MMBA Trail Rake

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Originally uploaded by grcc.doneth

This type of rake is used to build mountain bike trails. Now the interesting thing is that these trails are used by hikers, bikers, runners, bird watchers, and…you get the point. Many of us use these trails that were either created by the MMBA or are maintained by the MMBA. The equipment suffers from wear and occasionally someone will get an idea of how to modify a tool so it will work better in the field. This one is a prototype and we will evaluate it to see how it handles double duty as a rake and a hoe. The sharp part was added to break up suborn areas in the trails like old roots or weeds. Students at the college donated time to work on this project.

Blue Collar Jobs in Demand for 2010

Check out this link on Jobs.

Blue Collar Jobs in Demand for 2010 – Careers Articles.

Another Ugly Aluminum Weld

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Originally uploaded by grcc.doneth

So here is another ugly aluminum weld, the shielding gas was turned off. Shielding gas protects the molten weld pool from the impurity’s in the air.

The Last Pizza Party

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Originally uploaded by grcc.doneth

The students on either side of me are the last Job Training students at the Holland facility. We are having pizza to celebrate their graduation from the program.

This is how I spent my weekend

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Originally uploaded by grcc.doneth

This is a photo of a truck trailer that I welded on over the weekend. We added extensions to span the gap between decks, new chain tie downs, and some general maintenance. Click on the photos to see the rest of our work.

Bad Aluminum welds and I don’t mean their behavior!

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Originally uploaded by grcc.doneth
 

Aluminum is not an ancient mystical alloy that cannot be welded, unless you work at the company that produced this!! They obviously do not know what rules apply to welding aluminum. Yes, maybe this won’t fall on our heads but how would you like your vehicle up on something were 90 percent of welds are defective? Click on the photo for more amazing photos. 

Going Green

This is a picture of our recycle bin. We reuse

as much material as possible to reduce expenses

and waste in our classroom.

Ventilation System Upgrade

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Originally uploaded by grcc.doneth

Our ventilation system filters the air, then in the summer, puts warmer air back into the shop. The contractors are here to put in a bypass system so in the summer we can vent the warm, filtered air back out the roof. It should help to keep the heat down during the warmer months.

My kind of garage

Well here is a great website about garages. The link will take you to one that is over the top and just plain cool. While I doubt that I would ever build such a thing, it is neat to see another person’s creativity. Follow the link for a world class garage. http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12234

Please don’t dismiss this as a website for the rich and famous, there are many posts on here about doing projects on a tight budget and how to set up small spaces for maximum benefit.

Monster truck welds.

Click on the link to see why good welds would matter to this driver.