Discharge Pump Analysis

White Iron Impeller: 866 hours

Metal Liners 866 hours

6 x 4 Warman Discharge Pump



Rubber Liners: 684 Hours



Rubber Liners: 684 Hours

While in Alaska at Greens Creek, I was given the task of determining why the 4 main discharge pumps had such a high failure rate. I had never before been exposed to centrifugal pumps. I quickly jumped into the internet forums, pump manuals and any other book I could find which would teach me about how pumps worked and what made them fail. After each failure I tried my best to jump in there with the mechanics, ask them what they thought caused the failure, and then document how each pump seemed to fail. After gathering this data I began speaking with different pump reps to get their input and listen as to why their system would solve all of our problems. After a couple of months I made a decision based upon the collected data on pump failure, in-house experimentation, and presented solutions for various pump vendors. After presenting the solution, we ordered a test pump. Unfortunately school was starting and I was forced to head home. Also, shortly after I left, Greens Creek changed majority ownership from Rio Tinto to Hecla Mining. According to the maintenance team, Hecla decided to scrap all new projects until further notice. Therefore, the test pump was never delivered. My summertime research may not have proved beneficial to Greens Creek but the hands-on experience I gained was priceless.

Mezzanine Project

The mezzanine which I had the opportunity of designing was finished this last week and we moved it into place yesterday while we had some down time (machine maintenance). It is constructed out of 304 Stainless Steel with grid-grate and the flooring. The platform is 9' x 5' and sits a lofty 6 '6" off the ground (my supervisor is 6' 5" and didn't want to worry about hitting his head). It was another fun project to work on, especially working with Idaho Steel. They did a great job.

Golf Ball Launcher

For my mini-capstone class this semester our professor split the class up into 5 groups. Each group had a week to build a golf ball launcher out of a pre-selected rat trap. No modifications to the spring itself were allowed. Other than that stipulation it was free game. With that said, points were awarded for best design, lowest cost, accuracy, and distance.

Our group did excellent on the low cost, accuracy, and design, although we fell a little short of the long distance mark. Our basket consists of the two simple pieces of rod (one of which was the latch for the original trap). The accuracy was achieved by using hooks to measure how far to load to the spring. All in all it was a good design.

It was a fun project which required communication, a bit of innovation, and some well refined skills of trial and error.

** Sorry for the video rotation