big engine!

[thestig]

i came across this and thought i'd share it with you.here.

 

[tigler]

It's when you see stuff like that you realise why Britain 'was' once great !
Those machine tools are epic, easily the biggest I've ever seen. What about the pic of that profile cutter working on a crank web, WOW !
And all now gone
I have a youtube of a Doxford in operation, I'll search for it in my favourites later and post it up.
Thanks for posting this.

 

[Baloo]

thats amazing, where are all those machines now, l never knew you could make a crankshaft up out of individual pieces and and "glue" em all together

very good

 

[cumbriasteve]

Great pics, thanks for putting up...bet those parts are still in some old ships on the high seas somewhere.. sad really when you see the skills that have gone.

Before retiring I was a suit and tie worker but years ago I was a fabricator and still think there was a great satisfaction building something with hard graft and heading home at the end of the day, dirty, tired and hungry, ready for a good hot pot or sheperds pie...they never tasted better...was never the same feelings to be had with office work.

 

[roofman]

fantastic pics and not a CNC in sight...real skilled men and all of em still have 10 fingers to count on there hands without hinderence from the H&S crowd too,i take my hat off to every one of em

 

[madkayaker]

fantastic. from before it all went to the dogs

 

[brightspark]

crankshaft re alignment on doxford engine

if u google crankshaft re alignment 1st page 1st post re alignment of a ships main engine crankshaft using liquid nitrogen on a doxford lbd4 it makes verry interesting reading sum clever comp buff on here will get the link up

 

[voipio]

I lived in Doxford House in Silksworth many years ago. It was at the tail end of a fine tradition. I saw one of the last ships ever to be built in Sunderland and many a tear was shed by grown men with pride in their hearts.

 

[Buzza]

It's when you see stuff like that you realise why Britain 'was' once great !Those machine tools are epic, easily the biggest I've ever seen. What about the pic of that profile cutter working on a crank web, WOW !
And all now gone
I have a youtube of a Duxford in operation, I'll search for it in my favourites later and post it up.
Thanks for posting this.

Have to agree with that, as a young lad I remember those red British Road Services Atkinsons seemed to be everywhere. (first colour pic)

 

[Baloo]

if u google crankshaft re alignment 1st page 1st post re alignment of a ships main engine crankshaft using liquid nitrogen on a doxford lbd4 it makes verry interesting reading sum clever comp buff on here will get the link up

that one ?

http://www.dieselduck.ca/historical/01 diesel engine/Doxford/docs/MV Eastern Rover.pdf

 

[metalspanner]

It is only when you see old pics like this, that you realise just how many people were 'replaced' by modern techniques, the wide angle shots of the machine rooms of the rows of lathes, milling and drilling machines etc, really hammer it home.
Each of these machines was operated by a real person who had a time served training, sad really how manufacturing has degraded to nothing more than being a computer operator.

 

[brightspark]

that one ?

http://www.dieselduck.ca/historical/01 diesel engine/Doxford/docs/MV Eastern Rover.pdf

thats the one

 

[tigler]

Here's that Doxford vid,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKWOi0C-sak&list=FLjnN0VickzZ4yB-46mSwszA&index=631

 

[chunkolini]

Amazing stuff.
The con rods made me laugh out loud.
I also liked the social systems at work.
I bet a brown overall was more important than a blue one, and a white jacket and trilby was almost God. Did they get the trilby's at a formal ceremony along with three pens for the top left pocket.
Does make me sad as well that all this has gone.

Chunko'.

 

[the snooper]

how about this engine the biggest in the world

The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.

Some facts on the 14 cylinder version:


Total engine weight 2300 tons (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.)
Length 89 feet
Height 44 feet
Maximum power 108,920 hp at 102 rpm
Maximum torque 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm

see it here

 

[Metalkoi]

I get excited at work when i get the chance to profile a 6" plate,i would love to get a slab like that to play with,mind you i would spend all day changing oxygen bottles...............

 

[Angusdog]

Does make me sad as well that all this has gone.

Likewise; I would have loved to have seen this for real. I bet it would be fascinating. I wonder if there's any footage.

One aspect to note: No personal safety items. No earmuffs, no eye protection. How many men were maimed or killed in those situations? I know safety sometimes gets mocked now (sometimes for good reasons), but it would be as a result of the toll those machines took on good men.

 

[gordon stephenson]

Thank you for the link, Very good reading. I used to do crankshaft alignment checks on huge Linde compressors in the chemical industry during major overhauls, The crankshaft deflections are taken using a strongly spring loaded DTI (clock gauge) positioned into two small opposing centre punch marks between the crank webs,the crank is then slowly rotated taking readings every quarter revolution.obviously you can not take a full 360* reading if the con-rods are still fitted, but if you can get 3 reading the missing one is easily calculated,Adjustment as mentioned is done by stainless steel shims on the main bearing housings to adjust for height and side alignment,Our aim was to achieve better than + or - 0.00075" on all readings.

 

[sean-1]

When I first went self employed, many years ago, I started by doing contract fettling for foundries. My first job was doing work for mirlees blackstone in stamford who used to make BIG engines the sumps always reminded me of narrow boats weighing 25 ton, you would literally climb inside the cylinder bore to fettle the engine blocks. Each cylinder had a seperate head which were a nightmare to fettle. I seem to remember that their single largest casting was a 180 ton crank shaft!
I did work for them for years then the french bought them, alstom engines, and then the germans, MAN B&W, who asset stripped the place and it was closed within six months of their ownership! Over 150 years of history ended.

 

[Wedg1e]

Fantatstic stuff. A mate of mine is adamant that Head Wrightsons here on Teesside used to have a lathe with a 100 foot long bed... the factory's long gone now so I can't phone up to ask