Outside machinists providing critical support to facilities at Arnold Air Force Base

  • Published
  • By Deidre Ortiz
  • AEDC/PA
Machinists at Arnold Air Force Base are essential to the AEDC mission, making sure that the facilities and test cells are running efficiently and effectively to meet the needs of test customers.

Though rarely in the spotlight for their work, the outside machinists working in the shop at the Base Civil Engineering Building complete tasks that are important to the daily operations at Arnold.
According to John Richardson, superintendent of the BCE crew, his team conducts preventative maintenance and repairs on all the overhead cranes and performs regular utility mechanical maintenance.

“When there is any cooling water or potable water mechanical repairs, the Civil Engineering machinists are called to take care of those,” he said. “They also do work at the steam plant, cooling towers and primary and secondary pumping stations, as well as the Woods Reservoir Dam. Really, this crew does all types of mechanical base maintenance work, with the exception of the test cells and plant.”

The base has about 400 cranes, and Richardson said his crew averages 100 to 125 preventative maintenance (PM) work items a month.
Scott Prince, utilities machinist, explained that machinists work with electricians during crane maintenance to ensure the equipment is working as needed.

“The machinists, along with a couple of electricians in the crew, work daily on repairs across the base,” he said.

“OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requires a monthly inspection on every crane to keep them serviceable,” added Michael Daniel, lead machinist at Arnold.
As a lead on the preventative maintenance work for the Woods Reservoir Dam, Prince explained that this entails checking all the gears and brake systems.

“We inspect the cables that are sitting in water most of the time, and checking all the pulleys, which we just retrofitted from chain to cable in the last few years,” he said. “We also take care of maintenance for the sewage treatment plant, Installation Recovery Program areas and several other off-sites.”

BCE machinists and electricians also repair overhead doors, gates, tools and equipment, and support the ironworkers.

“Any breakdowns or hang-ups, we’re usually one of the first response crews that will attempt to get the equipment back into service,” Richardson said. “We work with the Roads and Grounds, the Paint Shop, Pipe Shop and any crew on base that needs our support.”

In addition to Civil Engineering machinists, there are outside machinists at Arnold who work directly with the engineers and project managers on the test facilities to prepare for upcoming tests.

Butch Welch, lead outside machinist for the J-6 rocket motor test cell at Arnold, explained he is part of a two-man crew, along with Wendall Duncan, responsible for building up the rocket motors and installing the motor into the test cell.

“Any maintenance or anything having to do with the test cell mechanically, we’re the ones responsible for it,” he said.

Welch explained that having such a small crew, the work is at times different than that of other outside machinists on base.

“We do all the pre-ops and post-ops and have a role in the test itself,” he said. “The two of us work together on everything, and we stay busy because J-6 is a large facility with a lot of parts to maintain.”
When J-6 is testing, the pre-ops takes about three weeks.

“The motor comes in from the manufacturer and we put test hardware on it, and we have leak checks and other inspections to complete before the test,” he said. “When the test is over, it takes a week to get the motor ready to ship back.”

Welch and Duncan work closely with pipefitters, boilermakers and ironworkers to complete certain tasks, and even when J-6 isn’t testing, they focus on keeping everything running throughout the remainder of the year.

Similar to the outside machinists at J-6, Danny Haddon, outside machinist for the C-1 and C-2 engine test cells, said he and his counterparts oversee the setup for testing and the overall maintenance.

“We support the install of a test article, operate it and then remove it at the end of a test,” he said.
Haddon, who has been working at Arnold for 34 years, said C-1 and C-2 will typically have eight machinists on hand for first and second shift during a test.

“On a normal test day we will perform pre-ops, such as making sure the fuel system and data system are ready, and setting up hydraulics,” he said. “Then the test occurs, and once testing ends we will come back and perform post-ops.”

He added that most outside machinists for engine test cells perform the same type of work but they aren’t doing it alone.

“We work with test customers and engineers, and we coordinate with other craft to get it all to work out just right,” he said. “The machinists are the primary ones who get the test article prepared for testing. But we play a small role in the big picture; it takes all of us to get it done.”