bit.ly – click link for more auto welding tips BCC students demonstrate how to replace a shielding gas cylinder and wire on a MIG Welding Machine
Repairing and Painting an S-10 Pick-Up Paint/Blend
Donnie-Smith.com BCC Students are repairing, painting and blending on a s-10 pick-up. Black is normally an easy color to match, but were practicing blending methods. On this job we performed a traditional blend on the adjacent panel and a traditional blend within a panel on the right front fender.
Welding in Progress at BCC
Donnie-Smith.com Students learning how to weld at Butler Community College Collision Repair program.
The Last Day Of Summer
New School Year
This is it, teacher meetings all week starting tomorrow and students show up on the 17th. I guess we can officially say that the summer is over and the new school year begins. We will be cranking out new blogs about what we’re up to in the classroom and in the lab. Jon, a returning student already committed to be a blogger for us. Look forward to blogs from Jon as we get this school year started. Classes are full and it looks like we are off to a good start.
Wichita ASA Chapter
I encourage anyone in the collision industry to become part of the new Collision Repair ASA Chapter in Wichita. If you didn’t make it to the meeting on Tuesday 8/3/09, you missed out. We had a guest speaker, Tony Molla, who gave a presentation to our chapter. He is the Vice President of Communications of Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). How many times do we have people of is caliber right here in Wichita, Kansas. Tony come to ASE with many years in the auto related industry. He shared with us that he was the Chief Editor of Auto Body Repair News (ABRN), before joining the team at ASE. ABRN is one of the largest publications for the collision repair industry.
Tony expressed why technicians should be ASE certified. With proof of studies, he showed us that ASE Certified Technicians: earned more income, stayed at their jobs longer, and many other reasons to be ASE certified. ASE Certified Shops also give customers the peace of mind that the technicians employed at the shops are qualified to work on their vehicles. If you were going to have a heart transplant, I’m sure that you would not go to the lowest bidder. You’d probably want the most qualified doctor to perform the operation. Well, if your car is not repaired properly, it could put you, your entire family and others at risk. Therefore, I believe the same amount or even more consideration should be taken when having your car repaired.
I appreciate Tony taking the time to visit us here in Kansas. I liked what Tony said about the importance of training. He said, “The only thing worse then investing money in training and the employee leaving, is not investing in an employee that stays. ” With today’s high-tech vehicles ongoing training is a must. When looking for a job, be sure to look for a shop that offers training.
What To Look For
If you’re a a customer looking for a shop to have your car repaired or a new technician looking for a shop to work at, here are a few of the things you want to look for.
Is The Shop:
- ASE Blue Seal of Excellence
- I-Car Gold Class
- ASA
- ASA of Missouri/Kansas
All of these affiliations are signs that the business is concerned about training their employees and producing quality work for the customer.
New Website and Social Network
I just finished working on a new website. In fact, it still needs to be tweaked a little. I guess you’re never really finished with a website. I have several things going on and it made sense for me to put it all together on one site at DonnieSmith.org Once there, click on the collision repair link to find this blog, our videos and many other resources and groups. There are several different collision repair social networks listed, but I have found one to be the best fit for my students and myself. The CollisionHub.com We have a lot of support from I-CAR, 3M, and many others willing to offer us their assistance to producing champions in the collision industry. We plan to do a few webinars with the students to take collision repair to the next level. It’s going to be an exciting year!
Buckle your seat belts and get ready for a new exciting year at Butler Community College.
Mustang Project – Part 3 – Remove Front Fenders
Donnie-smith.com The front end parts were already removed when we bought the car. I will have to find and replace those parts when we start putting the car back together. Next, we removed the front fenders. As we mention in the video, one of the most important steps is keeping your hardware and parts organized. Whether you are going to have a car tore apart for a few weeks or a few years, this will make the reinstallation much easier. One way to do this is to get some zip lock bags and label one for each panel that you remove. Put all the hardware and small parts into the bag and label the bag accordingly. Another way is to screw the bolts back into the bolt hole after the part has been removed. This work well, but may get in the way when working or painting the parts. Whatever method you choose, just make sure everything will be easy to lay out and put back together when the time comes. You may have to remove adjacent parts to get to the part you are wanting to remove. On the mustang, we had to remove the rocker panel molding, to give us full access to the fender. Once the molding was removed, we removed the right front fender by using a 1 socket, 1/2 wrench, phillips screw driver, and the bags and marker to properly store the hardware. Tips: Some of my students have been confused which is the right side and the left side of the vehicle. The way you determine which side is which is to sit in the vehicle. When sitting in the car, youll notice your right hand is your …