Go bluff ya way onto a construction mining site, a few years ago when I worked as a machinist in the notrhwest I was on about 2K a week and a boss came in from the HBI ( hot Brick iron) plant which was being built asking for a 1" coupling to be bored. I asked the application and told him there was a 0.0005" crush so get the fitter to throw it in the pie oven at smoko. Mind you I was at home having a beer when I got called out, so 8 hrs pay for a 30 minute job. No sooner than I cracked my first stubbie when I got home the phone rang. I had to drive back into work and make the same thing again. I asked the boss what happened and he said he did tell the fitter to throw it in the oven, he did, burnt his hand, dropped it on the ground and went to first aid then went back and used a 14lb hammer to try and install it. So I made another one and went back home earning another 8 hour pay. At 5am the next morning I got a call to go in and make a whole new shaft assembly etc, my response after the night before get me a taxi as I aint driving. The taxi turned up in 20 minutes, I got driven out to the site to inspect what I had to make and asked the boss guy what happened. It turned out the fitter who did the job was a carpet fitter not a mechanical fitter and had worked there for 7 months without the boss's knowing.
So a simple coupling job ened up costing over 20K and the end result that carpet fitter kept his job........
So go bluff ya way onto a mining site, stay in the hollows and reap the rewards untill ya found out, but get to know a few boss's so when it comes you have backup. Then you will make in a month what you would in in a year in a normal job.
Cheers Bryan