Thread: I Volunteered as part-time maintenance Tech

Originally Posted by 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
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.

Originally Posted by 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 ??

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. or have some kind of fungi growing out of the containers.

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

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