In Port Arthur this Morning, to align bore the shaft line on a new 95 ft Pushboat.

[jackieschmidt]

We should be here about 2 1/2 days. Just like going to the Beach

 

[AlNyhus]

View attachment 1660205
We should be here about 2 1/2 days. Just like going to the Beach

Except you come home with more jingle in your jeans. Be safe, my friend.

 

[nwmnbowhunter]

I wish a professional would video you and your work so I could watch it!!

Take lots of pictures please and thank you!

Super unique and cool!!

 

[Will Henry]

View attachment 1660205
We should be here about 2 1/2 days. Just like going to the Beach

Looks like you even have the sand! Nice, warm weather? WH

 

[jackieschmidt]

Set up on the 3 1/2 inch bar, and cutting.

 

[hpshooter]

Skilled tradesmen at work, this is actually what makes the world go around!

 

[jxb]

Exactly, lets see them try to outsource that to AI

 

[jackieschmidt]

Here is the 4 inch diameter bar set up in the stern tube and cutting

 

[jackieschmidt]

Here is the layout.
I work off of a .031 diameter music wire, with 85 pounds of weight broke over a 1 1/4 radius.
The wire is set dead center in the inside seal mounting plate, and adjusted straight with foundation line.

I then lay out those small punch marks so that all of them are established exactly the same distance off of the the wire. When I line up the boring bars, I use a set of half pointed calipers to true the bar up by those punch marks.

In short, I am truing the boring bar by those marks so it is exactly where the wire was.

 

[V35]

Thanks for sharing Jackie.

 

[ELR LVR]

Very interesting stuff
How do you measure an "exact" distance from the wire without moving/deflecting the wire?
Or is using the Divider Compass close enough? (I figure within .005"?")

 

[jackieschmidt]

Very interesting stuff
How do you measure an "exact" distance from the wire without moving/deflecting the wire?
Or is using the Divider Compass close enough? (I figure within .005"?")

As you might guess, in operations such as this, the knowledge and skill of the person performing the work is of utmost importance. That is what I rely on.
The actual boring of the bearing abutments is the easy part.

 

[SKWERLZ]

Here is the 4 inch diameter bar set up in the stern tube and cuttingView attachment 1660387View attachment 1660388View attachment 1660401

Are those bores out because of wear, damage, corrosion or something else?

Thanks for the pictures

 

[jackieschmidt]

Are those bores out because of wear, damage, corrosion or something else?

Thanks for the pictures

The Port side finished, moving the bars to the Starboard side.

To answer your question. This is a brand new boat. The shipyard fabricates the Strut and Stern Tubes as close as they can, usually within about 1/8 of an inch,then we come in and alignbore so the bearings and seal housings are in alignment with each other and in close enough alignment with the gear and engine foundations.
We do on occasion have to bore a strut back in alignment if the fits get all washed out, or the boat runs into something that could knock things out of whack. This is not uncommon in inland Pushboats.

 

[SKWERLZ]

The Port side finished, moving the bars to the Starboard side.

To answer your question. This is a brand new boat. The shipyard fabricates the Strut and Stern Tubes as close as they can, then we come in and alignbore so the bearings and seal housings are in alignment with each other and in alignment with each other.
We do on occasion have to bore a strut back in alignment if the fits get all washed out, or the boat runs into something that could knock things out of whack. This is not uncommon in inland Pushboats.View attachment 1660533View attachment 1660534

Got it!
Thanks.

 

[Chiquita]

AWESOME!!! to say the least b

 

[jackieschmidt]

One other thing. This equipment, 98% of it built my us, is designed to get into tight confinements, be easily set up, and cut a lot of metal in a reasonable amount of time.
The only piece that is overly heavy is the 4” bar, which is 14 ft long and weighs about 750 pounds. We just wrestle it around with chain falls and muscle power.
Much like the Ancient Egyptians did

 

[6BRA]

The Port side finished, moving the bars to the Starboard side.

To answer your question. This is a brand new boat. The shipyard fabricates the Strut and Stern Tubes as close as they can, usually within about 1/8 of an inch,then we come in and alignbore so the bearings and seal housings are in alignment with each other and in close enough alignment with the gear and engine foundations.
We do on occasion have to bore a strut back in alignment if the fits get all washed out, or the boat runs into something that could knock things out of whack. This is not uncommon in inland Pushboats.View attachment 1660533View attachment 1660534

Just amazing! Awesome to see.

 

[nwmnbowhunter]

I think if you had a good videographer you could do very well on YouTube or something. Think of kurtus at cutting edge engineering. Unique metal precision. Super cool.

 

[mike mccormick]

This is the kind of work that makes the world go round. Hopefully you will be able to train up someone to keep it going when you retire. It's an art we cannot afford to lose.