I Volunteered as part-time maintenance Tech

[Disco_owner]

All machinary at TAFE requires regular maintenance , there used to be a Full-time tech on site maintaining and fixing anything that required preventative maintenance but due to budget constraints they have no longer got anyone looking after the equipment. This job is left to the poor old storeman, why not save $$money and have the storeman do everything right ?? :mad:

I heard that there is money available but the "head teacher" won't spend it.
All the lathes, milling and surface grinders, grinders etc,all need regular stripping,cleaning and lubing and the coolant tanks also need emptying and cleaning,some of the soluable coolant all stink because they have gone off.:o or have some kind of fungi growing out of the containers.:eek:

Just last weeK I had to pull apart a 4-Jaw chuck to clean all the swarf and crap out of it that were cought inside from prolonged "use" as it was almost impossible to open and close the chuck with a key ,so disassembled on a work bench, went into a degreaser bath and thoroughly cleaned and then reassembled , a job that took a good part of 2 hours , it wasn't a difficult , but just time consuming , there is noway the storeman could have done this whilst looking after the store:mad:

Alan and myself have volunteered to go in one day a fortnight and help pull apart some of the equipment that requires urgent attention, strip, clean and refit them at no cost.

I really want to help put something back into the system that is helping me and many others in getting educated.:)

[ashman]

I work for TAFE QLD and the same happen with us, I was the TA to the maintenance fitter we use to look after all the workshop machiney did it for 12 years then they got rid of me first then the tradesman, didn't take long for the machiney to go to ****, then they decided to get rid of the fitting classes and sent all the workshop machines to any other TAFE and schools that wanted them they just spent $5000 to refurbish all the lathes (40 colchesters) this was about 10 years ago now, I still work there as a general hand, they get contractors in now for all maintenance work when they had all that in house, they waste so much money now and they get overcharged all the time and all the work is not up to quility but the contractors don't give a **** as they have been payed...We had one contract sparky doing work and I busted him using secon hand parts and charging for new parts, but did the bosses want to listen to me, he got away with it...Yes I repaired a lot of chucks in that time...

Ashley

[Disco_owner]

I also heard from one of the teachers,thatTAFE gets charged like a Wounded Bull by contractors that get called in to do maintenance work.

The $$$ spent on getting a contractors in vs an inhouse Fitter / TA I believe the gains are far better with the Latter option , but the bean Counters obviously don't think so.:(

Just hoping that we don't set a precident in future maintenance work at Colleges were they include this into the curiculum and ask the apprentices or evening students to strip / clean and maintain the machines or parts , although I think that is a terrific idea but this is not going to solve the current problem.You are right to say that when machine and equipment get neglected they cost more in future to repaire.

Also just a Diversion I believe the Nashi ( chinese machines ) which are a Colchester rip off are a very nice machine and I don;t have any preservation in buying a 2nd handone . they never get used at all at our college for some reason.

[abaddonxi]

Good on you Khos.

Too bad that stuff isn't part of the course.

[Milkman Dan]

It would be an idea for the apprentices to learn how to maintain equipment, better to be shown the right way rather than guesswork.

[p38arover]

Re buying secondhand, I used to manage the Telstra (nee OTC) buildings at Paddington and Broadway and my plant guys looked after the buildings/aircon/diesels/electrical, etc. When Telstra handed that to Transfield, it all went to pot as Telstra got rid of me and all the resident plant staff. The lathes were soon to go so I put in a bid for the Colchester which had very little use. Rejected.

They sold them to a dealer for far less than I offered. When Transfield were carrying it out of the building on a forklift, they dropped it and buggered it. Gaaahhhh!

[Disco_owner]

Good on you Khos.

Too bad that stuff isn't part of the course.

IMHO this should be part of the course , apprentices or night students get to know the equipment better by knowing the inner workings and may be they would appreciate the equipment more.:)


It would be an idea for the apprentices to learn how to maintain equipment, better to be shown the right way rather than guesswork.

that has been suggested a few times,include this as part of a course full strip clean and refit of any machinary in that workshop and students should get accredited for all this work. the only problem is that to completely strip /clean and refit machinary it could anywhere from a few hours to a day and half.

[Disco_owner]

Re buying secondhand, I used to manage the Telstra (nee OTC) buildings at Paddington and Broadway and my plant guys looked after the buildings/aircon/diesels/electrical, etc. When Telstra handed that to Transfield, it all went to pot as Telstra got rid of me and all the resident plant staff. The lathes were soon to go so I put in a bid for the Colchester which had very little use. Rejected.

They sold them to a dealer for far less than I offered. When Transfield were carrying it out of the building on a forklift, they dropped it and buggered it. Gaaahhhh!

I bet the colchester lathes hardly got any use out of at OTC so they probably would have been in good nic.:eek:

[p38arover]

They were probably used more for foreign orders!

[Chucaro]

Contractors on a cheap rate charge more that 3 times the rate of a in-house fitter.
I used to have my own business servicing NC machine tool back in the 80's and my very cheap rate was $35.00 * Hr, John Hartz the importesrs of MC tools charged $120.oo and Index $250.00 :eek:
Colchester MC tools are very good, solid and simple to maintain. The teacher shoud show the students once a week how to do the preventative services and at the end of the year an overhaul of the ones that need it.

[Disco_owner]

Contractors on a cheap rate charge more that 3 times the rate of a in-house fitter.
I used to have my own business servicing NC machine tool back in the 80's and my very cheap rate was $35.00 * Hr, John Hartz the importesrs of MC tools charged $120.oo and Index $250.00 :eek:
Colchester MC tools are very good, solid and simple to maintain. The teacher shoud show the students once a week how to do the preventative services and at the end of the year an overhaul of the ones that need it.

currently There are only 2 day classes and one night , during each of these day classes all young apprentices are rushing to complete their assesments or prac excercises to get them out of the way to get their piece of paper for their employer.
if it means no accreditation towards getting their trade certificate,i don't believe they're ineterested.

That's what sets apart the older Blokes that turn up at night wanting to learn and soak it all in and the young guns coming in during the day time.As I said earlier equipment maintenance needs to become a fundamental part of this course and should be done under supervision of a teachers. but untill then this job is left to the storeman or teachers themselves.

Edit:Also some of the machine fitting needs a Licensed electrician to carry out the work and this cannot be done by one of us or the storeman.

[Milkman Dan]

Any part of maintenance is don't **** around with electricity. It's either you have the ticket or you're a sparkly, burning fat roman candle.

[Disco_owner]

Any part of maintenance is don't **** around with electricity. It's either you have the ticket or you're a sparkly, burning fat roman candle.

This has not yet been finalised Milkman Dan, only discussed with teachers at this stage , and we have offered to come in one day a fortnight to do any kind of maintanance on lathes or other machinary that involves moving parts but it's pending a decision , Alan is an Electrical Engineer and I have a electronics back ground. However neither one of us is a qualified sparky, if there is any electrical work then TAFE would need to call in a qualified sparky or fitter to complete the work. as said we're both keen to throw a few hours of our time in to help the college and perhaps other students.

[Bigbjorn]

All machinary at TAFE requires regular maintenance , there used to be a Full-time tech on site maintaining and fixing anything that required preventative maintenance but due to budget constraints they have no longer got anyone looking after the equipment. This job is left to the poor old storeman, why not save $$money and have the storeman do everything right ?? :mad:

I heard that there is money available but the "head teacher" won't spend it.
All the lathes, milling and surface grinders, grinders etc,all need regular stripping,cleaning and lubing and the coolant tanks also need emptying and cleaning,some of the soluable coolant all stink because they have gone off.:o or have some kind of fungi growing out of the containers.:eek:

Just last weeK I had to pull apart a 4-Jaw chuck to clean all the swarf and crap out of it that were cought inside from prolonged "use" as it was almost impossible to open and close the chuck with a key ,so disassembled on a work bench, went into a degreaser bath and thoroughly cleaned and then reassembled , a job that took a good part of 2 hours , it wasn't a difficult , but just time consuming , there is noway the storeman could have done this whilst looking after the store:mad:

Alan and myself have volunteered to go in one day a fortnight and help pull apart some of the equipment that requires urgent attention, strip, clean and refit them at no cost.

I really want to help put something back into the system that is helping me and many others in getting educated.:)

"We shear non-union here" he said.
"I call it scab" says I.

Henry Lawson