9th May 2013
To kick this fortnight off I was assembling a countershaft transmission (called a countershaft transmission because the “clutch” shafts within the transmission spin opposite one another, known as counter rotating).
26th April 2013
On returning to work I was thrown into the deep end. A drop box from a dump truck had failed and a field service technician had already disassembled the component and found the problem. It was now up to me to rebuild it. This was an easy task as I have learned from great mentors.
28th March 2013
Once we managed to untangle the hydraulic hoses and wiring harnesses it was time to assemble the two halves of the machine. Assembling the vertical hitch (the hitch is made up of two vertical pins and their respective bores – this allows the rear half of the machine to pivot or “articulate” in relation to the front) takes a lot of patience, attention to detail and teamwork.
7th March 2013
Upon arriving at work on Monday everything seemed business as usual. Machines needed fixing and more where arriving each day, however I would have nothing to do with this; because for the next 3 days I was to attend an intensive diagnostic training course (I was quite excited, diagnostics is by far my favorite thing to do!). The course involved identifying, fixing and testing all error codes in a few training machines…
19th February 2013
This fortnight began with a huge rush to pack my bags and to get to the airport, I was going on a holiday! After many months of planning and saving (or probably more accurately, an attempt to save) I was on my way to the beautiful Whitsundays for two weeks. Although MIGAS gives us ample annual leave, and my host company is more than happy to let me take it, I often choose not to take it because I enjoy what I do. I don’t often find myself needing a holiday, however this one was a trip that I didn’t want to miss.
8th February 2013
Once I started to feel better I got given my first real challenge: we received delivery of a 40 tonne dump truck that needed a part chassis rebuild. This was quite difficult and different because I had never seen it done before. We had to replace three rubber elements on the suspension system which involved separating each axle from the truck’s chassis, replacing the elements and then re-attaching the axles to the machine. We achieved this with a range of heavy lifting tools, hydraulic jacks and muscle, and after three days of heavy, hard work we achieved our goal.
25th January 2013
An undercarriage rebuild on an excavator involves the replacement of most, if not all, major components in the track system. In this case we had to replace the chains, drive sprockets and track idler springs (due to the urgency of this job we couldn’t replace the track rollers) within a time limit of three days. The job was going very smoothly until we realised that we couldn’t remove the track plates due to terrible corrosion…
10th January 2013
Introducing Matt – a MIGAS diesel fitting apprentice who will be writing a “diary entry” every fortnight, detailing the ins and out of his life as an apprentice.
31st July 2012
Entry 5, Josh (Diary of an Apprentice) – As you would expect, being an apprentice means that you take instruction from just about everyone at one point or another, but this can cause friction between tradesmen, and other staff, when these instructions clash. Recently it was brought to my attention that I was letting these clashes get out of hand, causing, amongst other things, unacceptable delays in urgent jobs.
17th July 2012
Entry 4, Josh (Diary of an Apprentice) – The apprenticeship I am undertaking is more than just the nuts and bolts of the trade, but rather studies in the smooth running of the workplace with a specific focus on the trade.
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