Hi Dave,Always glad to see another weldor join the fourms :) I got too see the worlds largest crawler crane, 3500tons, loaded on a barge ready to be shipped overseas. Too bad but they would not let anyone close enough for a good look. I would bet that crane is no longer the worlds largest crane. The most interesting weldment I got involved in was welding 1/2" CU brew kettles at Coors. They were about 12ft in diameter and 16ft tall with polished CU domes as this was part of the visitor plant tours. One very hot job Tig welding at 360amps inside the kettles with a 1100º preheat. I had "green" colored skin for several months from working the CU. Another good Tig welding job was 5ft butterfly air valves where the weldment was 100% Tig from the root too the cover pass. Another tank job was the SS ferminting tanks that was 14ft high, 44ft long, and 22ft wide. It's been to many years ago so my deminsions could be off. Again at Coors. Another tank job was curing tanks that were 20ft diameter x 44ft long, 3/4" thick Fe, glass lined, that were submurge arc welded that I also got to run for awhile. The tanks were all 44 ft long as too fit in the building, one on each side of a center isle on a 100ft wide building. It's amazing to see some of the componets we build today but just think back 75yrs ago of what they built with less tools than we have today. Just look at the componets of a steam engine tractor. What a challenage it must have been to make those parts and as accurate as they were made. Just amazing! Tom-in-WI (thank you Tom) just sent me a couple Lincoln welding texts, one being 1939 and one 1940, where welding with bare electrodes was the sign of a top notch weldor. I just barely got into the subject, but dang, that's amazing in it's self. T_Bone
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