When British ship builders ruled the world

[Seano]

We still have the skills, we just need the factories!

Trouble is Matt we are not training any more REAL "Apprentices" its all NVQ this and NVQ that, class themselves as tradesmen after 2/3 years,

as an aside I remember doing work in those yards at Doxfords when I was an apprentice, firm I served my time with in Newcastle were Gardener marine diesel main agents and we used to do work on smaller boats that used their (Doxfords) and Swans (Swan Hunters) yards and quays, also used to work down the local colliery's repairing the diesel loco's that pulled all the man carriages to the coal face up to about 1000ft down and about 2/3 mile out under the north sea, great days and great times for engineering, went off to sea after that with Esso on VLCC supertankers and got stuck into some (real engineering)... ah happy day's.....

 

[carlmahoney]

We had an old oxy/propane profile burner the same as that at a place i worked at a few years back.It had the scanner on it too,proper old school!.I cut a 250mm thick block of steel on it once.It was bloody noisy and hot but very satisfying to see the finished product.Had to heat the plate for a good half hour before i could pierce it!.

 

[Hitch]

Pierce 250mm plate, bet that did the nozzle the world of good

 

[Welderpaul]

If you look carefully at the block of steel the ol' lad is cutting, there are two holes drilled(?) through where the two centre holes are to be flame cut out. I think its a crank he is making.

Man's man.

 

[rtbcomp]

If you look carefully at the block of steel the ol' lad is cutting, there are two holes drilled(?) through where the two centre holes are to be flame cut out. I think its a crank he is making.

Man's man.

Judging from other pics they're crankshaft webs. Looks like the journals are welded on rather than forging a one-piece crank.

 

[Iain Westland]

even auctions cant get this number of machines in one place but I do like the idea that this is a picture of the light machine shop

 

[carlmahoney]

Pierce 250mm plate, bet that did the nozzle the world of good

It can be messy but i managed it without ******ing up the jet.Only did it once though,we very rarely used to cut anything thicker than 100mm.Iirc it was just a matter of thoroughly heating the plate and leaving the preheat on whilst piercing.

 

[engybenjy]

The Marine Technical College I attended to do my EOOW qualification had a single cylinder Doxford engine that apparently came from Doxford's when they closed the factory. It was Doxford's own experimental unit, used to try out modifications before production updates. I only saw it run once and that was something to behold.
Started on 30bar of air, when it 'fired' on the first stroke, the ground jumped!!!
2,200bhp @ 92rpm IIRC The flywheel alone weighed 12 ton!

 

[engybenjy]

Judging from other pics they're crankshaft webs. Looks like the journals are welded on rather than forging a one-piece crank.

When a 12 or even 14 cylinder crank can weigh as much as 1200 tonnes!! making them in one piece is a bit of a tall order
Have a search for Sulzer RT-14flex engines. The numbers involved take some getting used to!!! i.e. 102,00bhp @ 102rpm with 5,500,000 lbft .............
tres uber cool!

 

[Luke]

http://people.bath.ac.uk/ccsshb/12cyl/

Similar to the above I believe, with some more juicy photos!

 

[Rubber Duck]

Absolutely fantastic thread, I would've loved to have worked in a place like that instead of the puny machine shops I used to!

Still would, especialy in the maintenance dept.

 

[daviddb]

Just stunning. Thanks everso for this link....

 

[Richiew]

And we still haven't learned...

possible shipyard closures

More skills to be lost I suppose. Makes you wonder if we will be able to defend ourselves or even produce anything of note in a few years...

 

[datostar]

Great to see those pictures. My late father-in-law worked at Doxford's in the 1930's as a Patternmaker. They had their own foundry. He used to talk about how the mens' wives and daughters would bring hot dinners (taken at 'lunchtime' of course) down to the yard. As he was in a highly skilled trade, his was a 'reserved occupation' during the war and he ended up with A.V. Roe at Yeadon under 'Direction of Labour' handmaking wooden aircraft propellors. Need for precision there, I should think. The old boy never went back to Sunderland but returned to his old trade at a foundry in Wakefield. Both sons went to sea, one RN Gunner and the other Ship's Engineer. I married one of the 3 daughters.

See http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=11270 for some info on the Avro Yeadon Factory.

 

[Stuggi]

Judging from other pics they're crankshaft webs. Looks like the journals are welded on rather than forging a one-piece crank.

Must have been a very "light" machine, most diesel engines that doesn't use a forged one-piece crank come flying apart after less than 4000 hours. But that's with modern diesels, older ones very a lot heftier than todays compared to the power output.

 

[dannyweld]

great site. that kind of stuff is still going on although not all in house under one roof.

 

[craigthewelder]

Great thread.

Its such a shame to see how much skill has been lost in the last 50 or so year here in the UK.

 

[dannyweld]

dont get me wrong i'm not trying to let the gov off the hook but they just represent the people fairly and squarly, just look at the amount of imported goods in this country, and then the manufacturers themselfs, not all, but far to many, just make junk. why could'nt Butter's have become a Kemppi or Fronius, Britool another Snap-on or Gedore, the list is so long its depressing.the biggest enemy though as far as i'm concerned is this landlordism, the rent is without doubt the biggest barrier to new business, everybody wants to be in the property game, everybody says you got to buy, and even the guys in manufacturing were adding their ever appreciating property onto the balance sheet at the end of the year, so it looked like they was making some money, but truth has come out now though, they hav'nt really made a penny in years. so all the lads on the floor get let go, but are they ready for the challenges ahead, no, they were making extra cash else where, you got it, property. look, its everybody for themselfs out there which is sad really, but the mess has been a long long time in the making.
anyway, i'll leave this on a brighter note, when it comes to a bit of tool making as far as i'm concerned you still cant beat sheffield (sorry about the spelling) steel!!
ps. bought a made in england mig wire snips for twenty pounds a couple of weeks ago, it can cut through a coat hanger east peasy, at least the magic aint all gone.

 

[Brain_stew]

Allthough these skills are before my time i wish we did have places that still taught these i would be more than willing to learn.

Just because there are quicker ways of doing some of these things it doesnt mean that thay will be of the same quality.