SPQ13 Miles

The weather has been great up here in comparison to the past years. Sunny and a little wind to keep the bugs off. My crew and I have been working hard to prep the boat and get everything ready to fish without interruption. I dont have any big projects to do this year but a lot of small maintenance projects such at paint touch up, tidying up lines, corrosion prevention, and annual service tasks. I have also been making up a substantial number of hydraulic lines for customers and a couple for my self. Our fish company we are selling to this year isn't buying till the 15th or so of this month so we will launch this weekend.

Going dry in 2012. My vessel is the Nancy O. II

 Beautiful mountains outside the Anchorage airport.

 Panorama of the Naknek city dock

 Our messy hydraulic container

 The remote mount oil filter setup had barbed hose fittings for connectors and last year we blew a hose so I replaced them with hydraulic lines with JIC fittings.

 My fresh water piston pump was having a hard time priming so I took it apart and didnt find any rips or tears in the diaphragm nor were any of the check valves stuck. I concluded the rubber could have shrank slightly over the harsh winter and spread a light layer of Vaseline over all the seals, reassembled and it seems to work just fine. 

SPQ13 Hydraulics Final Miles

Is it possible to complete this testing with the 50GPM flow meter we used on the winch and windlass?

            No. As I scanned the three different tests in their detailed form, I found that the max GPM measured is 25 but the max pressure for the flow meter is 3000 psi and the highest psi tested is 5000. 

We tested the pilot pressure relief valve at operating temperature and found it to be working properly at about 443 psi.

 

Below is a video of me recording the boom swing cycle time. The Bobcat manual called for 7.2 second cycle time to swing right and a 7.0 second cycle time to swing left (at full throttle). I recorded 7 seconds both ways so I concluded it is working properly.



A group of us, lifted one side of the Bobcat with the boom and marked the track with a piece of red tape to count the number of revolutions it makes in 60 seconds. We counted about 18.25 revolutions in high gear. The Bobcat manual states the top speed of high gear is 2.9 MPH or 3,062.4 inches per minute (I have work to show upon request for all math done). We measured the track length and found it to be 173 inches long. So, if the track turned 18.25 revolutions in one minute, it traveled 3,157.25 inches or 2.99 mph. I would assume the very sight increase of speed from the service manual specification to our test can be credited to the track being in the air therefore a lack of load resulting in a higher speed. Overall, the track speed appears to be in specification.


On a new hydraulic pump startup, the pump must have all air purged from it. Simply loosen the case plug until all air is purged from the pump housing and then re torque.

SPQ13 Miles

Last week was eventful. I was very appreciative of the opportunity to tour Boeing with the Danes. It was very mind opening. I had never seen any sort of an operation that big. Along with making lots of progress on the Scirocco, I got my first introduction to cleaning carburetors. My parents have two four wheelers that have been sitting over 6 years and they asked me to get them running. The fuel smelled like varnish. It was quite old. I am still going to be working on that project through this week. I was amazed with some of the electronic tracking equipment the Freightliner representative informed us about throughout his presentation.

Week: 36
Total: 216.5

Prop shaft that a customer showed up with. Hit some rocks around deception pass.

SPQ13 Miles

After the process of completing the group project last week, I really feel confident tracing out and understanding hydraulic schematics. It was a great learning experience. I had the opportunity to get on the excavator and stacked a bunch of tires up without tipping them over. This weekend was packed with time in the garage at home. I had to replace the transmission in my daily driver (82 jetta diesel 1.6L) because the rivets that hold the differential in place worked loose over the last 350,000 miles and started to wear into the case. Along with an abnormal noise that coule be mistaken as a wheel bearing, I drained the transmission oil and found a bunch of aluminum shavings. Luckily I had another transmission on shelf but had to tear into it and make it shift into fifth gear. There was a bent part and some detent tuning necessary to make it work.

Week: 44
total: 180.5

Pilot system traced out for the excavator. 

Replacement transmission for the Jetta.

SPQ13 Miles

Last week I started to disassemble some hydraulic components on the bench. Last time I was required to go through a valve body was on the back deck of a 32 foot fishing boat in four foot seas so this time it was a little more enjoyable and I was able to soak things up more thoroughly. The complexity of the internals of the hydraulic components have always amazed me. I learned how to adjust cushion on hydraulic cylinders through the test bench exercises. I have learned quite a bit through the bench including setting up hydraulic systems from a schematic. My VW project at home made great progress this last week. I was able to utilize the fabrication equipment at school to make a couple brackets and adapter plates.

Week: 38
Total: 136.5

Electronically acuated RexRoth valve body

Custom bracket fabricated to hold AFM sensor and custom cone filter to AFM adapter modifided to fit my application 

SPQ13 Miles

Last week was filled with learning. The trip to B&G was one for the record. I have spent some time in a machine shop fabricating parts for fishing deck gear but had never seen any engine machining before. It was very interesting to see the different processes of grinding crank and camshafts, resurfacing blocks and the strict tolerances that are involved with these processes.  My understanding of hydraulics continue to increase in leaps and bounds. The CAT basics has helped my learning enormously.

Hours
Week: 17.5
Total: 53.5

SPQ13 Miles

Hydraulics is a great intrest of mine because of the role it plays in the marine industry. Hydraulics are used everywhere on boats. One thing I learned last week was that gear pumps pump fluid around the outside of the gear rather than between the gears. This clarification made complete mechanical sense.

Week:10
Total:36

Getting ready to install the engine on my Scirocco. Engine got installed last week.