Art & Inspiration Tech School Students Doing Good

wonder how that is related to the henrob torch?

 

Interesting, I never connected the two.

 

7 day mol***es soak

 

Cool riveter.
Whoa, a pseudo US flag motif.
That's enough to make me buy it.

 

School getting a new tool unloaded

 

Spoiled brats.

 

You got one?

 

I’m not spoiled.

 

The Airstream trailers have special rivets and tooling too. The restorers can get very deep into such things. They are built to last but not to take apart and restore.

I wouldn't say spoiled. It may be big and fancy, latest, greatest(?), but that's current and future production stuff. No point in teaching everyone on manual mills if that's not what is out there making parts and money. We need young adults that know current cars, not 1950s cars. That can be a specialty for those that choose to go that direction.

 

Education is never wasted. Building confidence by conquering tasks is a great thing. Just learning to have a conversation and cooperate, wait your turn, consider the other persons viewpoint or contribution are a win. Sorry, off the soap box. Forgive my ignorance is that a flame or water table, I see CAD learning in their future…

 

What is that? Like a water cutting machine? Plasma cutter?

 

Our machine shop teaches manual mill and lathe.
It’s part of understanding CNC

 

Plasma table

 

True. That may not have been the best example. Walk before you run. Understand the basic operation before advanced. But the cl*** should cover current methods and skills because that's the world they are in and that is the basis for future advancements.

 

The machine cl*** uses Haas equipment and training. CNC mills, plasma, water jet and EDM
We have machine shops that do a lot of maintenance repairs. Weld and re-machine. So there’s still a lot of manual machine work.


I learned centerline gauges in school for frame work.
That turned into mechanical gauges that actually measured a frame.
Now it’s lasers and computer measuring systems.
All are length-width-height

 

Oh man, that's awesome....

 

Those kids have an awesome teacher. Good school system as well, to allow this level of technical education.
Be sure to build a still and run the fermented mol***es through it!

 

We’re close to being in a new facility
Fingers crossed.
Major investment by local corporations and a local foundation with some state and local funds.
Named after the grandfather/founder of a large coal company.

 

Pics from a couple weeks ago

body shop on the far end with the larger covered area.

 

That place is bigger than my whole High School was.

 

My shop, the automotive and the diesel shop have no other cl***rooms above them.
The rest is 2 story with a short 3rd story for mechanical. Mostly air handlers
the building started out as a Fontaine Trailer manufacturing facility. It sat closed a few years than purchased by a foundation to be used as a tech center.
That foundation procured the $$$$$
To be heard around 90 million to complete and outfit.
Both city and county students have access.
The building was stripped to the red iron and a school built in its footprint.

 

Very impressive. The young people in your area have opportunities not readily available in much of the country, I think.

 

We have several tech centers in Alabama. not sure on the total number but it’s decent.
We have just under 20 collision shop cl***es . That’s down several from 10-15 years ago. Only 2 college level ones that I know of now.
We’re hanging in there.

All our county schools have an AG cl*** with a shop.

 

Anthony, know that we are pulling for you and your students. The tech is constantly expanding and the after sale servicing and repair is more challenging than ever. You have shown the students are just as motivated as previous generations.

 

Anthony, Thank you for what you do. I'm a huge advocate of tech programs like this. I feel like young kids these days think they have to go to college to get ahead in life. I think there is great demand for tech trained folks to build and maintain things. And with great demand comes good money.
We have two great tech programs where I live at the local high schools. I support them in any way that I can, and plan to do more as I have time.

 

Yep, I am all in on supporting the trades and what you do Anthony. We get the privilege of sponsoring our local state SkillsUSA welding compe***ion for the second year in a row now. Not everyone needs to go to college to get a degree that they can't even get a decent job with once they rack up lots of student debt.

 

Back of the school.
The long coveted area is an outside space for the automotive, welding, diesel and machine cl***es.

I met with the engineer, booth rep and contractor.
Booth, paint room and a curtain from booth to other side of the shop along with fresh air hoods was discussed. Booth company was told to quote a complete package for those items.
Project guy told me to not be shy in asking questions or for anything needed.
To the bottom right is a row of storm shelters.

 

not me-- i'm going to ride it out in the shop!

 

Automotive on the left. My shop on the right


some tiny air compressors just arrived

fans and doors getting installed

My porch is taking shape
Shop view from the cl***room

Shared area between shops. Drains for indoor detailing
Gl*** doors are planned between shops.

worked out the new booth and mixing room details today. Big ticket items on the way. 4 post with jacks. A 2 post. Both 12k capacity.
About to do a sit down discussion on the rest of the equipment. Fingers crossed on the metal shaping equipment. Was told I could do a night cl***. Hoping we can work that out. Talked with a couple local car guys. They expressed interest in a basic metal cl***. They liked the idea about a paint cl*** focused on vintage car prep.

 

While it's under construction, you need to find your private hideaway inside for after you retire someday. Like the movies about people secretly living in the attic, or under the stairs. Then when everybody goes home, you pop out into a most gorgeous garage, all to yourself.
What I saw in your pics is one day, you'll hate retiring, and giving all that up.
I'm jealous as hell.