Ran into an old tube sheet that took me 3 full days to drill out

I had this job last month at a power plant outside of Gary, Indiana that should've been a two day pull. We hit a tube sheet that must have been original from the 1970s, that alloy steel was way harder than anything modern. My carbide tipped drills were smoking after 20 holes, had to switch to an annular cutter setup which I hardly ever use. Took me 72 hours of straight labor for what I quoted at 12. Anyone else hit a wall like that where the material just fights back way harder than expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

knight.uma5d ago

Man, I feel that. I once spent 4 hours fighting a single stubborn bolt on a condenser, only to realize I'd been turning it the wrong way the whole time.

perry.jesse5d ago

That little Chevy story actually changed how I look at things now. I used to think tightening something was always clockwise and loosening was the opposite, no exceptions. Then I ran into a reverse-threaded bolt on a 2001 Ford Taurus water pump. Spent a solid two hours fighting it before I checked a forum post that said "turn right to loosen." Now I always double check which way a bolt goes before I start wrenching, especially on older cars. It saved me from feeling like a total idiot more than once.

pat_harris5d ago

Remember that bolt on an old Chevy once, thought I was gonna lose my mind... turned out it was reverse-threaded and I'd been cranking the wrong direction the whole time. Spent another hour just staring at it and cussing before I finally looked up the manual. Makes you wonder how many other things we've fought that were really just a simple twist away.