Drilling very hard material.

[Jimsehr]

I used to make thousands of super hard bearings. This is a pic of drilling Stellite and material is so hard sometimes the drilling pressure was so hard it would blow a piece out of the side of the bar.

 

[mmcmdl]

We had a Stellite job for the nuclear subs . That **** was terrible .

 

[Jimsehr]

We had a Stellite job for the nuclear subs . That **** was terrible .

I made some special Stellite bearings about 40 years ago and then they were 10 thousand dollars each. I asked the engineer why a cheaper bearing would not work? He said they were for a nuclear reactor under water and it cost 100 thousand to install them. So they had to last as long as possible.

 

[ChazzC]

I made some special Stellite bearings about 40 years ago and then they were 10 thousand dollars each. I asked the engineer why a cheaper bearing would not work? He said they were for a nuclear reactor under water and it cost 100 thousand to install them. So they had to last as long as possible.

Installation cost probably included down time, specialized (high security clearance) crews, reactor cooldown, etc.: those things add up fast.

Back in the late 70’s I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation on what a destroyer’s repairs cost after the C.O. decided he didn’t need a Pilot and tangled with a buoy in Charleston: about a 1/10 of a cent for each U.S. family.