Battleship Restoration - USS Texas, BB35 Special Washers with Grease Groove

[David2011]

This was more of a mental exercise than a machining challenge. Unfortunately I did not take pictures while making the first washer but there's still one to go so I'll be sure to take pictures of the process described below.

Each gear box on the 5" guns has one of these washers. The original grease grooves were probably made on some sort of automatic cam operated mechanism as the grooves flowed smoothly from concave to convex. I only had to make two so I used the super spacer with its flat faceplate. The washers have an OD of 2.700" and a bore of 1.502". To work out the arcs for the grease groove I marked an inner limit line with a Sharpie in the lathe and then marked perpendicular lines with a rule and center finder. I used a drafting circle template to see what size circle would fit the available space without getting too close to the outer edge. That turned out to be 1-3/8"/1.375". Lines were lightly scribed into the washer for reference.

After setting the super spacer up centered under the spindle I offset it by the approximate radius of the 1.375" circle at .688". The washer was clamped to the face plate and a fine pointer was held in a drill chuck to help align the path. Once I was confident that the pointer was following the line scribed on the washer I replaced it with a Sharpie and completed a test run of the first arc. The Sharpie was replaced with a 1/4" ball end two flute end mill. Yes, I used a drill chuck (No. 14 ball bearing 1/2" Jacobs Super Chuck) because I had to use the mill-drill since my full sized mill was out of service for spindle work. The cuts were very light. The second pass gave me a depth that looked good so I set the depth stop and traced around the OD of the washer before unclamping to make the next cut. Repeat 3 times and this was the result.

 

[David2011]

Here are some photos of the process. The biggest challenge of the project was parting off the washers. After getting a good one the first try and two rejects due to gouges in the faces I cut one way over the target thickness and turned it down to the desired .143" thickness on my small lathe. It was a pain but successful.

Once I had a good washer lines were marked at 90° and some light scratch marks were scribed to locate the ends of the arc segments.




The washer was clamped onto the super spacer's flat face plate and aligned to the end mill. This was not precision alignment; the cutter just had to be over the marks at both ends of the rotation.



The first cut was made. After going to the end point I backed the piece up to the starting point of the cut to align for the next cut. The is the end of the second cut. The amount of offset is easily seen below.




Just to be sure each cut was going to end in the right place I turned the super spacer while dragging the tip of the round nose end mill before actually cutting.




Wash, rinse, repeat until done. If more than two of these had been needed I would have made a holder that the center opening would drop over to make locating after each cut easier. Hopefully this will be all they need.

 

[finsruskw]

How about some pictures of the actual original part you were reproducing and where they go on the gun mount?
It has to be a honor to be able to work on such a project as this!
Congrats and "Carry On" and thanks for the updates, I appreciate and look forward to them.

 

[David2011]

How about some pictures of the actual original part you were reproducing and where they go on the gun mount?
It has to be a honor to be able to work on such a project as this!
Congrats and "Carry On" and thanks for the updates, I appreciate and look forward to them.

I'll try to get those pictures tomorrow. Volunteers work on Wednesdays and Saturdays; mostly two different groups of people but with some overlap. Working on the battleship is a special experience. Many of the volunteers have been visitors on her since the 1960s. The volunteers have worked inside the ship but right now all work on the ship is being done by the Gulf Copper shipyard. The volunteers are working on the guns, radio equipment, loudspeakers, searchlights and other "small" parts that are removable.

We often talk about the men that served on the ship and some of the hardships they endured. The idea of going into the cold North Atlantic with only the heat of the boilers and engines or into the tropics with no relief from the heat had to be miserable. The noise of the boilers, engines and air circulation systems never stopped. There are air ducts that run vertically through the decks that are as big as a half bath in a house and huge fans/motors to push the air. There are bunks right beside those ducts. During live fire the turrets for the big guns would have been a horrible place. The only place for fresh air to enter is a hatch in the floor at the back of each turret while the sun was baking the top and sides of the turrets. The turrets are 4" thick on the tops, 8" on the sides and 14" on the fronts so whether hot or cold the temperature was unrelenting. The real honor is honoring those that served on her.

 

[David2011]

This is an original of the washers I was copying. It looks like it was made with a cam operated device because of the smooth curves.




The washer goes over a 1-1/2” pivot pin that supports the breech block of a 5”/51 caliber gun and not the gearbox as I previously thought.

Here’s a closeup and a wider shot of the washer in place on the breech block which is unfortunately in a shipping box waiting to be taken to the ship and installed.






With all of the pictures I’ve taken I don’t have a still of the breech block on the gun that shows the hinged side with everything assembled. The washer is just below Zerk fitting on the far side of the breech.

 

[sdelivery]

Is this a shell from a battleship?
It is approx. 48 inches tall and just over 16 inches in diameter.
It is at a local yard sale.....
What does it weigh?

 

[sdelivery]

Yes the black tip is a projectile from something else, it is marked 32 on the bottom, I didn't measure it