|
Paint Shop
Freshmen got a lot of practice using a new drywall room the carpenters built for them. The former practice room was gutted and is in the process of being put back together.
Freshmen had safety lessons for the use of ladders, scaffolding, and the manlift, and also learned all aspects of painting, from the use of different brushes to surface preparation.
Painters did a great deal of painting around campus. They painted the lobby of Rowan Hall, preparing it for the ceremony dedicating the building’ s new name, and painted the ceiling of Shrigley library, and they painted the entire Longstreth apartment, including ceilings, walls, and trim.
In the Restall Sports Center, they painted the bleachers and the basketball lockers the new school blue; they painted the living room of a campus residence; at the power plant, which is an on-going project, they painted the new chem room; and they painted the athletic field for football and soccer games, one lacrosse game, and intramurals.
Four students competed in SkillsUSA in the shop and were judged by three painters from different paint stores. Collin Henry 1W8 came in first, Stefan Langely 1W7 second, Jacob Lapp 1W8 third, Vinny Grider 1W8 fourth.
Field trips included the Philadelphia Shipyard, where they saw all stages of the ship building process, blasting and painting in progress, learned about the coatings technology used on ships, and saw how ships are joined.
Seniors visited the Local 21 Union Hall of the Allied Crafts and Painters Union in Northeast Philadelphia and freshmen visited three paint stores: Sherwin-Williamson in Woodlyn, Pittsburgh Paints in Springfield, and Benjamin Moore in Media.
Machine Shop
Machine tool technology seniors have been getting extra experience on CNC lathes thanks to the shop’ s new Haas CNC lathe ST10 with a slant turn 10 inch. Students had been getting by with just two CNC lathes.
Carmen Martella, director of machine tool technology, said“ We have waited a long time for this addition to our shop and it is helping the seniors immensely in their CNC work. We are very happy to have it.”
The shop also got a new horizontal band saw which is helping out a lot.
Freshmen went from learning hand skills to learning machine skills. They also learned how to create geometry with a file, how to create cylindrical parts for their projects, and how to safely operate machine tools.
Juniors worked on their parallel
|
clamp and tap wrench projects, and had four weeks of welding.
Seniors worked on their precision vise projects, learned CNC programming, and took turns serving as shop foreman.
All three classes are preparing for the fabrication of a skeleton clock spring semester, a clock in which all the parts are visible. The clock will be 42 inches long and 12 inches wide and will be made of brass, aluminum, and Teflont.
Masonry Shop
Freshmen worked on their basic block projects, starting with only a few blocks and working their way up to as many as 65. Some advanced to laying brick.
Juniors worked on such brick projects as brick veneer, brick piers, and arches, and worked on block projects.
Seniors worked on brick piers and arches, brick veneer, and some worked on stone walls. They also completed many campus work orders, including putting in glass blocks in the rear room of the dining room.
Masons built the elevator shaft for Watson dorm, in the power plant they tiled the floor of the control room, and they put in concrete steps in the rear of Byers Hall.
Off campus projects included filling empty window openings with block at Media Archery and extending the rest room and storage locker at the Ridley Park Little League field.
All of the seniors and juniors were required to participate in the SkillsUSA competition in the shop and several freshmen volunteered to participate. Ronald Vann 1W7 came in first, Daniel Dickinson 1W7 second, and Jon Carnes 1W3 third.
Carpentry Shop
Carpenters got off to a fast start fall semester, building a storage bin that has the appearance of a house in the rear of the shop for building materials.
They also made several changes to make the shop space more efficient, such as reorganizing the lumber supply and tool room.
Freshmen worked on their hand projects and did two projects that are similar to hand projects using stationary shop power tools. The purpose of this was to show the students the difference between the two approaches and to see that sometimes hand tools are better.
Juniors got a great deal of framing experience while building seven mini houses in the shop. Each house contains floors, walls, and roofs.
Seniors worked on their stair projects, which were a little different this year. One is a traditional spiral staircase that leads to a storage area above the classroom. The other is an abstract staircase
|
with a helical design and no center support.
In the back of the shop they removed the utility steps and replaced them with more decorative finished oak steps.
The shop completed numerous work orders and campus maintenance jobs, including installing several exterior dormitory doors and helping to install the new testing lab in the power plant, where they framed walls, put in a new floor, put in a new drop ceiling, installed several doors, and put in new steps.
They also helped out a little at the construction of Watson dormitory as laborers.
Using composite material, they rebuilt the deck of a campus residence and the benches outside of the Strine Learning Center, did several drywall patchwork projects on campus, built a sign post for the manger scene in the chapel, built two trophy cases for the Restall Sports Center, and refurbished a vacant campus residence.
Seven carpenters competed in the local SkillsUSA competition in the shop, constructing a scaled down house with two doors, two windows, and a hip roof. Ian Steveline 1W7 came in first, Scott Pearce 1W8 second, and Dayquawn Copeland 1W7 third.
Power Plant
The Power Plant Technology Program has been officially named the Lee Rowan School of Power Plant Technology in honor of Lee Rowan, Henry Rowan’ s wife, who has offered generous support to the program. A sign proclaiming the new name will be installed this spring.
The fuels and water lab was completed and provides for the testing of different types of fuel for heating value and advanced testing of the boiler water. It contains tables, benches, and cabinets, as well as a new stairs, and three new doors. The project started last summer under the supervision of Tom Zane, power plant assistant, and was completed by carpentry students and painted by paint and coating technology students.
Students helped install 372 solar panels on the roof of the Restall Sports Center. The panels generate 92 kW of power, saving on Williamson’ s fuel bills, and providing students with additional education.
The boiler room catwalks were completed, with stairs that connect all of the platforms, making it possible to walk to any section of the upper or lower level stack without climbing ladders.
A blow down and drain line were added to the kitchen boiler and masonry students put in a new tile floor in the control room.
The instrumentation group put in a
|
digital and analog display on the control room screens. The deaerator level is now displayed along with the Omlar tank level and Shark meter readings.
Juniors helped with maintenance on the boiler room equipment, including boiler work and inspection, and getting the steam turbine ready for winter.
They cleaned the strainer on the steam lines throughout the campus as well as the fuel oil strainers in the boiler room.
Several valves were replaced and repair work was done on the condensate receiver tank and pumps at the pump house at the end of Cottage Row.
Freshmen began learning boiler operations and performed tasks on shift, including hourly readings, boiler chem tests, flue gas analysis, and cleaning details.
They worked hard to complete their third class qualifications and walked down all the systems in the power plant and tunnels, including steam, condensate / feedwater, natural gas, and fuel oil.
All students have been learning how to start the Emergency Standby Generator and seniors developed a video to teach students how to parallel this unit to the campus electrical grid.
Field trips included seniors visiting Liberty Electric Generating Station in Eddystone where they saw a combustion turbine disassembled and were told the parent company, Dynergy Inc., hopes to use Williamson as its source for new operators.
Horticulture
During the summer, juniors took a field trip to the Pennsylvania Landscape Group in Harrisburg, a high end home landscaping company. Dave Foresman, a Horticulture PAC member and owner of Green Industry Consulting, arranged the trip and went with them.
The seniors worked summer internships in the field, some of which will lead to full-time employment.
Summer internships of the juniors included Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles; Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles; Peoples Natural Gas Field, home the minor league baseball team, the Altoona Curve; Marion Golf Club; and Colonial Williamsburg.
Fall semester students did a significantly larger amount of campus care and upgrading than in the past. They did much planting, removed truck loads of debris, and cleaned up the area around the Auxiliary’ s building.
Fall semester community service projects included Hedgerow Theater, where students cleared a wooded lot of brush and did some pruning, and two trips to Tyler Arboretum, where they pruned azaleas.
|