A Little Bit Different Machine Work

[Papa Charlie]

Reminds me of when I was a field service rep working on Enterprise engines. Enterprise engines ranged from 6 cyl inline up to the 20 cyl V configs at 15K BHP (15" Bore, 21" Stroke, 450 RPM, 13.5" Main Bearings). I have installed them in electrical generation plants and on large ships. Edwin H Gott is one that has two of our 16 cyl engines that I was on crew that installed them.

My only complaint was working on Bunker C fueled engines, especially on vessels. Those closed quarters and the smell of the Bunker C was horrible. Was replacing the main bearings on one of our engines on a Military Sealift Command vessel out of Houston once. Had to do it while underway. Rolling mains in while inside the engine at sea with the heat, humidity and the smell of bunker, drover me to loose my lunch.

Still fun engines to work on, since you could actually climb inside. Did a lot of the same work as Jackie when installing them, just the bolts were a bit bigger. Interesting to set up as the engines would grow more than 3" in length between cold and full temp.

 

[jackieschmidt]

I've used acetone (C3H60) and dry ice for poor-mans cryo treatment during quench of some steels, but have not tried methanol and dry ice. C3H60 would get solution temp down around -100F. It was colloquially known as Panther Piss, lol!

Jackie, is this a tractor tug or conventional? Cool stuff to see!

This is a conventional tug. G&H has quite a few Tractor Tugs, a few with Rolls Royce units, but the majority Shottle. In some circumstances the Harbor Authority requires them.

They have sold off about 30% of their conventional fleet in the past 10 years. The particulate boat we are doing this work on is around 40 years old.

here is a picture of it when it was on dry dock while we were rebuilding the shafts.

 

[acloco]

These particular 16/645 EMD’s have a charge cooler on the intake side of the blowers. This same engine at 3200 HP has a rather large Turbo Charger In place of the positive displacement blowers.The Turbo Charger has a mechanical connection to the crank shaft with a large sprague unit. The sprague allows the Turbo to spin fast enough to pressurize the cylinders on the two stroke diesel during the start up cycle.
Once exhaust builds enough to power the Turbo, the sprague joint acts as a disconnect from the crank shaft.
if that sprague joint wears out, the engine will not start.

Believe this moment in gear driven turbo (a.k.a. "clutch") and driven by exhaust, is called "coming off the clutch".

 

[jackieschmidt]

We are shrinking NCB liners on this morning. The torches are natural gas.

The men go back and forth together at a slow pace. We measure the inside of the liner before heating, and rotate it 90 degrees about every 3 to four minutes to keep it round. When the liner, which is shrunk on .003 inch tight, has expanded around .030 inch, the men pick up the cradle, start it on the shaft, and another man pushes it on to the proper location, which is determined by a stop.

this is a 8 3/4 inch OD liner being shrunk on a 8 inch shaft.

if you look close, you can see the shaft is coated with copper anti-seize in way of the liner. We also pre heat the shaft to burn the humidity off, which is around 120 degrees. The last thing you want is a hot liner contacting a cold shaft.

It’s really a simple operation, with the correct tools and the knowledge of exactly how to do it. Our men know exactly what they ar doing. I do check all of the dimensions.

 

[Steve Blair]

It’s really a simple operation, with the correct tools and the knowledge of exactly how to do it.

It's satisfying to see skilled professionals at work.

 

[tac284]

Jackie, you have large “Nuts”…. Lol

Excellent work!

 

[jackieschmidt]

We drilled and reamed two bolt holes on each rear foot on the EMD’s today. It’s really tight down there. Basically the same set up as the reduction gears just using a #3 ingersoll air drill.

 

[Gun Smith]

Thanks for the great post of your work Jackie. Very interesting!