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-   -   Nov 18. 2010: Paving Daytona (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=23967)

xoxoxoBruce 11-18-2010 12:44 AM

Nov 18. 2010: Paving Daytona
 
The advent of super speedways like Daytona, brought the advent of super steep embankments, to keep the cars on the track at speeds around 200 mph. I remember when they started testing the, then new, Talladega track, the drivers were complaining of severe headaches. They brought in some NASA engineers who discovered the texture of the track surface was setting up vibrations at speeds north of 180mph, that would kill brain cells. So not just the bumps that could launch a race car are critical, but the smoothness of the surface too.

My brother sent me a dozen pictures of the repaving of the Daytona track.

http://cellar.org/2010/paving1.jpg

1 - You see the tri-axle dump truck delivering the blacktop.
2 - I don't know what that machine is called, but it's taking the blacktop and probably pulverizing it to a uniform consistency, and heating it to a uniform temperature, then dumping it in the next machine.
3 - This mobile crane is carrying the conveyor which delivers the blacktop to the paver.
4 - The paver actually lays the blacktop down smooth and of uniform thickness.

http://cellar.org/2010/paving2.jpg

Steep, ain't it? The bulldozer looking thingy in the upper left corner is a side-boom cat. It's like a bulldozer but has that mini-crane boom out the side and are used primarily for laying pipe in a ditch. Here it's being used to keep the paver from sliding down the embankment. In the background is another side-boom helping the roller.

http://cellar.org/2010/paving3.jpg

Keep in mind, the tri-axle, the heater, the mobile crane, the paver, and the side-boom cat, all have to move together like the Radio City Rockettes.

I'm sure Daytona is paying handsomely.

Gravdigr 11-18-2010 12:57 AM

This is weird.

xoxoxoBruce 11-18-2010 01:00 AM

Weird?

SPUCK 11-18-2010 04:53 AM

Cool! No. HOT!!

xoxoxoBruce 11-18-2010 08:08 AM

I forgot, in the second picture, back in front of the roller, there's a long blue boom with an beach umbrella at the end. There's also a lady out under that umbrella, checking the angle with an inclinometer, to make sure it's right and consistent.

classicman 11-18-2010 08:09 AM

Verrrrry interesting.

newtimer 11-18-2010 09:38 AM

I wonder how much the union pays those guys whose job it is to stand around and watch the others work. You always see them at road construction sites, and you can see a few of them in these photos, too.

classicman 11-18-2010 10:13 AM

The same as the one that is actually working. They're in the union!

glatt 11-18-2010 10:15 AM

I never realized how steep that track is.

xoxoxoBruce 11-18-2010 10:33 AM

@ newtimer... With any construction project, there are always times when you have to wait for someone else to do their thing, before you can do yours. The guys standing around are either bosses/engineers/QC people, or waiting for the aforementioned to make a decision. Then there are always a few on the job that are like doctors and firemen, you don't need them all the time, but when you do, you need them badly and right now.

I'd assume from your snide reference to unions, you don't have a clue how things get built, or how unions operate. Are there bad things about unions? Sure, as with any organizations that are run by people, especially elected people. But the good far outweighs the bad, and the reduction of union representation over the last 30 years is one of the prime reasons our standard of living, and the middle class, has been eroded.

glatt 11-18-2010 10:51 AM

I'm generally very pro union, but I've heard a few stories about when we have trials in NYC. What a pain in the ass it's been because of the unions.

Normally, when we go to trial somewhere, it's a big trial, and we set up a room or suite of rooms in a hotel with all the equipment and supplies we need. It's an all hands kind of thing where you just do what needs to be done to get the place set up. Rolling copiers off the truck and onto a freight elevator to move them into place. Running extension cords around and taping them down. Etc. Etc. In NYC, we can't do any of that. We have to get official local union people, and they have a "that's not my job"and a "that's not your job either" attitude. Like it takes an electrician to plug a heavy duty extension cord into an outlet and stretch it across the room to the printer. You have to have the appropriate person for each job. We can't do anything ourselves. Try to pick up a box of paper and move it across the room, and a union guy yells at you for doing union work.

First time we had a trial in NYC, it was infuriating. Now we leave for trial a day or so earlier to allow time for the unions to take their pound of flesh at their own slow pace.

Not sure if it's all of NYC that's union, or just the hotel near the courthouse that we usually use.

But having said that, I really do support the unions and what they have done for the middle class. I like my weekends off and overtime when I work long hours and benefits.

xoxoxoBruce 11-18-2010 11:04 AM

There are always people who will take advantage. I've seen some horrendous misuse of contract protections, for personal gain, and what my grandmother would call down right cussedness. Also cases of members bullshitting people who were not up on the rules. Electricians are the royalty of the trade unions, because they've got the fire/safety officials behind them. But like everywhere, most are just guys trying to make a living, and they do know their shit.

Diaphone Jim 11-18-2010 11:27 AM

Bruce: How very unlike you.
Is it "The(y) do know they're shiit" (they are shit)?
Or "They do know their shit?" (are competent)
Some tender toes on, but interesting pics.

xoxoxoBruce 11-18-2010 11:31 AM

I have no idea what you are talking about. :haha:

Undertoad 11-18-2010 11:34 AM

My opinion on unions has changed because of A) xoB's statements in the past and B) I realized that I have been pretty much beat up, seriously taken advantage of, and even outright fired for no cause by shitty managers my entire life in IT, and so has pretty much everyone else in IT. We get ass-reamed for 20 years until we're middle age, and either we become the shitty managers, or we're fucked.

IT is relentlessly anti-union as a principle, but when I step back, it really hasn't worked out like they said it would.


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