Customer's Challenge
During the Lunar New year 2023, one of our client need to conduct 3D measurements and repair on both PORT and STBD Azimuth thruster’s steering tube bearing housing onboard a vessel.
Both STBD and PORT bearing housings need to be repaired and machined to a designated dimension to accommodate crimp fitting of sleeves. The sleeves were frozen to -60 degree Celsius with the bearing housing heated to 90 degree Celsius before mounting the cold sleeves. The inner diameter of the sleeves were then machined to required diameter.
Solution
Upon site inspection by our metrology team, our newly acquired API Radian laser tracker was selected for the job as it is more portable to mount over the bearing housing to extract the pre and post machining dimensions as shown below.
With modification to our portable boring equipment, the machining of the internal diameter as well as the top mounting flange were carried out via a single setup as shown below.
API Radian laser tracker was extensively leveraged for this project, using it to check the setup of portable boring machine as well as conduct multiple interim and final post machining surveys.
Benefits
The usage of API laser tracker enable our client to visualize the GD&T in 3D format and help making decision on the datum setting for machining. By using single setup to conduct facing of the top mounting flanges and boring of housing, this eliminates multiple setup time and achieved the tight perpendicularity tolerance.
With a strong team of technicians and large inventory of equipment, additional resources can be readily deploy to cut down critical path and maintain client’s project timeline.
