High School Student Lends a Hand to NSWC PHD

Photo By Carol Lawrence | From left: Bill Trude, manufacturing class instructor at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, Calif., stands with student Bob Byrd, who is holding the pivot assembly for a double probe fuel receiver he modified in class for Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division. Photos by Dan Byrd, test site manager, NSWC PHD.  

PORT HUENEME , CA, UNITED STATES

11.05.2019

Story by Carol Lawrence 

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

A rejected part originally intended for use aboard a Navy ship may someday perform its intended purpose, thanks to an out-of-the-box idea to make correcting the part a high school student project.

The hardened steel part, a pivot assembly for a double probe fuel receiver that enables fuel-carrying hoses to connect to and replenish a ship while underway, didn’t fit where it was supposed to when it recently arrived at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division’s (NSWC PHD) Underway Replenishment Division.

Two narrow, long rectangular bases that form the bottom of the part were “too thick and too wide,” said Dan Byrd, test site manager for the division.

The load-bearing part helps connect two hoses carrying fuel from the replenishment ship being fueled and holds them in place, bearing 8,000 pounds to up to 16,000 pounds of tension.

“Without this piece being in spec (matching the blueprint dimensions), the rig will just hang down loose, meaning, the fuel-receiving station is out of service,” Byrd said. “The ship won’t get fuel without it.”

The part’s dimensions had been revised on its blueprint, but the part had not, he explained. The mechanical engineer who fixed the part in the past wasn’t available this time.

Rather than throw the part away, Byrd brought the idea of modifying it to his son’s manufacturing class at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, Calif. as a project on adjusting an existing complex part to the correct dimensions.

Byrd is a mentor for the school’s related robotics program, which has many of the same students. He knew the class had the right machines, instructor and students to do the job.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing Instructor Bill Trude oversaw the work and gave the project to Byrd’s son, Bob Byrd, a junior, who is an advanced student and a member of the school’s robotics team.

“We decided to machine it to the mean tolerance, which is the normal expected dimension,” Bob Byrd said. “That way, if we cut off too little, we would have enough to finish, and if we cut off too much, it would still be in tolerance.”

Bob learned several “firsts” through the project. He and Trude decided to use a vertical mill to cut away the extra metal—a first for Bob—and to use clamps—another first—to stabilize the part in the machine so it wouldn’t vibrate. He tried using a vice initially, which he had used before, but the part vibrated too much.

Three clamps were ineffective, so Trude suggested adding a fourth.

“I was surprised that four clamps can do a whole lot more than three clamps,” Bob said. Eventually, it required six clamps.

Another challenge was figuring out how to position the part so the machine bit could cut into it at the right angle, called side milling. That involved orienting the axis of the part to that of the machine, Trude said.

“These students are learning a bit of statistical process control,” he added.

Bob also learned the value of using protective shields—after being burned by hot metal chips flying off the machine while he was milling the part.

But working on a real life project rather than a class project was the greatest reward, he said.

“It felt kind of stressful to know this part was going to be used for something other than a grade, and that I had only one chance (to get it right),” Bob said. “But the scariest thing was also the most interesting.”

John Mondragon, NSWC PHD fleet technical assist team lead, said the part was not one intended to fulfill a specific ship’s request, but now that it’s correctly altered, it could be sent to a ship that needs it.

Bob is also participating in NSWC PHD’s Pre-Engineering Program this season—a hands-on, after-school class that gives local high school students a snapshot of the diversity of engineering careers. His goal is to possibly major in computer or aerospace engineering.

Should another part come in with similar issues, Dan Byrd may turn again to the school.

“I’d love to keep the partnership open because it gives students a chance to see how they affect the real world,” he said.

• Date Taken: 11.05.2019
• Date Posted: 11.05.2019 16:07
• Story ID: 350584
• Location: PORT HUENEME , CA, US