PDA

View Full Version : Painting pylons.


BigClive
03-23-2007, 04:13 PM
It appears one of my nephews has just got a new job... Painting power pylons here in Scotland. He'd just finished a rope access course and it seemed to take his fancy. Nice scenic views for him then. :)
tramp67
03-24-2007, 12:13 AM
Ask him if he can get me a bucket of the striped paint they use near airports!:rolleyes:
Alan Mac
03-24-2007, 02:13 AM
Known as a tosher then. Who's he working for Clive? There's a good chance I'll know most of the blokes he's working with, the same old faces go round each year, regardless of the firm we get.

Mac
BigClive
03-24-2007, 05:40 PM
Not sure who he's going to be working with. His names Fraser.
Alan Mac
03-25-2007, 03:36 AM
I might trip over him in the summer, if he heads south.

Mac
loodvig
03-25-2007, 07:16 AM
What's a power pylon?
Bigheadnc
03-25-2007, 05:24 PM
What's a power pylon?

Are they using camel hair brushes?
BigClive
03-25-2007, 06:11 PM
What's a power pylon?

Metal transmission structure.
tramp67
03-25-2007, 07:34 PM
Are they using camel hair brushes?

I think they dress up in a sheepskin suit, jump into a tank of paint, climb to the top of the structure, and slide down!:eek:
Alan Mac
03-26-2007, 02:29 AM
For some unknown reason, most people in the UK call towers "pylons". When we turn up on a job and say to the landowner that we need to get to the tower they look blankly at us. Strange thing is, when we say the pylon they think we mean a wood pole. Go figure.

It seems to be a historical thing as over here, phone poles are always referred to as telegraph poles, and the telegraph dissappeared long ago.

Mac
Alan Mac
03-26-2007, 02:37 AM
I think they dress up in a sheepskin suit, jump into a tank of paint, climb to the top of the structure, and slide down!:eek:

By the time they've finished a tower they look like they did jump in a tank full. The painters usually work as a pair or a threesome. They all know their own moves, so they avoid covering each other or climbing over wet paint. It is fun to watch a couple of guys who are new to each other, one paints bars the other is expecting to be clean and the second guy is kinda painted into a corner.

One of my regular summer jobs is quality controlling our painting jobs. We inspect each tower at each stage, they have to wire brush all surfaces, we check it, they prime the half tower, we check it, they topcoat, we check. End of the line, switch the circuits over and start again on the other side (we have very few single circuit tower lines). We also take random paint samples for viscosity testing and paint film thickness readings (wet or dry) to ensure the paint has not been thinned.

Needless to say, we don't earn many friends that way, but we try to get a good job for our company.

Mac