Big Block Machine shop

[iva bigan]

Here are some interesting photos of a ship engine being machined up from scratch.
You have to look carefully at some to see where the machinist is standing to appreciate how big some of the machines are.
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides...turing_Process

[soulman]

Originally Posted by iva bigan

Here are some interesting photos of a ship engine being machined up from scratch.
You have to look carefully at some to see where the machinist is standing to appreciate how big some of the machines are.
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides...turing_Process

Very cool !

im looking for a shop to rebuild an FE i have.

Soul.

[Aussie Mike]

Brilliant link Mr Bigan. That's a keeper.

That pic of the line up of Cincinatti milling machines helps me place the age of my old Cincinatti Mill. A lot older than I thought it was.



Cheers

[boxhead]

I thought of you Mike when I saw teh Cincinatti machines lined up.

Not to many OH&S issues in that place.

It is amazing they are not all blind (no goggle and masks)
It is amazing they all still have hands and fingers (no gloves or shields on machinery)
And amazing there not all dead (no hard hats) (and no PPE when working above 2 metres)

How is teh human race still around?

[Mrs flatchat]

Ahhh, those were the good old days --cut me teeth on a lot of that machinery.
Re:-the OH&S, there weren't any injuries --only deaths, which created a vacancy for some one else who wanted to work and they were mostly tradesmen who were actually responsible for what they did. -- It was even considered as prestigious to operate some of those specialised machines --once you earned the right to use them.
Mr.

[Rob. Smith]

boxhead...in them days people used to know how to think. You know, look after yourself. Be careful and not need someone else to look after you. Something else you didn't notice... no stupid glow in the dark uniforms. ha ha ha

[Merv and Sharon]

And they probably got paid peanuts for what they did. Amazing and one can see what an industrial powerhouse the US was then and also how those scenes are frightening in some ways compared to today's safety and concern for the worker.

[Fordzilla]

Ah, The good ol' days......Back when we had real craftsman. Now adays, if a computer can't do it, we can't do it. Technology advancement has brought alot of good things in this world, but alot of bad too.......IMHO

[LT65]

Great photos makes the engines I work on look like toys.

[Aussie Mike]

Originally Posted by LT65

Great photos makes the engines I work on look like toys.

We used to have some monster diesel motors like those for back up power in the old Telephone exchanges where I worked. One of my jobs as an apprentice was doing test starts. That was always good fun.

This was in the days of electromechanical telephone exchanges and they drew a lot more power than the modern stuff. Just in the small city exchange I worked at had dual 48V DC power systems that were delivering 1500 to 2000 Amps each. Get some big event like an earthquake where everyone picks up the phone and you can watch the ammeters swing round and hit the stops.

Cheers

[LT65]

Mike,
These only produce about 3000 horsepower, at full noise of 1058 rpm with full electric load they produce about 1200 amps. They weigh in at 16 tonnes plus 7 tonnes for the altenator. Drink about 400 litres an hour.

Lionel.

[Aussie Mike]

Originally Posted by LT65

Mike,
These only produce about 3000 horsepower, at full noise of 1058 rpm with full electric load they produce about 1200 amps. They weigh in at 16 tonnes plus 7 tonnes for the altenator. Drink about 400 litres an hour.

Lionel.

Is that @ 415V? That's heaps! We had 2 engine alternators in the exchange and I reckon they would have been smaller than those. They would probably have only had to support 4000Amps at 48V and then there were batteries too.

I was most impressed by one setup I saw in one of the big city exchanges. It was a V12 or V16 with 2 big GM blowers and 4 turbochargers. I never got to see it run but I reckon it would have been awesome.

I don't know if you've ever seen one but in the early days of no break power supplies they used to have a big flywheel spinning the alternator constantly. When the mains failed there was enough inertia in the flywheel to hold the load till the gen set fired. It was pretty cool to see. This was 1950's tech but I read it's making a comeback in some of the UPS systems.

I wish I'd had the foresight to take pictures of some of this stuff.

[boxhead]

I agree totaly, This is back when you where responsable for your own actions.

I am not saying you shouldnt take precautions, but you also shouldnt don all the safety gear and think your bullet proof.
They have no safety gear so they are careful.
I wouldnt mind betting more of these guys went home without a complaint of injury than today.

[LT65]

Mike,
More like 1200 volts these are locomotive engines. These figures are from my rusty memory as for the last 2.5 years I have been playing with the safety systems of the trains and mostly play with the laptop instead of the big noise maker.

Lionel.

[Modena]

inertia UPS are alive and well, and powering many modern day Internet data centres.

www.piller.com

in one of our DC's we have 3 ax 600kva Piller units, and are about to wheel in a second 2500kw Cat, but this is all chicken feed compared to what they run in The States in the REAL data centres.

I have heard from multiple people in the US that when California has power problems, they have been known to make calls to the likes of Intel and Google and ask nicely to pretty please fire up their 25,000kw+ of gens and feed the grid....

I just love those old machine shops, this pic I love, real power;

[Aussie Mike]

Flame cutting 18" thick steel is seriously impressive. So is the pantograph setup doing the profiles.

[Merv and Sharon]

Some of these would look good framed as pictures for workshops/garages