What I've learned in Mechanical Shop for 3 years..

Ever since I was a kid, I was the type of girl who would rather cook than repair a chair using hammer and nails. I wasn't interested in screwdrivers, files, sandpapers, metal polish and the likes. Never in my wildest dreams did it occur that one day, I'll use them.

During my first year in college, we did so many projects because we had a rotation in different shops. I first learned how to do Forging. It is a process which uses heat and force to shape a metal. I've produced a chisel by placing the metal on a furnace, striking it with a mallet after it had turned "cherry-red". We used the grinder to sharpen the chisel's edge, and then scrubbed it with sandpapers and metal polish to remove the abrasions and little holes. 

After we're done in the Mechanical Shop, we were transferred to the Automotive Shop where we made a toolbox out of sheet metal. We were introduced to the different kinds of snips used to cut a sheet metal, the different tools like the scriber, the punch and etc. I learned how to measure using fractions of an inch.

Our third stop is the Civil or the Foundry Shop. Here, we performed casting. Casting is the process wherein a molten metal is poured into a mold. The molten metal will solidify into the desired shape. We used lead as the metal for our project.

The Powerplant Shop is where we tackled about welding. Welding is the process of joining two metals by melting them. I have experienced how to actually weld using scrap metals. We also discussed about the different types of electodes and welding processes. This is the shop where I enjoyed so much.

(Left to Right) Forging. Sheet Metal. Casting. Welding.

The second semester of my first year is the time where I first used a Lathe Machine. It a machine that rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform different operations. Our Professor taught us how to set it up, how to trouble shoot and to make it work. Our first project using the lathe machine is the gear clock.We cut the teeth of the gear using a saw. Manually. (It was really hard, you know.) After cutting it with a saw, we used a file to remove the excess metals on the edges. We also used a mallet to shape the metal that will serve as the holder of our clock. And for the base, we machined it using the lathe.

The canon and the candleholder our the projects that we accomplished during our second year. We applied the tapering, turning, facing and drilling. I also had the chance to use the Milling Machine and the Turret Lathe Machine. Milling machine uses a rotating tool to cut the metal while the Turret Lathe is used for repetitive production.

Turret Lathe, The Milling Machine and the Lathe Machine.

My third year as a mechanical student is the hardest of all. We tackled about Robotics and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machine. The CNC is a machine that requires no human effort. The operator will just enter a set of programs to make it run. It can be a CNC Lathe or CNC Milling. Its programming is not easy, too. I learned how to use the G codes and the M codes. The G codes are used for controlling the actual tool movement while the M codes are used to set up the CNC prior to machining.

The CNC Machine.

Well,I hope that I can share all that I've learned with my students in the near future. I know that I still have to strive hard to give them the knowledge that they deserve. Thanks for reading!