Photo By Keith Hayes | Eugene Dunford, welder, uses the controls to rotate the Light Armored Vehicle attached...... read more read more
The weld shop uses special equipment to make the job easier and safer when working on Light Armored Vehicles at Production Plant Barstow, Marine Depot Maintenance Command aboard the Yermo Annex on Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow.
“This trunnion was sent out to us by Production Plant Albany about four years ago,” said Ken Nowicki, supervisor of the weld shop. “The trunnion allows us to get the LAVs into much more ergonomically friendly positions for the welders. That means the welder can do the job with the work flat in front of them, and flat welds are generally much more able to pass x-ray inspection.”
Nowicki explained the trunnion is like a giant rotisserie that an LAV can be attached to so that it is lifted off the ground and can be rotated on an axis into any position to allow welders easier and safer access.
“Before the trunnion, we had to do a lot of overhead welding, which is difficult to do successfully,” Dave Fritz, weld shop work leader, said. “The trunnion increases our weld success rate quite a bit.”
“There are so many plates on an LAV,” he said. “They have to be welded where they meet. The trunnion makes that a lot easier.”
“It’s just being used for LAVs right now,” Nowicki added. “We can put the MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected Vehicles) on them, but we’d have to adjust the trunnion to be wider apart, and it’s bolted to the ground right now.”
Another innovative tool the weld shop has been using for about six months is the Ekso Zero Gravity Arm.
“Any tool, like this grinder that weights 25 to 30 pounds, can be attached to the zero gravity arm which counterbalances its weight so that all the pressure I have to put on the grinder is with my shoulder to smooth out weld joints,” welder Niels Woods said.
“If the welder was holding this grinder without the arm’s help then he couldn’t hold it as long and the weight of it could cause strain injuries, stress injuries, carpal tunnel, or pulled muscles,” Nowicki said. “We’re evaluating using the ‘zero-g’ arm on other tools to help speed up production.”
“Both the trunnion and the ‘zero-g’ arm are used not only to make the job easier for the welders, but safer, too,” he concluded, “and at the end of the day that means they go home safe to their families.”
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2018 14:13 |
| Story ID: | 284939 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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