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VelociMorte · 11-17-2005, 07:40

I used to be a sign erector/crane operator in my younger, pre-military days. I once had a sign that was to be mounted on an existing 75' pipe that was 24'' in diameter at the base and got progressively smaller until the top 20 feet or so was 12'' in diameter.There was a perpendicular 4’’ pipe running through the main pipe about 20’ from the top where another sign had hung. It was at an old strip-mall, and the 12’’ pipe had been open at the top for a number of years. Pigeons had filled the top 15 feet or so with hard-packed nests and their own carcasses. To meet code, the wire to power the sign had to run through the pipe. There was no way to run the wire through the pipe as long as it was blocked. Among other things, I tried forcing rigid conduit through the blockage, and I tried burning it out, without success. My four hour job was turning into an eight hour job. Finally, the light in my head came on. I like things that go "boom", so I had experimented with fuel-air explosions before. I thought this might be a good place for one. I cut a one inch hole at the base of the pipe, (edited by knifemaker for safety reasons) inserted the torch tip into the hole I had cut, and waited about ten minutes. I figured ten minutes would allow enough cutting gas to fill the base of the pipe. It must have filled most of the pipe. I removed the torch, lit it with a striker, and inserted it into the hole. The resulting explosion propelled a 15 to 20 foot long by 12 inch diameter column of hard-packed bird nests and carcasses about 250 feet into the air, driving through itself, disintegrating as it flew higher and higher. The explosion rattled windows, set off alarms, and scared the hell out of people for blocks. The debris rained down on the parking lot and the six lanes of traffic passing by. Not only did it clear the blockage, but it also cleaned all the rust scale and dirt out, and the inside of the pipe was spotless. Shortly afterward, numerous police officers pulled up and wanted to know the cause of the loud explosion. As I explained the entire sequence of events to the officers, they started laughing. One of them stated that he wished he’d been there to see my 75’ long cannon go off. They left, and an hour later, the sign was welded, the power run, and the job was done.

11-17-2005, 07:40	#180
VelociMorte Guerrilla Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United States Posts: 137	I used to be a sign erector/crane operator in my younger, pre-military days. I once had a sign that was to be mounted on an existing 75' pipe that was 24'' in diameter at the base and got progressively smaller until the top 20 feet or so was 12'' in diameter.There was a perpendicular 4’’ pipe running through the main pipe about 20’ from the top where another sign had hung. It was at an old strip-mall, and the 12’’ pipe had been open at the top for a number of years. Pigeons had filled the top 15 feet or so with hard-packed nests and their own carcasses. To meet code, the wire to power the sign had to run through the pipe. There was no way to run the wire through the pipe as long as it was blocked. Among other things, I tried forcing rigid conduit through the blockage, and I tried burning it out, without success. My four hour job was turning into an eight hour job. Finally, the light in my head came on. I like things that go "boom", so I had experimented with fuel-air explosions before. I thought this might be a good place for one. I cut a one inch hole at the base of the pipe, (edited by knifemaker for safety reasons) inserted the torch tip into the hole I had cut, and waited about ten minutes. I figured ten minutes would allow enough cutting gas to fill the base of the pipe. It must have filled most of the pipe. I removed the torch, lit it with a striker, and inserted it into the hole. The resulting explosion propelled a 15 to 20 foot long by 12 inch diameter column of hard-packed bird nests and carcasses about 250 feet into the air, driving through itself, disintegrating as it flew higher and higher. The explosion rattled windows, set off alarms, and scared the hell out of people for blocks. The debris rained down on the parking lot and the six lanes of traffic passing by. Not only did it clear the blockage, but it also cleaned all the rust scale and dirt out, and the inside of the pipe was spotless. Shortly afterward, numerous police officers pulled up and wanted to know the cause of the loud explosion. As I explained the entire sequence of events to the officers, they started laughing. One of them stated that he wished he’d been there to see my 75’ long cannon go off. They left, and an hour later, the sign was welded, the power run, and the job was done. __________________ “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." John Stuart Mill Last edited by Bill Harsey; 11-17-2005 at 10:28.
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