LimaNiner From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 391 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 3 months 1 week 13 hours ago) and read 2685 times:
I have a question about this article about "The Fifty", Alcoa's 50,000 ton forging press.
The second paragraph states that this machine broke down 3 years ago, and only returned to service earlier this year, implying a 3-year outage.
A little later, the article says "Every manned U.S. military aircraft now flying uses parts forged by the Fifty. So does every commercial aircraft made by Airbus and Boeing."
So my question is: what parts did they make with this press, and how were they able to ride through 3 years of downtime? Did they really have 3 years' worth of inventory when the thing broke down?
redflyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 4175 posts, RR: 30 Reply 1, posted (1 year 3 months 1 week 12 hours ago) and read 2639 times:
Quoting LimaNiner (Thread starter): So my question is: what parts did they make with this press, and how were they able to ride through 3 years of downtime? Did they really have 3 years' worth of inventory when the thing broke down?
My first guess is that this is piss-poor reporting. If you look at the link, it states clearly that it's an archived story from 1969. It would appear that the author took an old story and added some modern window dressing to it (JSF program) at the bottom.
scrubbsywg From Canada, joined Mar 2007, 1486 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (1 year 3 months 1 week 12 hours ago) and read 2630 times:
Quoting redflyer (Reply 1): My first guess is that this is piss-poor reporting. If you look at the link, it states clearly that it's an archived story from 1969. It would appear that the author took an old story and added some modern window dressing to it (JSF program) at the bottom.
Those photos look a little dated, especially since some of them reference parts that went into the C-5A and the Space Shuttle...vehicles that have not been under construction for, literally, decades. Nevertheless...
Quoting scrubbsywg (Reply 3): dont be so sure. this link shows it as part of the March 2012 edition.
I'm not so sure...my comment was, as I stated, just a guess. But if the OP's linked article is current in every way then my next guess would be that this can't be the only press of this capability. In fact, the article does state that 4 were built:
The now-forgotten Heavy Press Program, inaugurated in 1950 and completed in 1957, would ultimately result in 10 forges built with taxpayer dollars: four presses (including the Fifty)
And if I'm mistaken in that assumption as well then I'm really curious to know how Airbus and Boeing have gone without since their current production rates would mean parts forged by this incredible beast would have to be stockpiled for a good number of years.
According to this article, the work of the 50K ton press was taken over by the 35K ton press (at reduced efficiency), which explains how Boeing and Airbus managed to not run out of parts
I'm tired of the A vs. B sniping. Neither make planes that shed wings randomly!
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 391 posts, 
From Canada, joined Mar 2007, 1486 posts, 
From Taiwan, joined Jul 2006, 1446 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
