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Steam fills the room as a metal bucket full of liquid flux, a metal adhesive, heats up. The beat of music playing in the background helps Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Haden Phillips stay in rhythm as he hammers the grit out of an arresting gear wire. While Phillips hammers, the rest of the Sailors in the room prepare the equipment they will need for the arresting gear socket pour. Once the grit is knocked out, the wire will spend time soaking in the flux. After the soak, it’s time to begin the rest of the socket pouring process.
A socket pour is the process of putting a new terminal (a threaded tip) on the arresting gear wire. The terminal is changed after 900-1,200 traps due to the large amount of stress the airplanes put on the wires while landing aboard the carrier.
Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Paul Spurlock begins the next stage of the socket pour by placing ingots of zinc into the kiln. He starts the process of heating the zinc to 925-975 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature the zinc turns into a liquid state.
As Spurlock melts the zinc, Phillips lights an acetylene torch and takes a seat on a metal box, placing the fire directly on the newly placed terminal. The fire heats the terminal between 550-600 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure the zinc cools properly.
“If the terminal isn’t heated to the right temperature it will cause the zinc to cool before it can coat all the wires,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Brendan Fagan. “We want the zinc to cool from the bottom up and not from the top down. If it cools from the top down there will be air pockets and the whole eight-hour process will have to be redone.”
When the terminal reaches the proper temperature, and the zinc is in a liquid state, the pouring can take place. Spurlock pulls the zinc from the kiln and carefully moves it to the arresting gear wire. He pours the zinc. As he does, the metal hitting the flux causes a large amount of steam to flow from the terminal.
Immediately after the zinc is poured, the team grabs two cut off broom handles wrapped in layers of duct tape and take turns using the makeshift tools to tap the terminal.
“Tapping the terminal makes sure there are no air pockets,” said Spurlock. “If there are air pockets the socket won’t be able to handle the pressure of an airplane landing.”
The team rotates positions, and one person taps the terminal, another scraps the top of the zinc with a metal wire, removing solidified zinc from the top of the socket. Once the zinc is hardened, the pour is finished.
The team gathers around the now-finished terminal to take part in the tradition of spitting onto the hardened zinc. This is said to bring good luck for the lifespan of the terminal, which will see at least 900 traps over the course of the extended underway.
For more news on John C. Stennis, visit www.stennis.navy.mil or follow along on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stennis74.
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 11.29.2018 08:05 |
| Story ID: | 301575 |
| Location: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Melting Metal, by PO3 Joshua Leonard, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
