The Clackamas print., March 07, 2018, Page 3, Image 3

Bridge project brightens welders’ future
STOFiY A N D PHOTO BY JE AN ETTE W RIG HT
THE CLACKAMAS PRINT
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A s the restoration and re-develop m en t o f Clackam as
Com m unity College’ s Environm ental Learning Center
(ELC) n ea rs an e n d , C C C stu d e n ts are giv e n th e
opportunity to n ot only participate, but also construct
som e o f the new fixtures.
Seven new bridges w ill be in stalled over th e new
lagoon at the ELC as part o f the planned restoration,
and M att Franke and Curtis R einholdt, two students
from G CG ’ s w elding classes, are helping build th em .
Franke and Reinholdt are both nearly done completing
degrees in W elding Technology.
B ruce M u llig a n , a C C C w e ld in g in stru c to r, w as
approached by Bob Cochran, C C C ’ s Dean o f Cam pus
Services, w ith the project, to provide an opportunity
for students to fu lfill a graduation requirem ent.
88 hours o f C oop erative W ork Experien ce (CW E)
is required for g rad u a tio n , and th a t can be a hu ge
hindrance to students looking to complete their degree,
M ulligan said.
M ulligan wais a project manager, steel fabricator and
steel inspector for m any years, w hich gives him the
perfect perspective on overseeing projects like th is.
“ Bruce probably has more w elding knowledge th an
I th in k I w ill ever be able to put in m y head, h e ’ s like
and encyclopedia,” R einholdt said.
To w ork o n th is p ro je ct, th e stu d en ts needed to
already have state-approved w elding certificates, so
th at narrowed the pool o f possible participants, but
M ulligan didn’ t have a problem choosing.
“ I ju st chose two people and approached th em and
offered th em a special deal for their Fabrication Level
3 clas^,” M ulligan said;
Norm ally, students in the level 3 class would have
to design a project th em selves, get it approved, and
p rovidethe m aterials them selves. On th is project, all
they have to do it the actual work.
“ A ll they have to do is com e in here and weld [the
bridges], so it was a great deal for th em . Plus, th ey’re
g e ttin g m a ssiv e a m o u n ts o f e x p erien ce o n a real
industrial jo b ,” M ulligan said.
M u llig a n con tacted a steel fa b ricatio n co m p a n y,
iFou ght & Com pany In c., to provide the steel.
“ This is kind o f unusual for th em , th ey usually do
the w hole jo b , and th ey even do th e in sta lla tio n s,”
M ulligan said. “ But they were w illing to work w ith us,
because it was going to help students o u t.”
Franke and R einholdt are not only getting practice
w o rking on a real p roject, b ut also practical w o rk -
environm ent learning.
A professional inspector from Mayes Testing came to
the-cl<ss and talked for an hour about w hat inspecting
is like. The bridge parts are receiving inspections along
the developm ent process, as w ell.
The current progress o f thè project w as inspected
la s t W ednesday, and even th ough th ey d id n ’ t pass,
Reinholdt is not discouraged.
Matt Franke, a welding instructor, works on a project on February 28.
Clackamas Print
ttie c la c k a m a s p rin t.n e t
“ [The inspector is] d efinitely being a little b it more
nitpicky on certain th in g s ,” R einholdt said, “ but this
being the first real-w orld project w e’ve handled, we
were kinda expecting some m ishaps and some defects,
so w e’d have to go back and correct.”
W eld ing sheets o f m etal together is just-one part
o f the project. The students also have to create som e
o f the tools needed to fit the pieces o f m etal together
before w elding.
15-20 hours have already been sp e n to li the bridges
by Franke and R einholdt, M ulligan said.
Reinholdt and Franke are both very excited to see
the project unfold.
“ You kinda see it come together form just a big hunk
o f steel, to once it has all the clips on i t .. .and then once
it gets all bolted together it’ ll actually be a bridge, not
ju st w elding pieces o f m etal together and throw ing
th em in thè scrap b in ,” Franke said.
The project itself provides good practical experience,
w o rkin g fro m b lu ep rin ts and m a k in g sure all th e
m easurem ents are correct.
“ It’ s a real-w orld sim ulatio n ,” Reinholdt said. “ It’ s
w hat you’ re gonna get w hen you*go out in the- field,
you get to a shop som ew here, and y ’ know , your boss
hands you the blueprints and goes ‘ all right, go ahead
and build th is, and build it to w hat the blueprint says’ .
It’ s a really great h a n d s-o n experience for m e .”
The bridges are m ade o f C o r -te n ste e l, a sp ecial
weathering steel made to last for a long tim e. The steel
rusts to a certain p oint, and th en the erosion stops.
This cuts down on upkeep issues.
“ Instead o f painting th em , and hayin g to do, like,
ev ery -fiv e-year m aintenance on p ain t, we decided to
go w ith th e more expensive steel and ju st put ‘ em up
and they should be there 50-100 years without com ing
down due to ru st,” M ulligan said.
H opefully the bridges w ill last a w hile and get lots
o f public use.
“ W h e n Bruce first b rough t it up to m e , th e first
thought th at ran through m y head was ‘wow, th a t’ s
g on n a be a bridge th a t’ s up there ‘ til th ey literally
tear th at school d o w n ,” R einh oldt said. “ I th ough t
th at it was pretty frik k in ’ cool to th in k about, th at all
m y friends, and all m y fam ily and stu ff are gonna be
able to see and w alk across som ething th at I helped
construct from ju st à bunch o f random m etal p arts.”
P resen tin g an op p ortunity for stud ents to thrive
w hile helping other students and the college arè m ain
benefits o f the project.
. “ It’ s lot more fu n to do [the project] th an ju st kinda
the sam e repetitive s tu ff you do to learn the sk ill, ‘ til
fin ally you get to break out and use it in a real-w orld
setting, other than just sitting in a little booth, welding
Over ahd over and over and over, you get to move around
and adapt to the situ atio n,” Franke said. “ Experience
beats knowledge any d ay .”
The reconstruction o f the Environm eptal Learning
Center is slated to fin ish th is spring. |
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