to haul the stack to a recycler.

My job, on the other hand, is going to be loading the mountain of scrap steel and junk people drop off to get rid of. Apparently the north yard is short handed so there is quite a pile of junk to get rid of. A real big pile, I saw it for myself! I'm not sure exactly what equipment my loader will be equipped with, and won't until Monday. I will also help out doing whatever else they need a loader to do, like lifting cars onto the racks where all the fluids are drained and recycled, even washer fluid! I maybe putting cars in the crushers too.

One thing's for sure, it aint gonna be boring!

Tools of the trade...
http://www.dymaxinc.com/attachments/2201/
Scorpion
http://www.americanrecycler.com/0809/spotlight.shtml
and
http://equipment.forconstructionpros.com/product/10082852/SAS_of_Luxemburg_SAS_Forks_SAS_Class_20_Scorpion_Engine_Puller
and
http://www.sasforks.com/

Crushers...
http://www.americanrecycler.com/0907/spotlight.shtml
All sorts of devices...
http://www.americanrecycler.com/spotlight.shtml

[Holger]

Those?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yn3YpIOew4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R83QjqViow

[alan627b]

That them all right. Gonna be an interesting job, no doubt...