Photo By Ana Henderson | These metal magicians work out of several open-aired warehouses that are split into...... read more read more
Subscribe
If you break it, most likely they can fix it. If you design it, most likely they can manufacture it.
“I honestly believe that there is absolutely nothing they can’t make,” remarked James Ingram the lead engineering tech at Yuma Test Center’s (YTC) Machine Shop referring to the work his team does.
The talented team is made up of four machinist and eight welders. Their experience ranges from one year in the shop to more than 30.
For those not familiar with the trades, a machinist can take a piece of metal and using machinery and tools they create a part by removing metal. A welder connects multiple pieces of metal by melting and fusing them together.
These metal magicians work out of several open-aired warehouses that are split into sections for machinist and welders. Welder’s work involves equipment that melts and fuses metal together causing an extremely hot working environment.
“Our mission is to support the testing at Yuma Proving Ground and that comes in all different forms. It could be something as simple as repairing a crack in a support vehicle or something as far as fabricating a test research and development type part that the engineers want made,” explained Ingram.
Typical days for the crew vary from working on items for the Munitions and Weapons Division for the Excalibur and Precision Guidance Kit. Other work could be fabricating unmanned aerial vehicle loading tables, metal silhouettes for the targets team, and payloads for test vehicles.
The length of time per project varies on the work needed to be done. A project can take a few minutes or a few months. The size varies too, often requiring tolerances less than a thousandth of an inch.
“It can be anything from an eighth of an inch diameter to breeches,” remarked Machinist Matt Keddy.
Ingram added, “The only thing that has ever stopped us from making something is size.”
A recent large-scale project was a mobile blast shield. The shield that stood 12 feet tall, had hinges that could fold out and make it even taller. They referred to it as the transformer blast shield. The request for the unique item came from a test officer.
Project requests typically come from test officers who need a component to complete testing. Jason Trepanier a welder, machinist, and welding teacher at Arizona Western College explained the process.
“Test officers will talk with the leads, then the leads will talk to us on how they want us to manufacture the product based on the materials we have available and the machinery we have to make the product.”
The team then gets blue-prints or drawing or other times they create a plan based on discussions.
“Sometimes we visualize it when we talk with the customer and figure out what they want. Or we will draw it up on CAD [computer-aided design], show them, and make sure we are on the same page,” explained Keddy.
The work does require a great deal of measuring by hand and attention to detail. While the team creates a large majority of projects with their hands, they are aided with computers for some projects. The shop recently added two more computer numerical control machines.
Ingram explained using those machines is a skill in itself.
“The enclosed machines are computer operated so a program must be created to make the part versus the old manual machines. It’s a totally different skill set to create something by hand.”
Using their skills to fabricate essential pieces for YTC provides the team with a daily dose of challenge and adventure they say they enjoy and don’t get bored.
“We have a good team here. Everybody works good together. Good bosses. Everybody helps each other out to get things done,” remarked Keddy.
| Date Taken: | 01.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 01.03.2023 10:02 |
| Story ID: | 436000 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, YPG Machine Shop can make it or fix it to support military testing, by Ana Henderson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
