Heavy Metal

[amazinblue82]

Making rotors (compressors, superchargers, etc) is fascinating work.

Before CNC lathes and the like, how in the world did they get the dimensions right? They obviously did but musta took forever measuring/adjusting the cutting tools.

precision, helical shapes that mesh to 100th of a millimeter, mass produced no less. Wow.

start with this ...

intermediate cutting ...

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end up here ...

ten min. video if you wanna nerd out. first half is screw compressor rotors, second hard is supercharger rotors.

 

[300L]

I hope this is the right area to share my experience from today.
I actually only wanted to do a little lap in the Chrysler, but when I was on the main road, which runs parallel to the Rhine, something was unusual. A lot more cars than usual and a whole lot of people staring at the river and taking photos.
I had no idea what was going on, did a ferry or another boat sink? But there were no police, fire, or EMS there, so I parked my car and went to check.

It was a submarine on its probably last trip to a museum...

I was a little late to take perfect pictures but here is a report from the local press

Nordrhein-Westfalen: U-Boot fährt über den Rhein: Hier macht U17 in NRW Halt

 

[amazinblue82]

I hope this is the right area to share my experience from today.
I actually only wanted to do a little lap in the Chrysler, but when I was on the main road, which runs parallel to the Rhine, something was unusual. A lot more cars than usual and a whole lot of people staring at the river and taking photos.
I had no idea what was going on, did a ferry or another boat sink? But there were no police, fire, or EMS there, so I parked my car and went to check.

It was a submarine on its probably last trip to a museum...

I was a little late to take perfect pictures but here is a report from the local press

Nordrhein-Westfalen: U-Boot fährt über den Rhein: Hier macht U17 in NRW Halt

source: Nordrhein-Westfalen: U-Boot fährt über den Rhein: Hier macht U17 in NRW Halt

Excerpt from translated website:

"Many onlookers have already gathered on the Rhine early in the morning because a submarine is sailing past there. Until Wednesday, U17 will be on the road from the Netherlands to Speyer. It stopped in Cologne yesterday. Today we continue towards Rhineland-Palatinate.

It is a rare sight that has been on the Rhine since Friday. A decommissioned German Navy submarine travels upstream on a floating platform from the Rhine estuary through NRW to Speyer in Rhineland-Palatinate.

There the U17 is lifted ashore and taken to the Technology Museum. The submarine will later find its new home in the Sinsheim Technology Museum in Baden-Württemberg, after having had its home port in Eckernförde on the Baltic Sea for decades.

There the submarine with the ship identification S 196 was in service with the Bundeswehr for more than 35 years. On April 28, the 500-tonne U17 in Kiel was lifted from the dry dock onto the pontoon in the harbor basin using a crane.

The decommissioned submarine moved meter by meter across the shipyardAccording to the Speyer and Sinsheim Technology Museums, the U17 is around 48 meters long, has a draft of 4.6 meters and, when submerged, displaces around 500 tons.

The area of operation of the submarine was therefore mainly in the North and Baltic Seas, later also in the Mediterranean. The U17, along with the U26, was the first German submarine in American waters after World War II

 

[3175375]

SR-71 Blackbird cockpit !

Flying at Mach 3.5 Mach, Blackbird's outer surface would heat up to 260 degree centigrade. This would be enough to raise the temperature of the cockpit to 120 degree centigrade. So special focus had to be given to air-conditioning..

The aircraft was mostly built of Titanium. Before the Blackbird, titanium was used sparingly—usually on high-temperature exhaust fairings, and other small parts directly related to supporting, cooling, or shaping high-temperature areas on aircraft. The Blackbird was completely different. This plane was about eighty-five percent Titanium, to be more precise. The other fifteen percent was high-end composite materials.

In their typical undercover fashion, the CIA created several cover-up companies that were used to purchase the required titanium for the Blackbird’s construction. The source of the titanium was, interestingly, the Soviet Union. This is especially ironic because the Blackbird would be used to gather and rely on information about the Soviet Union

According to Kelly Johnson, one of the biggest problems that engineers faced at the time was working with titanium. “We produced 6,000 parts, and of them, fewer than ten percent were any good. The material [titanium] was so brittle that if you dropped a piece on the floor it would shatter”, he explained.

There were a couple of other difficulties that they encountered. For example, ordinary drills were useless with titanium, because after about seventeen rivet holes, the drill would be destroyed. Yet another obstruction occurred during the welding process. They eventually figured out that if an extremely rare and expensive argon shielding gas was used, they could ensure the highest quality of welds.

Above is stolen from Facebook.

Apparently, the development of the SR-71 developed argon shielded welding (MIG).

 

[amazinblue82]

Century M100. Advertised as world's largest capacity rotator (heavy duty tow truck).

100 ton structural rating, can lift over 100,000 lbs off the ground and still operate its boom (botton pic shows it lifting TWO HD tow trucks, and then a 103,000 lb dozer), unloaded it weighs 52,000 lbs, and costs $1.2 million new.

source: Century M100 Rotator

Company promotional video shows some neat things this rig can do..

 

[amazinblue82]

Over 100 years later, it still fascinates.

Some folks created a 3D scan of the wreck in exceptional detail. Other folks studying the sinking may be able to get new more insights on the details of the sinking not previvously known.

To me, I thought we pretty much knew the broad strokes.

The speed (near its top speed) when it sideswiped the berg, the brittle steel in the icy water, busted seams below the water line, too-short "water-tight" bulkheads got over-topped bow-toward-stern until it lost buoyancy, stood on its nose until the stern broke off (just meant it went down in two big pieces instead of one), etc,

source: Why Did the Titanic Sink?

Still interesting details and cool technology to get this scan..

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source: First-ever full 3D scan of the Titanic on the sea bed reveals the ruined ocean liner in incredible detail

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[3175375]

Stolen from Facebook: (I remember watching the news when the program was cancelled - interestingly, an aircraft very similar to the SST was used in the show ‘The Man in the High Castle’)

Sadly, on this date in history; May 20th 1971; The Boeing SST 2707 American government-funded contract supersonic swing wing passenger airliner project was cancelled…

Had Boeing continued program development at its facilities in Seattle, Washington, the supersonic transport (SST) design was expected to be capable of reaching cruise speeds of three times the speed of sound (Mach 3), with a load of 250-300 passengers, making her very much larger, and faster than the Franco-British Concorde, and the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144.

By October 1969, there were delivery positions reserved for 122 Boeing SSTs by 26 airlines, including Alitalia, Canadian Pacific Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Iberia, KLM, Northwest Airlines, and World Airways.

It was projected that SSTs would dominate the skies around the world, with inferior subsonic Boeing's 747's being only a passing intermediate fad.
www.Sierrahotel.net

 

[amazinblue82]

Stolen from Facebook: (I remember watching the news when the program was cancelled - interestingly, an aircraft very similar to the SST was used in the show ‘The Man in the High Castle’)

Sadly, on this date in history; May 20th 1971; The Boeing SST 2707 American government-funded contract supersonic swing wing passenger airliner project was cancelled…

Had Boeing continued program development at its facilities in Seattle, Washington, the supersonic transport (SST) design was expected to be capable of reaching cruise speeds of three times the speed of sound (Mach 3), with a load of 250-300 passengers, making her very much larger, and faster than the Franco-British Concorde, and the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144.

By October 1969, there were delivery positions reserved for 122 Boeing SSTs by 26 airlines, including Alitalia, Canadian Pacific Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Iberia, KLM, Northwest Airlines, and World Airways.

It was projected that SSTs would dominate the skies around the world, with inferior subsonic Boeing's 747's being only a passing intermediate fad.
www.Sierrahotel.net

View attachment 598157

funny how "speed" of SST's never proved to be economically viable. they were supposed to be the world standard long before now. just like we'd all have George Jetson cars too

This is what has the "Musk"eteers over at Space X excited ... a truly reusable "space" plane for commercial passenger use. NY to Tokyo in 90 minutes, using LEO, 25,000 times, before they have to be retired (too many pressurization cycles).

We'll see.

 

[67newport]

A steam-hydraulic forging press (15,000 tons) in the workshops of the Friedrich Krupp AG, Essen, Germany. 1920s.​

 

[amazinblue82]

Suprised this one isn't here.

The Pioneer Zephyr (Greek for the Wind, and the first Zephyr), was not the first streamliner (first diesel streamliner tho), but was one of the best known trains over. Made by Budd (a magnificent company btw) and the Burlington Railroad.

The "9900" is refurbished and is at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (indoor exhibit). Train-o-files know it and even noobs like me might find it interesting in person.

A daring, expensive, spectacular bet that paid off just after the Great Depression. Innovative, stainless steel (a patented, arc-welding technique developed by Budd), art-deco design the captivated the American public well into the 1940's.

Hollywood movie (the Silver Streak) and set a speed-record from Denver to Chicago (13 hours, non-stop, ave. 78 mph and frequently over 100 mph).

Other trains had the name later on. The Zephyr Pioneer 9900 was the coolest to me.

source: Pioneer Zephyr - Wikipedia

Back in the day, circa. 1940's Burlington Zephyr 9900 and its shiny legacy - Trains

A ton of info at links: ZephyrRoute Zephyr History, The Burlington Zephyr | American Experience | PBS

"Back in 1934, The Burlington Route and the Budd Company collaborated to create a small, three cars train named Pioneer Zephyr. It was such a success that both companies continued to develop more Zephyrs and railcars that became one of the very best rail services in the world.

Once Amtrak became the operator of all rail passenger service, the Zephyrs ceased to exist as the world knew them. Zephyr railcars were ultimately sold off to private parties or tourist railroads.

Some of the fine ‘Zephyr cars’ have been restored to provide today’s public the experience of how fine rail travel was, and they continue to demonstrate how wonderful rail travel still can be."

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couple vids. One is a VR-type production, 12 minutes, actually artistically interesting but fictional.

 

[LocuMob]

Suprised this one isn't here.

View attachment 599022

The Pioneer Zephyr (Greek for the Wind, and the first Zephyr), was not the first streamliner (first diesel streamliner tho), but was one of the best known trains over. Made by Budd (a magnificent company btw) and the Burlington Railroad.

The "9900" is refurbished and is at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (indoor exhibit). Train-o-files know it and even noobs like me might find it interesting in person.

A daring, expensive, spectacular bet that paid off just after the Great Depression. Innovative, stainless steel (a patented, arc-welding technique developed by Budd), art-deco design the captivated the American public well into the 1940's.

Hollywood movie (the Silver Streak) and set a speed-record from Denver to Chicago (13 hours, non-stop, ave. 78 mph and frequently over 100 mph).

Other trains had the name later on. The Zephyr Pioneer 9900 was the coolest to me.

source: Pioneer Zephyr - Wikipedia

View attachment 599017View attachment 599018

View attachment 599023View attachment 599024

Back in the day, circa. 1940's Burlington Zephyr 9900 and its shiny legacy - Trains

View attachment 599025
View attachment 599026View attachment 599027View attachment 599028
View attachment 599019

A ton of info at links: ZephyrRoute Zephyr History, The Burlington Zephyr | American Experience | PBS

"Back in 1934, The Burlington Route and the Budd Company collaborated to create a small, three cars train named Pioneer Zephyr. It was such a success that both companies continued to develop more Zephyrs and railcars that became one of the very best rail services in the world.

Once Amtrak became the operator of all rail passenger service, the Zephyrs ceased to exist as the world knew them. Zephyr railcars were ultimately sold off to private parties or tourist railroads.

Some of the fine ‘Zephyr cars’ have been restored to provide today’s public the experience of how fine rail travel was, and they continue to demonstrate how wonderful rail travel still can be."

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couple vids. One is a VR-type production, 12 minutes, actually artistically interesting but fictional.

I saw that years ago when it was still an outdoor exhibit. Always loved the look of the Zephyrs.

 

[67newport]

 

[D Cluley]

In addition to the original Pioneer Zephyr at the Museum of Science and Industry, one of the 1937 trainsets is at the Illinois Railway Museum where it operates with a postwar E-5 locomotive. The E-5 was only made for the Burlington and have fluted stainless steel side panels to match the Zephyr trains.

The Nebraska Zephyr is seen a couple of times in this video I filmed on a 1999 visit to IRM.

 

[amazinblue82]

We started with tanks 8 years ago.

We've have engine startups of all kinds since then EXCEPT tanks only.

Six minutes of information and "fury". Nothing but TANK engine startups. Its loud so may wanna watch where/when if you check it out

 

[amazinblue82]

Ship is undisclosed. An engine room with four EMD (electromotive diesels. two V-12's and two V-16's) and rated at 12,000 HP.

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Thats a lot of power but nowhere near the most powerful boat diesels (e.g, think that 100,000 HP Wärtsilä on a container [Emma Maersk] ship back in post #1,615)

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This type of propulsion is largely and more quickly becoming obsolete. Not green, poor fuel economy of increasingly expensive hydrocarbon fuels, etc., and a push toward electrics (post #1,879) in the heavy shipping industry

Still anyway, this vid is longish - 17 minutes, 2-3 minutes in you'll get the gist tho - but I was amazed by the design and function (and probably noisy as hell too) of that engine room.

Evidence everywhere (e.g., chipped paint on nuts/bolts) folks have been wrenching on these beasts over the years.

I am truly impressed with, the folks who truly understand/work on all that stuff and maintain it (including my "knuckleheaded" - he's not one - little brother, an "engineman" in the Navy).

After 20 years, he retired with valuable skills .. this kid barely made it outta HS, skipped college, and many years out of the past 20 he out-earned me. Hell, I coulda saved myself the 10 years of education after HS if I knew that would happen ).

There are gadgets from cars I recognize by functional name (e.g., starters, thermostats, oil pumps, etc.) but barely recognize in this context, the electronics. and on and on.

 

[amazinblue82]

Not "heavy" .. but interesting

 

[amazinblue82]

A Scania 730 customized almost beyond reason. The Scania Chimera show truck.

Obviously an engineering/design achievement, its really not a "truck" that can do anything but go fast and do donuts. Still pretty cool. First version built in 2015. Improved since then.

Based on 16.4L, Scania V8 diesel, six turbo chargers, Allison automatic. Asserted performance is is now 2,190 horsepower, 3,600 ft. lbs torque, vehicle weight 10,300 lbs, 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds.

3-4 minutes of video.

 

[amazinblue82]

Heres a few heavy metal startups we have NOT seen in this thread. 11 minutes.

 

[amazinblue82]

Before the Wärtsilä (107K (thousand) HP, 5M (million) ft, lbs. Torque, at only 102 RPM)) on the Emma Maersk, the biggest, most powerful diesel was the B&W 2000 that powered Copenhagen Denmark's backup to their electrical grid.

Built in 1932, retired in the 1960's, its now (still running 90 years later, 2x a month) in a museum in Copennhagen to this day. It's 24.6 meters (80.7 feet) long, 12.5 meters (41 feet) tall, and weighs 1,400 tons (2.8 million pounds), and has 22,500 horsepower.

I am still amazed at what people could do -- 100 years ago.

No computers, no cell phones, no rockets, only the most primitive airplanes and cars. We had great boats and locomotives though, plus slide rules, and pencils & paper, etc.,

As such, we had excellent metal working, electrical, hydraulics, engineering, and construction skills we trannfered to all these new fangled inventions of the day.

And REALLY smart, lucky, whatever they were . .. people with vision. Remarkable when ya think about it.

source: This Gigantic Diesel Engine Is 90 Years Old and Cranks Out 22,500 Horsepower

5 minute startup video of B&W 2000 from last year at the Copenhagen museum

 

[3175375]

XB-70