Overview: Furmanite was recently awarded a contract to perform on site line boring on the new construction retrofit of a Marine Pipe Laying Barge. The barge was being fitted with a new pipe spool and arm braking system. The 9” x 6” brake arm pin bores were set in a series of five pad eyes each with a forty inch span from left pad to right pad with the corresponding set of pads on the opposite side of the spool, totaling a thirty foot span from the outside pad starboard side to outside pad port side. The tolerances required were +/- 0.001” in concentricity and diameter over the entire thirty foot series of bores. Reference A
Reference B
Solution & Implementation: Furmanite utilized a Faro Laser Tracker to position its line boring equipment to the optimal set position indicated by the customer. A prerequisite of the work was to remove as little material as possible whilst still achieving a 100% cleanup and alignment of the bores. Total run out of the bores were measured, metal removal was calculated and all of the bores were machined in line. In the photograph ref “A” you can see the massive red spool and yellow brake arms. In the photograph ref “B” you can see the line boring taking place on the black brake arm pin collars.
Results: Furmanite mobilized to site within twenty-four hours of the call from the customer. Machining parameters were set and a plan was submitted to the customer on how the repair would be executed. The customer accepted the plan and work commenced. The complete work scope consisting of two pairs of bores each containing three collars. The work was completed in 108 hours. Further work was carried out at a later stage once the vessel was relocated to another port in another state. The customer was pleased with both the quality of the work and the speed in which it was executed.
