Thermal Lance In Action - Scrapping a 2 million dollar FPSO turret bearing 

Probably not their first rodeo

My sentiments exactly I have cut a lot of steel but never like that.

Precisely Letting " Laurel & Hardy " loose on that absolutely astonished me 😧 As you say poking the lance in that hole is recipe for disaster! The pair of them are impatient & haven't a clue how to use a Lance. The slagback shower he could have had would have batterd him 😲 He's lucky the hole was straight through and the energy was directed & had chance to creep out. They've obviously never used one of these before.. as you say, let gravity do its job , you use one of these for a reason. I'm also amazed he hasn't a full face'r on . His Guardian was peeking down on him that day....

@@Acme-Logistics I those countries i wouldn't be surprised they lancing away in the sun with and old shirt, shorts and flipflops.

​@@jpsholland funnily enough the guy filming has a Scottish accent. Terrible professionals in the UK unfortunately.

In your opinion could you use a burning bar to do something like carve a cave out of solid rock? I'm studying rock-cut architecture. Thanks.

What do you mean "In a previous life"?

Dimitris Sfounis I'm pretty sure he means "earlier in his life."

@@lapinbeau considering his name I doubt it…

I'm still a boilermaker... Shits gotta be real broken before we pull out a lance.

Putting it against a piece of burning charcoal with the oxygen on also does the trick. Learnt it the hard way...

Another good way is have 2 short pieces of railroad tie close together burning in the middle. Stick it in, turn on Oxy. We did it cutting the old CNW bridges alongside the Kennedy Expressway. The contractors had from Friday night to Monday morning to blow a single bridge down and swing the entire new one in place and connect it up for the morning commuter trains coming in! Repeat every weekend! They never missed a beat the whole contract!

+Mark LaForce he's brown skinned.. does it really matter?

+chronok , it's not about skin burn, its about slag falling into the boot and burning small holes into his feet.

Kendall Shrock i made a joke about the work safety in asia where people dont use the right protection.. I heard crazy stories like people walking around with a co2 steel laser cutter, because the controll box broke down.. they wete manually carrying it over a big metal sheet.. crazy

Gotcha. Yeah. Like bamboo scaffolding to build roller-coasters.

Kendall Shrock rofl bamboo has a higher tensile strength than steel go use Google uneducated swine

+Kaito Usagi kek

May Bain Rest In Peace

Axel Milan hello from 2020

+MC Sure, if you don't care about what condition the contents of that vault end up in once you've cut your way in. Or what condition you end up in once the security guards realize what's happening (and they will, no exceptions). Basically, only useful if you're SCRAPPING a bank vault, not EMPTYING one. If it can melt steel, it can burn money and art, melt gold, and turn gems into charred (and worthless) powder. If the thing you're after is in a vault and then also in a latched but not locked tungsten box (or is itself made of tungsten), you might have a chance of getting it out without much damage. The sensors of that vault will obviously detect the attempt, however. Additionally, cutting the power counts as an intrusion attempt. That's how protection systems work. Done right, even a successful break-in ends up costing more than the value of everything inside. IRL vaults aren't the same as vaults in a game like Payday. They aren't required to have a way to "win" at breaking in. As mentioned, when done right there isn't even a way to break even. Technically there is always a way to break any security system, the problem is that it always has one or more of 3 downsides: it takes next to forever, it destroys the contents, or it costs so much to pull off right that it's not worth doing in the first place.

+44R0Ndin You .. clearly take RU-vid comments *very* seriously.

+44R0Ndin Burn Notice taught you that?

+MC The mythbusters did a opening a safe with a thermal lance if you want to see what it dose to the things inside.

+MC You can cut open a vault. But it would take a long time and you would end up damaging some of the contents.

What's a slew bearing??

Slew ring/slew bearing/ turntable bearing. Mostly found in excavators

Thermal Nights my guess: the big ring being cut on video

@@thermalnights3987 basically, it's a giant bearing that supports a heavy, slow turning piece of machinery (i.e. a crane or a wind turbine)

@@yaboyblacklist2431 Straight from wikipedia.

wayne p yep it was a warranty issue...QAQC. Bearing failures are a touchy subject, when they fail or seize offshore (due to many reasons but poor maintenance and lack of greasing is the main cause) then the intervention works required to fix/remove/install them are nothing short of huge. First of all, the FPSO needs to be locked in a fixed heading so the bearing can be isolated, Production will need to be shut off, so there won’t be any oil/gas flowing from the wells during the intervention, all the wells and safety valves need to be closed in, the bolting needs to be loosened, then the whole turret needs to be lifted so that the bearing can be removed. Check out mobile.offshoreenergytoday.com/tullow-confirms-damage-on-jubilee-fpso-turret-bearing/ This would take months to fix. I know guys on the intervention project there and it’s a complete disaster. So in summary, for the sake of 2 million vs losing 1 million per day production if it fails, it’s (excuse the pun) a drop in the ocean ;)

Its not bad, no atomized material/small particles coming off a melt like that. Grinding and welding suck but torches and lances dont stink much.

Slag in his boot and no hair on his chest

umm.... it's in singapore, they don't worry about having the same safety equipment as the US does....

Engage safety squints!

Just don’t be a pussy, safety third!

Very large diameters tend to be machined in a vertical orientation rather than normal turning with the workpiece horizontal

Roger Haley Hi Roger, thanks for the comment. I'm currently in the UAE building 2 identical main bearing turrets for a pair of FPSO's. These bearings will be the largest diameter bearings in use on an FPSO in the world (17000mm). They are of a 4 piece segmented design (nose ring, backup ring, supporting ring, retaining ring) with 240 96mm holes and they are currently being packed and shipped after a good factory acceptance test. I will endeavour where possible to upload a video of the assembly here on site. Best, James

@@captainsboner did you ever gey that video?

@@owenwilson3750 probably not, not finding any new comments from Cap.

Well ackshually...

Thermal lance + ingenuity = endless opportunity

I do get this satire but I would actually watch a video of you trying to cut through something like this with a $5 hacksaw.

​@@kylewallace9341I'm sure if you get him a 2millon dollar turret bearing he would try

@@kylewallace9341 Who wouldn’t?

MrRedeyedJedi hardware store

@@ecr125x not over here you cant

#4 lens at the least, I've always used a #6 or #5 lens for "any type" cutting.

Shade #5 for cutting applications but depends on what your doing

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_production_storage_and_offloading

First Person Shooter Obviously 😂😂

Farts perpetrate strange odors!

+5facts Yup. Picking up some useful tips myself. Oops....

Literally watching that now

Basically it is a steel pipe filled with steel rods or combinations of steel and aluminium or magnesium. As far as i know there is nothing special to it unlike welding rods which are made of very pure alloys.

Mike Stroman pure oxygen going through it

Big think🤔🤔🤔

@Fred Flintstone Haha, okay.

Fred Flintstone *oi vey intensifies*

I don't think they are terribly expensive. I found a 10 pack on ebay of 10' 6" (3 meters) bars for $85. So a teen foot bar is about $9 after tax and shipping.

by kindling temperature do you mean autoignition?

@@ToxicallyMasculinelol Auto-ignition usually refers to some means of a fire starting on its own. Like glycerine added to a pile of potassium permanganate will eventually burst into flame on its own. HOWEVER it also refers to a temp at which the volatile gases driven off of, usually, carbonaceous solids or liquid hydrocarbons, by adding heat, will eventually just erupt into flame in the presence of oxygen in a reaction that is similar to combustion in the sense that it generates heat and when it is high enough it will light-off on its own and produce the exothermic reaction of flaming combustion. The heat no longer needs to be added since the reaction is now self-sustaining. A match can burn a million acres! Steel will burn in the presence of oxygen if the temp is raised high enough (the cutting torch) BUT strangely the oxygen ALONE coming out of the cutting jet will CONTINUE TO CUT OR "BURN" THROUGH THE STEEL EVEN IF THE FLAME IS TURNED OFF! The steel is in an exothermic reaction and it is liberating great amounts of heat, more than enough to sustain the "burn"!! Like a wood fire!!

@@junkdeal well I know what autoignition is, but you said kindling temperature and I was wondering if that means the same thing as autoignition, or if that's something else

@@ToxicallyMasculinelol Well, I can try again!! The kindling temperature is somewhat different than the autoignition temp. I'm pretty sure the kindling temperature is lower than the autoignition temp. The kindling temp is simply the temp that something will begin to burn and continue to burn once a heat source is removed. Remember that book "Fahrenheit 451"? it refers to the kindling point of paper. To burn at all the paper would have to be heated to at least that temp. Of course a match would do that, it is far higher than that! But the paper would have to stay at that temp to continue to burn. It would, once you remove the match, since the fire by then is an exothermic reaction, meaning it adds enough extra heat to replace the match heat once it gets going. Wood would be far harder. But once enough heat is around and in the wood article, it would burn on its own. In, say, a barn fire, once the inside temp of the enclosed area is over about 500 degrees the entire inside of the building will erupt into flame and run away in a rapidly out-of-control fire. This is called a flashover. It is why no one survives for beyond a couple seconds under these conditions since YOU erupt as well!! Watch the movie "Inglourius Basterds" in the theatre fire scene. It is one of the best cinematic examples of this occurence I have ever seen! Of course no one is actually in the scene or they would all be dead instantly! Another video on RU-vid of a soccer field bleacher under roof, on fire, and you will be amazed at the speed this fire races under the roof!!! As to the kindling temp of steel in the form of wool, it is less than a thousand degrees. Rust is a form of combustion, and here the AUTOIGNITION temp would be the point where enough heat is generated without adding any external heat, UNTIL the whole thing erupts into flame. THEREIN IS THE DIFFERENCE OF THE 2 WORDS!!

ben 09 actually it makes sense to start from the top, gravity pulls the molten steel down, further preheating the object below so when the torch gets to it (if you are cutting in a top down motion) it’s got less work to do heating the steel to the point of melting.

5 years later, if you were still curious and hadn't found the answer, this bearing is part of the mooring turret for an FPSO. FPSO = floating production/storage/offloading, basically ships that move oil from oil rigs without pipelines and can process oil in-situ for increased efficiency. The mooring turret is a buoy which can be lowered or raised from under the ocean, serving as an anchor for the FPSO to remain in place and also providing umbilical functions so pumping oil into the ship for processing from rigs or local plants. The ship has a turret dock at its bottom and will position over the location that the turret currently is under water, the turret is raised to float at sea level, and arrives partially inside the ship turret dock where it can then be integrated with the ship to start pumping oil for processing. One function of the turret is that it allows the ship to rotate around it, with the turret at the middle of its turning circle, to handle ocean currents, wind etc. This bearing allows the turret to rotate; the lower part of the turret under water remains static (since there are an array of cables hoists pipes supports etc attached to the turret) and the portion of the turret which is docked within the ship rotates, with this bearing separating the static and rotational sections of the turret.

@@GrumpyGrebo Thanks! Though your description kind of confirms my thought. It would be under enormous stress surely, but I would think there would be different alloys that would be even better suited since it's a low speed bearing?

This? No. Closest thing we have to a lightsaber in terms of ability to cut metal is a plasma cutter. But it's more of a light knife than a light saber, because the "blade" of it is pretty short, only capable of cutting thru about 30cm of steel in the really high power industrial models (not the ones you can get at a hardware store, these ones cut things like bulkheads for ships)

Guys, the thermal drill. Go get it.

yes but it would likely destroy whatevers inside, either way possible but impracticable.

Yes, one was used in a famous robbery in London many years ago (see the film 'The Bank Job'). The contents of the vault were not damaged - it was a room containing safe-deposit boxes.

DavidB5501 Actually, if you research that heist, They Failed with the Thermic Lance and resorted to explosives.

Yes! but having the combination or keys are better for the environment.

RottenRroses goddamn yes as lomg as it isnt tungsten

also means no objection, usually used in Roman church Documents or books meaning that there are no objections from the bishop who gave the ok for its printing or impramater, that give the ok to print with the churches name as an entitiy

@@manga12 This answer is a little late, but you are absolutely right! I went to a Catholic school all of my educational career! The "proof" of an official sanction of any book, by the CATHOLIC CHURCH, especially of books used in teaching or interpreting any doctrine of that faith, is found on the opening pages. 2 phrases, Nihil Obstat, referring to nothing standing in the way of official declarations of truth or facts, a the catholic faith sees it anyway, and then "Imprimatur", or literally "it is appproved" in Latin, is stamped or printed therein!! Boy do I remember that! No text book ever entered that school without that feature!! Made for interesting science books for sure!!

@@junkdeal ah I am sure it did, especially in a more conservative age, it was of course the church and religious that lead to the university systom, like the university of bolonia, and so on, and explored logic and inquery, dispite what people say, it was on the Subject of faith and reason that St John Paul 2 said are two wings of the same bird, reason and logic tempered by faith, and faith and knowlege confirming what God hath made, the vatican even has an observatory, and as Fr Pacqua from ewtn would say sismology and plate techtonics was called the jesuit sciance, though today the order is full of progressivness and worldlyness save for a few the still hold what the church is always held, the jesuits are not fools but dont teach straightforward, just look at fr james martin and the holy father his off the cuff comments have left more then one question as to what he ment when he spoke or taught and he wont clarify what he says. though I guess this is not the place to discuss that as this is about metalworking not morality.

@@manga12 I'll give you this much......you know a lot more than I do about this stuff than I do!!

@@junkdeal it comes with time, and really good programming that talks about it

President of RU-vid it’s a piezoelectric sparker

James Inglis Riach have no idea how the hell to pronounce that but thank you

@@randomknight2585 pee a zo electric is how you pronounce it, at least in the northeast US where I live.

44R0Ndin live in northwest but thank you I shall now pronounce it that way

After ten years of operation, the bearing had too much clearance. They didn't think it would last the period of time they need it too.

Sam Allen the flame isn’t as bright as a welding arc.

Welding arc is significantly brighter and also emits higher amounts of radiation esp depending on the kind of rods used, this is merely high temperature gas to bring the metal to a metaling point, not welding arc

Granted it wouldn't be the worst idea to have some kind of eye protection cause I can't imagine that watching something that bright consistently is good for you, but it won't fry his vision like nakedly starting at a welder will all day. Hell welding can actually sunburn you from.its radiation emission lmao

I use those cutting glasses, look like sunglasses, I think their a #5 shade

Max o I’ve been “sun burned” by welding a handful of times... it sucks.

The beauty of the lance is the relative speed of its cutting action and its portability. Agreed if you want a prettier cut then power saw would be the right tool (although it would take much longer and would be harder to position the tool) but in this case when the object is being scrapped then the lance the best option.

Easy! Take a few steel tubes, some plumbing and stuff for the gas input, and a shitload of oxygen (and you can light it on with steel wool and a 9v battery). Just remember to be careful around the sparkles...

@@brisingreragon95 wait so its only fueles with oxygen

@@brisingreragon95 no acetylene

Nope, the fuel is the steel rod, which also means that there is no risk of backflame, and also ensures a really high temperature, cause it's already enough to melt the steel rod

Floating production, storage and offloading vessel for crude oil, basically an oil rig

That lance has nothing to do with thermite. It is a tube filled with steel which is burned with oxygen.

Pain is the best teacher on the planet. Always has been, always will be until they figure out how to reconfigure neurons inside someone's brain, from the outside, without completely wiping their personality in the process.

he should have a vented hood with supplied breathing air, and a sliver suit on.

l3awl3ag no it would turn to ash

Yes! But it does tend to be on the 'well done' side.