Metal Induction

Today we were given a brief introduction to another one of the fine establishments of this college, the metal workshop, which so happens to be next to the wood workshop. Needless to say I would probably be having a ball of I had studied Fine Arts instead, spending my days away in all of these wonderful workshops (I still remembered how much I loved the ceramics workshop last year)... but we know that's never going to happen (HAHA).

Animation wise, this could be another workshop where we will get a chance to create armatures for our stop motions, as well as props and such... also, we can create some jewellery during our free time as gifts for others.

While waiting for the others to arrive, as usual I decided to quickly take some photos of the area (For memory keepsake, I really do want to take as many photos as possible of this college before I graduate, sniff):

Welding Bay

A little past the Welding Bay

Sam on her phone

Jewellery Tools

More on this place later 

This is Leon, our lovely lecturer for this workshop, he is a seasoned material handler as seen from the cut and burns on his hands and broken finger nail from last week, and so he is the man (Or one of them) to go to for you metal, wood and plastic needs. After a quick briefing on safety, the first piece of equipment Leon introduced us to was the metal cutter, which we experienced firsthand to be incredibly noisy.

You will have to use your foot to press down on the large
pedal to cut through your material.

This machine in the far corner is used for engraving/stencilling
and cleaning (I think).

Something like this can be created from it.

It's really pretty despite how hard it is to see here.

This is a mill roll used to shaped plates as well as indent details
on soft malleable surfaces.

This dangerous area is often used when metals need to be heated up and softened for reshaping and decorating. While it is pretty scary to use for first timers, as long as you remember the safety precautions, you should be fine. I do believe my problem was not being able to figure out how hot enough my material is before stopping.

The Blacksmith Area, not the awesome anvil and leather cushion.

Here is the horizontal drilling machine, for drilling holes.

And here is the vertical one.

Protective suits, leather aprons, stuff that will keep you safe
from sparks, flying shards, etc.

More protective stuff, though this helmet is pretty cool as the visor
automatically turns black and protects your sight from bright sparks.

This is one of many welder guns.

Grinders

Oh this is pretty cool, it's a vacuum of sorts that allows
you to make copies of things.

This is pretty much just a bender used for pipes instead
of flat objects.

As shown here.

Chop saw

I remembered using this back in secondary school, you have
to be really careful with where you stand and where
you place your hands when you use this wood cutter.

After all of that, for the rest of the session, we were given the chance to give some of the more basic tools and equipment a try with the scrap metals provided. And so the first thing I did was to make an unnecessary grab for the noise protectors outside the workshop, and some goggles for later on when I started to use the heating area.

This was the first thing I tried.

It really looks like ones of those toys you see babies have.
... As well as to test the intelligence of apes.

And so I made a coin.

We ended up heating up another piece of metal here, I can't remember why I recorded this... I think it was because Leon told me not.

I tried out embossing a couple of times (Unfortunately not seen here), so don't worry, I didn't just make little bowls/coins for the rest of the session... I also got a ring from Sam, she and Becky G made some gorgeous rings, but I could see that they were a real hassle and needed quite a bit of time to get done right.