Re: Re: How are piston rings made?

Posted by Glenn in MI on January 31, 2004 at 07:11:36 from (65.148.91.177):

In Reply to: Re: How are piston rings made? posted by Vern-MI on January 30, 2004 at 15:46:04:

Your tale brought back many memories of working at Sealed Power in St Johns, 1969-71. Our headquarters and one plant was in Muskegon - not sure if the company was originally known as Muskegon Piston Ring or not.

After going through the Cam Turn and Inside Bore, the next stop was my station - the Finish Mill which had a traveling table with an arbor of rings which run under a spindle carrying a small saw blade which trimmed the slot. It looked much like a radial arm saw with a tiny blade. The slot width was controlled to about 2 or 3 thousandths of an inch with shims behind the precision jig that held the rings. Production averaged about 48,000 rings a night on my station. I still remember how sharp the rings were - always had some cuts.

The next stop for the rings was the most boring operation in the factory - the Pip Marker. That put a dot on one side of each ring so you could tell which side was up. Apparently that was important for the final operations and for installing the rings.

I forget what we called the final operation that machined the rings to ten-thousandths of in inch precision, but the machines generated a lot of heat - not a good job for the middle of the summer.

There was also a chrome plating operation for some rings, a heat treating oven that I occasionally ran, degreasing tanks, and other operations.

It was a mind-numbing job - enough to convince me to go off to college, and a career in computer technical support.

I had a chance to visit Oldsmobile's engine plant near Lansing in 1985, and what a difference! Most machines were computer controlled, automatic conveyors moved all parts, and it was operated by a fraction of the workers that would have been required in earlier years.

The St Johns factory is still open, but is owned by Dana, now. I'm not sure how much longer it will be there, I've heard rumors that another outfit is trying to buy Dana. I think the Muskegon plant is closed.

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