My crash course....history buffs take note too.

[Strip]

As apart of my initiation into the world of turbines I get to take part in the restoration of this engine.






Its destined for an ex-AirForce One aircraft, extra points if you can figure out the designation and which president. Fortunately for me its not going to be flight worthy and is a great way to learn. Coming from an automotive background its been interesting, particularly safety wire and 12-point nuts. We did not pull the stack apart but everything else is being restored as well as possible.

Its been a dirty and fun experience so far, the first thing I learned, old turbine oil stinks and permeates everything!!

Strip

[Nitro185]

Guessing  that's a Pratt & Whitney JT12 or J60 (same thing-- military vs Civilian)     'bout  3000 lbs of thrust if I'm not mistaken.



Funny.....   I've been 20 years with Pratt (27 yrs as A&P) and I saw the 1st pic & thought--- "That's a Old Pratt engine...."     

 Have  fun with those Strip...... Lots  to get to know.... 


<-   Sr. Technical support, currently working PWC's (Pratt & Whitney Canada) largest Regional Service Center( Fly-in) in North America-- KBTV...  on :
  PT6A series engines... JT15D series...PW500 Series, PW300 series, PW600 series.

Got questions...? Just pm me
 << S >>

[Strip]

Nitro,

There is undoubtedly a lot to learn though I think I can come up to speed quickly, whether by innate ability or desperate need. With these engines being for ground use only it will cut back on some of the items I will need to learn. The museum engines are fantastic learning tools, everything is junk to start with almost. With even a modest amount of attention it would be very hard to mess anything up, its something I am still very cautious of though. It amazes me at how much some of this stuff costs though, the rivets holding the turbine blades in the wheel was one. A simple piece of Inconel was something like $100 per (forget which model it was) and you cant even get them any more hardly.

Only bad part is I have to learn three turbines made by three different manufactures, the J-60, the J-85, and the J-34 (Pratt, GE, and Westinghouse respectively).

I will update with some better pics when one ships out next week...thanks for the offer!

Strip

[AAJagerX]

Safety wire....  Ugh.   Make sure to pigtail it well, the next person to work on the engine will appreciate it. 

Good luck in your new venture!

[Nitro185]

Strip,   It's Funny to me... I really don't think how much "stuff"  Costs' anymore.... I'm  conscience about the Direct costs' to the customer, but really unaffected by the  "per piece"... for example:
.. here's a PW545A Engine Installed on a Cessna Citation Excel--



... and here's what  we get when it's torn down ready for our reworks  / Inspections /  -- ** almost a Complete teardown-- but NOT OVERHAUL....... level.. this is as far as we're allowed to go....


...and the HT  ( High Turbine)  Disc assy  disassembled ready to rivet 70 ( original) blades back into this Disc.....
Cost ( list price rounded DOWN):   HT Disc (only)  $125,000.oo
                                               1 HT Blade   $ 1300.oo  ( each)  -- 70 Required-- you can do the math  
                                               1 Rivet      $ 80.00  ( each)—again  70 required  
Then it has to be Skimmed (  diameter cut down ) to a specific dimension--- and then Balanced as an assy.—that’s all Labor that I’m not gonna even mention the $$ involved.





I have NO idea how much $$ I see in parts go thru our facility in a week-- Month--YEAR....But that's Aviation.....

By the way... know how to make a small fortune in Aviation...... Start with a LARGE one.....

and AAJagerX... Don't forget the Tywrap Flush cut ...  ** pet peeve   

[bustr]

After you finish setting the 70 rivets through the fore and aft retaining rings, do you have a micro stress and flaw inspection process that looks at all 70 joints and rivets? Or, do you just accept the technology because the individual parts passed inspection from the factory? How often do you get a working failure of a rivet in the life time of the assembly? After everything is in place how do you ballance the disk?

Sorry I always seem to ask the 6 year olds why questions. I can see how the individual joints, rivets and the rings lock the blade base in place on the HT Disk. Which accounts for random failures of a single or several riviets. I suppose the real failure danger is in the blade to it's base junctur in relation to harmonic stress and general use of the engine. Rocks, birds and the occasional monkey wrench probably only make blades snap off but no failure of the rivets or rings.

That is a fascinatingly simple but Elegant assembly.

[Babalonian]

I thought the largest danger to jet engines were metal shavings from abrasion/scraping somewhere in the assembley... and yes, feed us more!
(<-would of gone for being an aircraft mechanic fresh out of HS if my parent's weren't such di!@s about not going along with it as my first choice.... some day.  These newfangled airtower controller tech schools got me curious lately too.)

[cpxxx]

Either it's a J57 or JT3 or JT3D or TF33. Maybe JT4. I spent 14 years with those engines. They were classic even then. Despite the fact that we were Irish and supposedly neutral, way outside NATO  We got a contract to convert a bunch of JT3Ds into mil spec TF33s to be fitted to KC135s. As the technical librarian the the USAF sent me everything on the subject. Tech orders and manuals. Most interesting was the manual which translated the words 'Top Secret' into every language known to man.

I'm pretty sure, we got paperwork no one without a security clearance should have got. But I locked it all away and the commies never got their hands on it. I had a lot of fun reading it though.

[Strip]

The engine was correctly identified by Nitro as a J-60 or JT-12 depending on who you ask.

The aircraft is a Lockheed Jetstar that formerly flew as AirForce One with LBJ onboard.

Strip