The Big Day

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 08-31-2007 01:40

New semester, everybody raren to go, all the intro safety lecture behind us, all the oxy-fuel demonstrations, showed em how to shear the flame cut pieces to size on the metal muncher...

Nothing left but to start up 20 power supplies that have been idle for the summer, all at the same time....

The were working perfectly when I left... really, they were!

Two of my old D52-D dual feeders just wouldn't come on line and feed smoothly...... The old war horses may be headed out to pasture.

10 sets of disentegrated O rings...... They can send a man to the moon but they can't make an 0 ring for my tweco #4 that lasts 9 months.

I could have sworn I had enough 0.035 rollers. Where are they?!?!?!

What do you mean you need another contact tip.... I just gave you one 10 minutes ago!~

10 leaky needle valves on the flow meters....... Got a line on replacements $33 each... Not bad

All 20 work stations Cracklin with short circuit mig for the last 45 minutes of lab time......... Better than a Jimmy Page solo

By aevald

Date 08-31-2007 03:38

Hello Lawrence, sounds like you're off to a barn-burner of a start. We don't get underway at my place until September 17, I suspect that I'll experience some of the same with regards to machines, students, and everything else. Currently doing the working in industry thing and enjoying it immensely, I am also working with about 10 to 15 of my ex-students, it's great to see how far they've come with their skills and their senses of responsibility and such. Hope that you have a productive semester and get all of the bugs worked out of the hardware around there. Best regards, Allan

By swsweld (****)

Date 09-01-2007 01:39

What if they never went to the moon?

Then you could say, " They can't even send a man to the moon, no wonder they can't make an o-ring that last 9 months.

Sorry, couldn't resist...Seinfeld

By welder5354 (**)

Date 09-03-2007 02:25

Ah, i don't envy you instructors for teaching those students for a full 9 months. I only get the new students for 6 weeks. The students are really doing pipefitting-steamfitting course and i teach them the basics in welding. The rest of the year i teach post-journey welders in smaw/gtaw & gmaw. Most courses are 2 to 6 weeks in length depending on the skills of the welder. The best course that i like to teach is titanium which should be starting around feb/march (8 wk course).
I think this year i will have my new students log onto this site (find a subject) and give some feedback as to what they have learned over the six week period.
Has any of you instructors done this in the past or similiar thing?

By aevald

Date 09-03-2007 02:57

Hello welder5354, I have spoken to a few other instructors in my home state that have said that they refer their students to this site for reference materials, topics, or other types of information. I have also seen posts from others on the forum here that have said that they use the site in conjunction with their classes. I have not directly used the site with my students but I have definitely used much of the information that I have gleaned from the forum to add to information that I try to share with my students, both individually and as a group. I sometimes have a slightly different regimen than the 9 month scenario, some students I might have for 6 to 8 quarters consisting of 11 week offerings per quarter and up to 4 quarters per year including summers. Others I might only have for an 11 week stint if they are brushing up or adding to another type of trade. Yet others I may have for various amounts of hours, consisting of up to 9 hours a day and various days a week, and various weeks during a quarter. Our program is an open entry/open exit type of program and we also cater to upgrade type training for local industry and other types of offerings.
My new partner(previous partner retired after 35 yrs.,16 with me), has been active in procuring some of the latest and greatest computer oriented type equipment, smart board, computers in the classroom with projection capabilities and other types of things. We hope to soon institute more of this in our classroom and I would hope to then become a more active user of the forum in the classroom. I certainly believe there is a wealth of information that could be used for better preparing students and interested individuals via the internet and this forum in particular. Great contribution to this post. Regards, aevald