Jackie's Boring Dredge
- Thread starter Geramo
- Start date
J
JohnVm
Guest
Jackie, that is when thinking on your feet really is an asset. Those jobs usually pay well if nothing major and unforeseen goes wrong. Did it go well?
jackie schmidt
New member
John
John, on a job such as this, figuring out how to do the job and being able to forsee any major problems that can occur is what makes or breaks the job.
I was fortunate enough to have at least a week and a half to plan the job, and tool it up. The shipyard simply took me at my word that I would accomplish what had to be done.
Much of what you see in the pictures was made up for this job, and most of the other parts of the set-up, that I already had, had to be modified. About the only piece of equipment I used "as is" was the boring bar its self. Since I had the time and money in the job to 'do it right", everything went quite well.
Jobs like this do not come along very often. In fact, at my age, this might be the last time I get to do something this big.........jackie
John, on a job such as this, figuring out how to do the job and being able to forsee any major problems that can occur is what makes or breaks the job.
I was fortunate enough to have at least a week and a half to plan the job, and tool it up. The shipyard simply took me at my word that I would accomplish what had to be done.
Much of what you see in the pictures was made up for this job, and most of the other parts of the set-up, that I already had, had to be modified. About the only piece of equipment I used "as is" was the boring bar its self. Since I had the time and money in the job to 'do it right", everything went quite well.
Jobs like this do not come along very often. In fact, at my age, this might be the last time I get to do something this big.........jackie
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jackie schmidt
New member
Pete
We were discussing this three weeks ago while I was down in Corpus Christi doing this job. This is a good example of some of the type of "machine work" that is being performed that is a far cry from the normal "chuck it up and watch it run" that most machinist, and lay persons, are familiar with.
There are quite a few Machinist, like myself, operating out of job shops, who have deacades of experience and literally can figure out a way to do just about anything. That is, if there is enough time, and money, involved.
Incidentally, in one of those pictures, (the second thumb nail) if you look down, you can see the deck of the drydock that the dredge is sitting on. We were working on scaffolds about 25 feet up from the deck. That picture was taken the day I turned 59 years old!! I am really getting a little too old to be climbing around like this and handling all of that heavy iron........jackie
We were discussing this three weeks ago while I was down in Corpus Christi doing this job. This is a good example of some of the type of "machine work" that is being performed that is a far cry from the normal "chuck it up and watch it run" that most machinist, and lay persons, are familiar with.
There are quite a few Machinist, like myself, operating out of job shops, who have deacades of experience and literally can figure out a way to do just about anything. That is, if there is enough time, and money, involved.
Incidentally, in one of those pictures, (the second thumb nail) if you look down, you can see the deck of the drydock that the dredge is sitting on. We were working on scaffolds about 25 feet up from the deck. That picture was taken the day I turned 59 years old!! I am really getting a little too old to be climbing around like this and handling all of that heavy iron........jackie
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Pre History
Jackie, This is one of the things they do not teach in trade school. With the way things are done (mostly CNC) today, only about 2% of the people that call them selves machinist or tool makers would be able to figure a way to do it and they would have to be 50+ years old. The kids today would ask where is the readout?
Bob Dodd
Jackie, This is one of the things they do not teach in trade school. With the way things are done (mostly CNC) today, only about 2% of the people that call them selves machinist or tool makers would be able to figure a way to do it and they would have to be 50+ years old. The kids today would ask where is the readout?
Bob Dodd
jackie schmidt
New member
Bob
The last two men we hired to teach the trade, we went over to the local High School and got some boys out of the vocational program. That has been 7 years ago for one, and 5 years for the other. They are both pretty good machinist now. We taught them to do things, our way, and how to think on their feet.
That term "Machinist" gets tossed around a lot. You will just have to take my word that there simply are not that many true Machinist lurking around out there.
Of course, that is a product of the way the Machining Industries have evolved. Large production shops with all CAD-CAM CNC machines do not need $35 an hour machinist. They need operators.
But, there are still little shops, just like ours, stuck in the corner of industry, that still require men with the skills that it takes to turn worn out junk into servicable machinery........jackie
The last two men we hired to teach the trade, we went over to the local High School and got some boys out of the vocational program. That has been 7 years ago for one, and 5 years for the other. They are both pretty good machinist now. We taught them to do things, our way, and how to think on their feet.
That term "Machinist" gets tossed around a lot. You will just have to take my word that there simply are not that many true Machinist lurking around out there.
Of course, that is a product of the way the Machining Industries have evolved. Large production shops with all CAD-CAM CNC machines do not need $35 an hour machinist. They need operators.
But, there are still little shops, just like ours, stuck in the corner of industry, that still require men with the skills that it takes to turn worn out junk into servicable machinery........jackie
N
nickthe
Guest
wow
so thats how you make a BR barrel
so thats how you make a BR barrel
M
Mike Swartz
Guest
Jackie;
All I could add to that is "Amen". The people that can make it happen are vanishing at an alarming rate because the people that can teach them are going just as fast. All the popular buzz words;CNC, CMM,etc don't make that kind of work happen but experience sure does.
Mike Swartz
All I could add to that is "Amen". The people that can make it happen are vanishing at an alarming rate because the people that can teach them are going just as fast. All the popular buzz words;CNC, CMM,etc don't make that kind of work happen but experience sure does.
Mike Swartz
M
mike in co
Guest
jackie,
back in the early 80's i was part of a team that did some vertical inline boring, and some horizontal bearing alingment.
the vertical was the fun stuff.
ever seen one of them US NAVY"gator" frieghter's....with the bow doors that open ?(full size ship, not a landing craft)
we took the doors off to replace the bearings. ohh i forgot to mention we did this with the ship in the water! (no drydock) cut the hinge pins in multiple pcs, welded the two doors together and lifted them off in one pc. next was removing the pin pcs( rusted in place...due to lack of maintainence), replacing the bearings( bronze bushings) installing new ones and line borring them in place. ever try installing 8" dia hinge pins in a multi ton door while sitting in the water. it was quite interesting.
mike in co
ex "outside machinist"
back in the early 80's i was part of a team that did some vertical inline boring, and some horizontal bearing alingment.
the vertical was the fun stuff.
ever seen one of them US NAVY"gator" frieghter's....with the bow doors that open ?(full size ship, not a landing craft)
we took the doors off to replace the bearings. ohh i forgot to mention we did this with the ship in the water! (no drydock) cut the hinge pins in multiple pcs, welded the two doors together and lifted them off in one pc. next was removing the pin pcs( rusted in place...due to lack of maintainence), replacing the bearings( bronze bushings) installing new ones and line borring them in place. ever try installing 8" dia hinge pins in a multi ton door while sitting in the water. it was quite interesting.
mike in co
ex "outside machinist"
jackie schmidt
New member
Mike
You are a man after my own heart.
I have worked on a similiar vessel, not a Navy lander, but a large offshore supply vessel that had similiar "doors" on the front. The hinges had worn,(actually rusted) out so bad that the doors would no longer meet and seal.
You would have loved this job I was on. In order to get all of those holes round and true, we ended up boring about 500 pounds of steel out. We kept track by putting those "figure six" shavings in five gallon buckets, We ended up with eleven full buckets, which weighed about 60 pounds each.
With the set up you see there, I could pull between 1/8 and 3/16 to the side on each cut on a 32 inch diameter. I made a compound reduction for the main gear drive to give me 32-1 reduction. That air motor you see with the two 3/4 ID air lines going is an old Ingersol Rand corner drill that I adapted a 5 hp reversable air motor to. At 110 psi, the motor runs at 220 RPM wide open. I had to re-vane the motor about 2/3 the way through. I make my own vanes out of Micarta. The bar turned between six and seven RPM. That seems slow, untill you look in there and see those chips flying off the cut. The feed was set at .016 per revolution. It took about an hour and a half to cut a five inch length.
If you look close, you will see those white circles on the face of each abutment. Those surround the "witness marks", (actually tiny center-punch marks), that I layed off of the music wire. These same marks are used to align the boring bar with a set of clipers that have a point on one leg.
Once, during the job, a couple of Engineers came up to see what we were doing. One commented that the bar turned rather slow. I told him it did seem slow, but it was relentless.........jackie
You are a man after my own heart.
I have worked on a similiar vessel, not a Navy lander, but a large offshore supply vessel that had similiar "doors" on the front. The hinges had worn,(actually rusted) out so bad that the doors would no longer meet and seal.
You would have loved this job I was on. In order to get all of those holes round and true, we ended up boring about 500 pounds of steel out. We kept track by putting those "figure six" shavings in five gallon buckets, We ended up with eleven full buckets, which weighed about 60 pounds each.
With the set up you see there, I could pull between 1/8 and 3/16 to the side on each cut on a 32 inch diameter. I made a compound reduction for the main gear drive to give me 32-1 reduction. That air motor you see with the two 3/4 ID air lines going is an old Ingersol Rand corner drill that I adapted a 5 hp reversable air motor to. At 110 psi, the motor runs at 220 RPM wide open. I had to re-vane the motor about 2/3 the way through. I make my own vanes out of Micarta. The bar turned between six and seven RPM. That seems slow, untill you look in there and see those chips flying off the cut. The feed was set at .016 per revolution. It took about an hour and a half to cut a five inch length.
If you look close, you will see those white circles on the face of each abutment. Those surround the "witness marks", (actually tiny center-punch marks), that I layed off of the music wire. These same marks are used to align the boring bar with a set of clipers that have a point on one leg.
Once, during the job, a couple of Engineers came up to see what we were doing. One commented that the bar turned rather slow. I told him it did seem slow, but it was relentless.........jackie
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4
40EZXS
Guest
Navy Work
This is exciting.I was on a Navy Ship working in the N Atlantic...The Navy or ship yards I'd think this work goes on very often...a ship can be real big out of water,a bear in water,if it is damaged.
Thanks for sharing your lifes work with us.
I thought you were just a shooter
This is exciting.I was on a Navy Ship working in the N Atlantic...The Navy or ship yards I'd think this work goes on very often...a ship can be real big out of water,a bear in water,if it is damaged.
Thanks for sharing your lifes work with us.
I thought you were just a shooter