This week saw us getting on our "hand and knee" to do our lofting drawing on the lofting table at the school. For me personally, this is the first experience at drawing long pencil lines according to specifications i.e. the table of offsets. New terms learned this week are Loaded water line (LWL), sheer/deckline, Butt 100, 250 and 150 lines, WL -60, Canoe body (which I previous associated with the hull of my kayak/Canoe), ghost line and Chine line. Strange terms and jargons at first hearing and I got used to them after the second and third day.
Learning to read from the table of offsets is another new learning experience. I have seen these table before I enrolled into this course from my internet search for free design of kayaks. However after this week, this table has more refined meaning and perspective to understanding and "seeing" on a two dimension scale how the boat "looks" like.
Other learning experiences from this week of coursework are:
1) Accuracy is critical and paramount in drawing the lines - even the sharpness of the pencil makes a difference in the final accuracy.as the effects of an earlier "error" gets compounded as I draw more lines especially at the points of intersection of lines.
2) My eyesight is a hindrance to exact pinpointing the measurements both for drawing the point of the various lines and nailing. Age is definitely catching with me. I used to have 6/6 eyesight.
3) Trying to visualise the "bump" of the Butt 250 line is a challenge on a two dimension scale but nevertheless can be done.
4) I have no technical training background (closest I got to this was technical building drawings for a correspondence course for the RICS course with the University of Reading back in 1978) and drawing technical lines in an exact scale was more than "a fresh breadth of air". Imagine the tasks of drawing a big boat of more than 15 metres?
Questions I have are:
1) How are the dimensions of the various stations obtained? That is how do one calculated or decide on them? I suspect the length and shape of the boat are critical in these.
2) How is the LWL calculated? Why are the Chine(s) located where they are? Are the dimensions/calculations the same for different hull size and design eg. double hull in a catamaran?
These questions will drive my further studies.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Third week at UNITEC - Mistake or learning experience?
First lesson learned this week
The second project for the class was the oil stone box which was completed in this week. This project was a valuable lesson for me as I learned that powered hand tools have a "life of it own" if I do not work slowly and with patience. The routing literally "runs" off when I was using it to take out wood from the inside of the oil stone box; the part where the oil stone is supposed to rest in. My classmate "Tiger" put a remark on the score sheet that "we learn from our mistakes" in his peer assessment of my works. Rightly said - this mistake is a valuable learning experience for me. I could apply my former career learning principles of Action Learning into this experience - to realise the principles of better control of the wood working powered machines or hand tools next time - I have to think through the process and exercise patience and work slower.
Second lesson learned
"Sharpening the saw" - (Stephen Covey) - planer and correct use and setting.
It has been a steep learning curve for me in the practical aspects of this course. My previous career was mainly office works and dealing with people (Human Resources). Even though the principles of management of skills were the same such as Stephen Covey" Seven principles which I had learned years back - these principles come alive during the practical lessons in CAT at UNITEC. The proper setting of the planer and the sharpening of the iron make the task of planing very light and easier.
I have also found the brief introduction to boat lines very interesting in understanding why and how boats are built. I am looking forward to more insight study of these design aspects of boat especially the AUTOCAD design
The second project for the class was the oil stone box which was completed in this week. This project was a valuable lesson for me as I learned that powered hand tools have a "life of it own" if I do not work slowly and with patience. The routing literally "runs" off when I was using it to take out wood from the inside of the oil stone box; the part where the oil stone is supposed to rest in. My classmate "Tiger" put a remark on the score sheet that "we learn from our mistakes" in his peer assessment of my works. Rightly said - this mistake is a valuable learning experience for me. I could apply my former career learning principles of Action Learning into this experience - to realise the principles of better control of the wood working powered machines or hand tools next time - I have to think through the process and exercise patience and work slower.
Second lesson learned
"Sharpening the saw" - (Stephen Covey) - planer and correct use and setting.
It has been a steep learning curve for me in the practical aspects of this course. My previous career was mainly office works and dealing with people (Human Resources). Even though the principles of management of skills were the same such as Stephen Covey" Seven principles which I had learned years back - these principles come alive during the practical lessons in CAT at UNITEC. The proper setting of the planer and the sharpening of the iron make the task of planing very light and easier.
I have also found the brief introduction to boat lines very interesting in understanding why and how boats are built. I am looking forward to more insight study of these design aspects of boat especially the AUTOCAD design
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
UNITEC second week
My second week at UNITEC Boat Building CAT course has been different from all my previous learning experiences. There are several learning principles I took away from this week in the actual construction of the tool box. Simple as it looks, the tool box construction was an eye opener and in many ways present new learnings and insights into my learning journey.
Having worked for American companies for most part of my life, I am more inclined to taking action based on preliminary planning and then take corrective action as the plan progress or materialise. This approach of "shoot and then aim" is not useful here as I found to be detrimental to my construction of my tool box - the outcome is that my tool box base was not properly aligned and the consequence of this was "transfered" to the sides of the box. Therefore the first learning I have drawn from this it that in practical work, especially in a static non changing environment such as outcome for the tool box, I need to have more detailed planning and an overview of the the final product before I started working in it. Thus having "an end (detailed) in mind" become more evident for me to add to the "big picture" - every detail of the final product in my mind.
Second learning for me is that I need to develop more patience in practical work. Slow down and think through each step first before driving the nail in. Mistakes are costly - especially if the final product is a water tight boat which could make a difference between life or death. Definitely my final tool box is not "seaworthy" as there are gaps at the joints. Precision is critical and vital for a water tight vessel.
Thirdly - in term of the processes, a proper set up for the work at hand is critical. Without a proper setup, the planning and joining of the parts of the box became very difficult. Securing the wood or ply to the bench to hold it is vital before starting work. Safety issue is also involved as a slip could cause accidents.
Fourthly - there is a place for proper tool for the job/task at hand. I try to plan off more than 3 mm off the plywood (after Brett had left for his meeting and I could not use the machine to dock off the excess). It was hard work until I decided to get supervisory presence at the table saw for cutting the sides of the box to size.The plywood are very difficult to plane as it is cross grained and the ends got chipped off in the process. Maybe another reason is that my planner is new and I am new to using it. So I need to develop skills in using my tools. This is my first time using such carpentry tools. I do DIY jobs around the house but mostly with hammer and other hardware tools but not with carpentry tools.
Fifthly - I need to understand the characteristics of different materials used. Though both are wood, the plywood behave differently from the pine wood. In boat building, there are also non wood materials commonly used in the construction such as composites and aluminium. Thus some research and knowledge into the different material characteristics and .behaviour are essential in my learning journey into boat building.
In summary, this second week is a start of my "relearning" away from my background and training. I have to switch from a "management mindset" to a trademan mindset. Looking into details and executing them rather than overseeing the management of the work i.e.very much more hand-on.
Having worked for American companies for most part of my life, I am more inclined to taking action based on preliminary planning and then take corrective action as the plan progress or materialise. This approach of "shoot and then aim" is not useful here as I found to be detrimental to my construction of my tool box - the outcome is that my tool box base was not properly aligned and the consequence of this was "transfered" to the sides of the box. Therefore the first learning I have drawn from this it that in practical work, especially in a static non changing environment such as outcome for the tool box, I need to have more detailed planning and an overview of the the final product before I started working in it. Thus having "an end (detailed) in mind" become more evident for me to add to the "big picture" - every detail of the final product in my mind.
Second learning for me is that I need to develop more patience in practical work. Slow down and think through each step first before driving the nail in. Mistakes are costly - especially if the final product is a water tight boat which could make a difference between life or death. Definitely my final tool box is not "seaworthy" as there are gaps at the joints. Precision is critical and vital for a water tight vessel.
Thirdly - in term of the processes, a proper set up for the work at hand is critical. Without a proper setup, the planning and joining of the parts of the box became very difficult. Securing the wood or ply to the bench to hold it is vital before starting work. Safety issue is also involved as a slip could cause accidents.
Fourthly - there is a place for proper tool for the job/task at hand. I try to plan off more than 3 mm off the plywood (after Brett had left for his meeting and I could not use the machine to dock off the excess). It was hard work until I decided to get supervisory presence at the table saw for cutting the sides of the box to size.The plywood are very difficult to plane as it is cross grained and the ends got chipped off in the process. Maybe another reason is that my planner is new and I am new to using it. So I need to develop skills in using my tools. This is my first time using such carpentry tools. I do DIY jobs around the house but mostly with hammer and other hardware tools but not with carpentry tools.
Fifthly - I need to understand the characteristics of different materials used. Though both are wood, the plywood behave differently from the pine wood. In boat building, there are also non wood materials commonly used in the construction such as composites and aluminium. Thus some research and knowledge into the different material characteristics and .behaviour are essential in my learning journey into boat building.
In summary, this second week is a start of my "relearning" away from my background and training. I have to switch from a "management mindset" to a trademan mindset. Looking into details and executing them rather than overseeing the management of the work i.e.very much more hand-on.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
back to formal schooling after a long break
After a break of more than a quarter of a century, I start formal schooling with UNITEC CAT Boat Building on the 7th March. Some adjustment to sitting in class in a formal school setting, which is very different from the seminars and training program back in the corporate days. Also for a change, I am a student and not a tutor or lecturer standing in front of the class - receiving rather than giving out for a change. Another change is the subject matter - non business related.
First day was hectic with the traffic jam along Mt. Albert Road - not used to driving during the morning peak hours. It took me a good half an hour just to move from Sandringham junction of Mt. Albert Road to UNITEC, which would normally take at most 15 minutes.
Lot of new jargons and terms in the boat building trade were presented. So learning quite a fair bit of new information even on the first day. Second day (Tuesday) - getting into drawings which is completely new to me. Needs to use visualisation to understand the drawing - not something I do on a regular basis. Workshop session in the afternoon was another new learning. Third day afternoon was another practical session which is completely new to my learning style. Throughout my career and life so far, I am using more conceptual/thinking style of learning. Visual and practical based learning is new to me though I preferred the latter. Thus I do not find the latter too overwhelming for a start. I am quite a DIY person at home too though my education and training were more in the humanistic areas like HR, training and counselling.
In summary coming from a HR and Training background, this week is quite a change for me. Nevertheless I look forward to more practical based learning which I am more inclined toward (even in my corporate training days, I used lot of experiential learning methodology).
First day was hectic with the traffic jam along Mt. Albert Road - not used to driving during the morning peak hours. It took me a good half an hour just to move from Sandringham junction of Mt. Albert Road to UNITEC, which would normally take at most 15 minutes.
Lot of new jargons and terms in the boat building trade were presented. So learning quite a fair bit of new information even on the first day. Second day (Tuesday) - getting into drawings which is completely new to me. Needs to use visualisation to understand the drawing - not something I do on a regular basis. Workshop session in the afternoon was another new learning. Third day afternoon was another practical session which is completely new to my learning style. Throughout my career and life so far, I am using more conceptual/thinking style of learning. Visual and practical based learning is new to me though I preferred the latter. Thus I do not find the latter too overwhelming for a start. I am quite a DIY person at home too though my education and training were more in the humanistic areas like HR, training and counselling.
In summary coming from a HR and Training background, this week is quite a change for me. Nevertheless I look forward to more practical based learning which I am more inclined toward (even in my corporate training days, I used lot of experiential learning methodology).
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