Fall 2004

Roosevelt Stevenson uses a manual Bridgeport mill to make airplane parts

Every day, over 500 commercial airplanes touch down at the SeaTac airport. Thousands of parts used in these aircraft are manufactured right here at the Lighthouse for the Blind. Everything from cockpit sun visors to fuel system washers to metal shims on the flight deck door are made in our machine shop by blind and Deaf-Blind machinists and set-ups.

Each weekday at 7:25 am, Lighthouse machinists punch in and start cutting, shaping, and drilling parts destined for the Boeing Airplane company. Some leave their guide dogs in the Lighthouse day kennel or use the raised path guides for cane travel as they head to their work stations. Many arrive to find Braille work-orders ready with job specifications for the day.

Machine shop employees begin the manufacturing process by reducing material into smaller parts, followed by milling and shaping material to fit Boeing specifications. Parts then have rough edges smoothed out. Some are outsourced for painting and later return to Lighthouse assembly for drilling and attaching nut-plates. While parts are inspected every step of the way, they go through a final inspection to ensure quality.

“Edging,” putting a smooth edge on ripped or sheared parts, and “tapering,” making one edge of the metal thinner than the other, are the first steps in the process. Smaller tapering is done on a manual Bridgeport milling machine, larger tapering is done on a horizontal milling machine.

“When you [shear or rip a large sheet of metal] you end up with all sorts of microscopic fractures,” explains Jim Smith, machine set-up. “With a machined edge, instead of lasting a couple of years, a part will last ten or twelve years longer.”

Blind machinists use assistive technology to perform their jobs with speed and accuracy. Roosevelt Stevenson, who lost his vision due to gun violence, uses voice technology to help accomplish his job as a machine set-up.

“We have a [voice synthesized] machine; it’s called the edger. It gives us the dimensions of what to take off,” Roosevelt says. “For tapering, we have DRO.” DRO stands for digital read-out: synthesized “Voice Man” boxes that read the digital information to blind machinists. Machine shop workers also use talking calculators and voice-synthesized calipers to measure parts.

“What’s good about the technology is it allows us to be faster at our jobs, more accurate at our jobs, and more independent in doing our jobs. If I didn’t have the digital talking devices...I wouldn’t be able to be as fast or as accurate as I want to be.”

“The thing I like about the Lighthouse now is that, with the technology, it gives totally blind people the chance to compete for better jobs, the better paying jobs,” declares Dan Staub, a Lighthouse machine set-up who is blind due to an accident.

“The machinist sets up the machine by setting the table in an X/Y position, Y being front to back, and X being left and right,” explains Mike Scheschy, production supervisor. “You can also set the Z axis for an up and down stroke.” Setting these three axes determines the motion of the machine. The X,Y, and Z axes are voiced as people work. “The voice synthesized devices allow the machinists to know the exact location of the machine to the part.”

Parts are sometimes sent to the Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) Bridgeport milling machine for a secondary operation. “[The CNC] is similar to the manual Bridgeport. However, this is a computer-driven machine using a part program,” Mike clarifies. “These computerized machines have been outfitted with special software that was created internally at the Lighthouse to make them accessible to blind machinists.”

“It’s a fascinating piece of equipment,” remarks Jim. Besides voice technology, CNC Machines have standard machine shop equipment adapted to emit noise cues. Tool height gauges and edge-finders squeal when they come into contact with the part, letting machine set-ups know where they need to start or stop the program.

Jim Smith operates a CNC Bridgeport machine

Through modern technology, blind machinists succeed in meeting high quality standards on the job. “You have to approach the job as different every time. You can have the calculations ready in your mind, but you have to treat every job like it’s brand new,” observes Roosevelt.

“What I like is that I’m taking a job from scratch, I’m making something,” he continues. “I like being able to do my own independent job, working on my own.”

Dan agrees. “It builds your self-esteem being able to set up your own jobs and meet the challenges. I hope the Lighthouse continues with the technology and expanding that end of it.”

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