OVERHAULING Aircraft Crankshafts - How its done Airworx 

He is very serious and professional, exactly the type of person I would want machining the parts to my engine.

Great detail you never see. Trueing the stone with radius check, golden.

Yes, to STEP By STEP videos. Very Educational. Wow, these guys at Airworks are Professionals!

As an ex machinist I find this fascinating. Please have more of this type odd content.

That was very interesting with the machine operator explaining what he was doing.

I've always been fascinated with companies that have a zero tolerance mistake factor for repair work. The quality control has to be just out of this world to never make a mistake. it's like how they operate in Germany for all companies.

Hobby machinist and mechanic here. Assembled many motors and was curious about the crank grinding process. Excellent video.

Interesting stuff......These guys are old school integrity. Hopefully they get into Lycoming exp even more.

Nice heart warming finish to the vid with the children and family. 👍👍

Showcasing focused and talented professionals. Great work!

Now I know...always wondered how rod journals were ground...I like it!

All my car cranks that I ground on a Van Norman 111, in between centres. had runout of .0000" & I never had to change grinding wheels from rods to main journals. I don't know how people can charge people to ruin cranks grinding them in chucks. I can grind all the journals accurately (specs)all day long & check them for specs. I like people to get back home when they take their yacht / plane out for a ride. I learned how to grind cranks wrong working in an "pro engine building " shop doing them wrong & not meeting specifications , then I worked for a retired shipwright that was in the car plants (Ford)& seen all the crankshafts being ground in between centres & using dogs on each end. He was allowed to tour their shops with the Allied War Effort & did. I learned from him how to regrind crankshafts (without having to rebalance the crank) the same way they are made & had "0" problems. Rather than use a reground crank (done wrong in chucks) I would use a std./std. crank & polish with 2000 grit by hand & use a .001" bearing. I also had a record holding NHRA engine that I checked over . I put the crank in the grinder between centres & checked it out. It was not perfect , it had .0002" runout on the 7/8 rod journal & that was it. I still have the crank forging # 6764 (67 302 small journal) a true piece of bent iron , from "Hank The Crank" , it is fully counterweighted, cross drilled , & hard chromed. I need to know why people can do them close & say that it is right , when they are not. Question is there any "engine rebuilders " grinding crankshafts between centres anywhere close to Atlantic Canada , North America . I guess we have to buy new cranks to get good results. The last engine I built had three first places in three races & was started at the back in the last race. We were the only car there from Halifax Co., N.S. , Canada. You could not get me to work for you grinding cranks in chucks period!!! I don't do close . I feel bad for the people working in the rebuilding industry , because all they know is what they are taught on good machines used incorrectly. It's lonely at the "TOP" I would put up mine up against yours anyday. Thank You ( Motor Mouse ) James T. Burke

I love the details! Keep em coming!

Don’t have a plane yet, but when I do and when it needs an engine I am sending it to them! Super impressed!

Love this type of content!

I’ve always wanted to understand how they machine crankshafts. Thanks guys,this is very informative.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

love these kind of videos thankyou

Awesome! Love learning the step by step process.

I love this geeky stuff. Thanks.

Great content, thanks for posting.

Magnificent.... Love this channel

Awesome video, really enjoyed watching the fine details involved in this process.

Hell yea, never too much detail! 👍

I love this super fascinating!

You've hit the nail on the head. Instructional videos need a logical order. The Army perfected this technique in 1943 to teach everyone in the most efficient manner Explanation Demonstration Practical Application I feel like I was properly trained to "do the job" and For this reason, I'm subscribing and I hope all the instructional videos are all like this.

Totally awesome vid! More please!

I love your channel, thanks👍

Very informative Video, very educational in all the work that goes into getting a Crankshaft back in service the right way.

Well presented! Thanks

I do enjoy the step by step

Amazing attention to detail

love stuff like this.

Nice job, I enjoyed it!

i like the precision!

Cool to watch the detail on this.

... Another cool tool I need in my garage for Christmas..a crank shaft grinder... .

I did this in pass when I first started working you guys do a nice job and explain the steps

Really well done.

I think a lot of these commenters would freak if you showed what was involved to grind a worn Lycoming to new limits M003, or all the stones and radius involved in a large large radius 520 front drive, and how to clean up a pitted SB505, I don't think many realize just a tiny bit too much side grinding or sweeping a journal can crack the nitrite layer and you've killed a crank, I was sweating balls on my first 720! Just found your channel, I'll check your other videos.

Very nice job!!

very intresting & love the channel - great work

Great video.

Details, more details!

Very interesting thanks, often wondered how they ground a crankshaft.

2020 is the ...YEAR to SUBSCRIBE. You have been watching... now it's time to SUBSCRIBE and hit the LIKE button while you are at it! :-) We will keep going back to AIRWORX LLC from time-to-time to capture the step-by-step details of how each component of an Aircraft Engine is properly overhauled. Thank you for taking the time to watch! We REALLY appreciate your support! Consider supporting us on our NEW Patreon Page: www.patreon.com/experimentalaircraftchannel

Great to see what goes into overhauling a crank

Great interview and what an awesome family it should inspire others.😊

great video...

Great video! Love the step-by-step procedure. I've always wondered how any rod journal got centered, and turned. Thanks for the coupon code for those Grip Lock Ties! Those are slick! Just ordered a 100-pack for the shop. 👍😎

Who knew a grinding stone could be such a precise tool? Not me but I know now. Thanks.

I like how uses the wood stick to keep it from chattering Fairwood I used with drums and flywheels

Love it

American craftmanship is not dead! It it on display at thousands of small shops all across the country.

Amazing detail and precision. Better than factory quality. I'm sure their engines last a very long time and are super reliable. Just want to buy one knowing the impeccable detail that's gone into them!!

Yeah nice job!

done a lot of welded up shafts and strokers. we had a kotafin machine to strike down welds before grinding. i can appreciate your endeavors to building a good product. shit gotta be right!

yes, please more detailed look at processes.

Very interesting to see the way he jigged that up and the care taken to resurface the wheel for every unit!! Sorry, don't do Facebook.... Thanks for the video!!

GREAT VID! Yes I'm yelling while saying that😃

i use to grind industrial shafts on a lemco. talk about prehistoric. then i did automotive shafts on a berco. a little nicer of machine. we need more of vids like this so people understand the work that is done.

Very interesting, stuff you'd never see.

So THAT's how you grind rod journals. That was always a mystery to me since they are not in the center of the shaft rotation axis. Of course it all makes sense. Thanks.

Cool machine shop!

very interesting

I do crankshaft balancing for automotive applications and have always wondered about how it's done in the aviation industry. I would love to see you do a video with Airworx on how they balance the crankshafts that come through their shop. I would also like to know the process of becoming certified to do it, as I'm the aviation industry in my area is quite busy. The details in this video are astounding. Please do one on balancing the crankshaft!

A full engine overhaul series please

Very cool video, thx. A radius, though, does not eliminate the chances of stress cracks, it just dramatically lowers them. Enough load cycles over enough time and you WILL have stress cracks, at some scale. Eventually you will have them to failure. Metal fatigue is a real thing, and if you've ever looked at something like a rod with an engine running high RPM they are bending visibly, and more than you would ever guess. Crankshafts are getting nasty rotational (torsional) and lateral loads, that, and the 'crooked' nature of them is why their cross sections/thicknesses are so much larger than say, a transmission input shaft coupling that same motor to its load.

This is my kinda content. As a ToolMaker I do this most everyday. All the likes and subs for you

There is a very slight .004 thou bow in that cranshaft as you can see the needle on the dial indicator moving and also the uneven quantity of grinding sparks shooting down from the grinding contact area. I bet when that crankshaft is in service for a while in the engine that uneven bearing shell wear would be evident across the saddle bearings if the engine was disassembled.

Hey Brian, I really appreciate the "Airworx" videos.I am very impressed with the ability and attention to detail. A little information about me. I am pursuing my Private pilot with an expected check ride this summer 2020. I have a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology, an M.S. in Industrial Technology, PhD in TLI with a cognate in Systems Engineering all from Purdue University and an MBA from Anderson University. However, I am not a professor but work in industry and very enthusiastic about flying and adding 'aviation' knowledge. I plan to purchase a Piper Tri-Pacer this summer and then pursue building an experimental aircraft. I really appreciate your videos detailing the hands on aspect of our hobby. I would like to visit and / or discuss more details with Airworx and the opinion they have regarding the various manufacturers. In addition, I would like to see more videos with a subject of experimental aircraft kits. I have narrowed my decision of an aircraft kit to 3 manufacturers, based upon various videos, and would like to see more information from builders, manufactures and engines associated with kits. Specifically, do you have any information regarding the UL Power and the opinion of the experts at Airworx regarding UL Power and the OEM, or more common, aircraft engine manufacturers. I really appreciate the thoroughness of the staff at Airoworx and value their opinion about various manufacturers and plan to focus my decisions upon the 'hands-on' opinions of experts in the industry. Please keep up the good work with your video channel, Casey Shull, PhD

The diamond should be turned a quarter turn to prevent the diamond from getting polished on one side which polishes the wheel instead of sharpening it. A freshly rotated diamond edge fractures the wheel grains creating new cooler cutting points on each grain.

After dressing the grinding wheel, by the sound that is made as the wheel engages the work, you can hear un-even contact. I do not believe the wheel is dressed enough, and is out of round. The wheel could also have moved in the blotters between the flanges during across-the-mains starting. I use variable frequency drives to soft-start the wheels on all my grinders to avid any potential of wheel slipping in the blotters during startup. Another note, in the camera shot of the wheel storage rack, it is plain to see the metal buildup in the pores of the wheels. I realize you re-dress the wheels before using them, but I just get the feeling the operator is not dressing the wheels enough to clean them out and also get them round. Just an observation, because the science of grinding means controlling all the variables. I do understand that these wheels are tight-bond wheels because they are holding the form radii, and are not going to break down. This makes deep dressing to remove buildup even more important.

Can't say I'd be real comfortable standing in the line of fire of that big grinding wheel.

WOW

Great video. Interested in how a hollow crank is checked. How the bore is inspected and machined out if required.

How about a video explaining the purpose and role of the crankshaft counter weights?

I find that is I do rods first , i don't have runout on the mains .. I think you may have meant .0007 (seven ten thousandths ) allowable runout ...Very good video , I applaud you ...

All good stuff, the problem is finding a usable core for these recip engines. They come back from inspection at overhaul, full of cracks at the thrust face , scrap pile they go!

What has more processing power. A Rasberri pi 4 or that computer at 17:28?

Great job! Can't wait to get my Franklin 150 to AirWorx, kinda scared if the crank will pass though, already -.020

Although I have about 30 cranks to turn next week(in addition to a 455 Olds, 383 Dodge and a couple of LS's to build up)...I still like seeing how other shops/machines do things at times. Personally, I polish all journals with a "band" hand held polisher after the grind but everyone has their own method. Curious how much they add to the price because it's aviation specific...

Hey. Do people tell you you look exactly like Larry Hagman ? Cool. Cool show too.

when you set up to grind a rod journal both dialing it in and positioning the steady rest, what if that journal is worn out of round? Especially, what happens with the steady rest?

Much respect for the fellow grinding the crankshaft. Being a machinist myself that has ground the outside diameter of shafts 4” x 84” within ..0002” . Not an easy deal. I wonder if the crankshaft gets rebalanced after grinding? Since taking material off. Would be a minimum amount of weight.

This is cool to see, because I am about to send you a crank. But one question I have is about nitriding. Arent crank bearings nitrided? If so do you put it back on after grinding?

Note Aircraft and Automobil Engine when you are Grinding any Crankshaft you Must do the same proccedure,,but Aircraft engine Crankshaft, will move on you if you do not support the center of the Crankshaft

I used to grind metal rolls for the steel industry. Believe it or not, I would hold two ten-thousands on the O.D. and I.D.Do not know why they wanted such a tight tolerance but what the print wants the machinist makes. At least that what I would do. The other guys could not do that and would just crash the machine. Nice explanation too.

Do you have to re-harden the crankshaft after grinding and reasons? ie nitriding.

Pretty neat I didn't realize the amount of work it takes to turn a crankshaft! I assume your going to ten under or twenty if you put it on the grinder.

.009 thou off? isn't that a lot? or are there only a few standard regrind sizes?

Hubba a dubba diidly doo. Not the same as the Van Norman grinder I used to run but damned similar. Integrated belt polisher?

If manufacturer allows 7 thou runout,what is the bearing to crank clearance allowed?Considering fix ends and 7 thou runout in the middle,bearing to crank clearance should be? Is that a 7 thou or a 7 tenth of a thou?

I'm gonna need to see their license for that guys guns.

To many pop in just let the video play. Do your pop in at be beginning or the end. Not ever 3 to 5 minutes. Just my 2 cent

no wonder that dude is so muscular, he has to lift crankshafts and stones all day. dude is talented, that's a craft requiring major Gold's gym body buffing.

How does this differ from any other crank grind?

After a crank is ground, is it nitrided?

👍

Where the thrust bearing go on the crank shaft when the propeller pull ?

Do they re nitrate the heavier cut grinds,any cam profile re-grinds? Wanting to do some A/C eng.builds built many Nitro/Alky floppers good content