The changes this week may not be as visually obvious from the progress on PGL (Project GoldiLocks) this first week of May 2018 but it was a very productive week none the less. This was our 2nd four day work week in a row as May 1st is Labor Day in Turkey and the EU countries. The most visible progress you’ll see in the pictures below is the separation of the thousands of individual pieces from the AL plates that we covered in last week’s update. Less visible is that the deck plating has now been tack welded in place on the jig as this is readied to soon receive all the vertical transverse frames or ribs as you might think of them, along with the longitudinal running stringers which run underneath the deck plate. I’ll let the photos below do most of the talking and there is also a set of video clips compiled into a summary of the week at the end.
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Let’s start by zooming in on two of the aft deck plates to show how edges of AL plate that will be butt welded need to be beveled like this. It is a simple manual process done with a grinder and these 45 degree bevels form a nice deep V groove where the weld will go and enables full penetration of the weld for maximum strength.
If you look closely at the plates in this and the photo below you will see the reference line which has been etched 20mm in from the outer the sides of the deck plates. These are used to help line up each plate and then be used to help trim these edges into the long sweeping curves of the deck before the hull plates go on.
On plate this thin (5mm) it is arguably unnecessary to put these grooves in so they are relatively minor here but on the thicker plate it is very important to ensure complete penetration of the welds on both sides.
These underside welds will be left as is and the welds on top of the deck we walk on will be ground flush.
It may look a bit chaotic but there is a method to this madness as the parts have been sorted into piles with a common purpose or location to make it easier to find as the assembly begins.
You can also see quite clearly in this picture that any areas which are going to be welded have been lightly ground to remove the layer of hard aluminium oxide that naturally forms on bare AL plate. You can see the clear contrast of the darker and duller AL oxide and the brighter silvery areas that are fresh aluminium. The oxide layer can interfere with getting good clean welds and hence the removal. But over time all the surfaces will have their protective hard oxide coating and blend together into the beauty that bare aluminum has, at least to my eyes.
One of the major features of building from aluminium I appreciate is that it is perhaps the most recyclable of all materials. In the case of aluminum cans for example, every gram or ounce you put in the recycle bin gets recycled and ends up back on a store shelf in just 60 days. . Recycling of aluminum cans saves 95% of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source. One ton of recycled aluminum saves 14,000 kilowatt hours (Kwh) of energy, 40 barrels of oil, 152 million BTU’s of energy, and 10 cubic yards of landfill space.
And so we also have a growing modern art sculpture forming outside, which has grown from this …………………
it doesn’t get talked about too much but it is a growing problem figuring out what to do with FRP or fiberglass boats that are scrapped and even more so with the newer composites such as Carbon fiber and Kevlar. I read that there are inroads being made to cut these up into small pieces and be able to recycle some of them but it is currently very labour intensive and expensive process.
No coincidence then that Baris and Dincer named this company and shipyard GreeNaval! I come back to the many other ways we have focused on maximising the efficient use of energy overall in not only the building of Möbius and this new line of eXpedition Passage Maker or XPM boats, but also with optimised efficiency after being launched.
The layout is based on the centerline and here you see Enver, the Master Welder in the foreground with the laser sight line tool in the middle of the aft deck area from which reference marks are then put on the jig and deck plates to line them up with this center line or CL.
Up on the front deck it is the same procedure of working from the CL out to accurately line up where to plates butt together and to precisely position them on the jig.
Using the reference marks and the jig the deck plates are pressed down firmly against those concave curved edges of the jig underneath and then tack welded together so the deck plates accurately follow the curve of the jig edges which were precisely CNC cut from the data in the 3D model.
Here you see Uğur providing more than enough weight to push the 5mm deck plates against the jig while another one of the welders is underneath tack welding the deck plate where he is standing to the jig.
With the deck plates tacked in place this shot looking across the aft deck to what will be the aft Starboard (right) corner, you can how the plates have again been lightly ground to remove that oxide layer wherever welds will go.
The transverse (side to side) lines you see here are where there is either a seam where two plates will be welded together or where the edge of one of the vertical frames will be welded to the deck plate. The longitudinal or lengthwise ground lines are where those stringers we have talked about so much in previous posts will be welded to the deck plate. You can appreciate how this grid of vertical AL components will make this a very rigid deck and boat.
Stay tuned for more folks, we’ve only just begun!
As always, here is a video compilation of clips I shot through the week to give you another perspective of the work. A bit longer but some of you have been asking for more details so here you go.
Thanks for joining us on this adventure, hope you are enjoying it as much as we are. Wouldn’t be the same without you.
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