My Career by the years
MY CAREER AS A MECHANICAL MAINTENANCE ENGINEER (**Please scroll down to view all pics.**)
This first collection of pictures is from approx. 29 years ago when I first came to SA and was employed at Shell Bitumen which was (renamed) Spraypave and then Pioneer Road Services. This company still exists today and trades as Fulton Hogan.
I initially started here as a Mechanical Field Fitter, following the road building crews all over the State for anything from 2 days away to 3 months in the remote outback, including up in the Territory, maintaining & carrying out all mechanical & structural repairs as necessary on all the trucks, plant and equipment so as to keep the 'show on the road' as they say.
These years spent in the outback were a pivotal time in my career. Being removed / so far away from all forms of support, forces you to think outside the box, improvise, work practically & logically and effect repairs that you would perhaps not encounter in a traditional workshop environment. (For example: One of our aggregate loaders sheared the main shaft in the gearbox around 4pm in the middle of a stockpile 65 K's East of Kimba which resulted in me having to remove the gearbox where the truck broke down. This particular day was 46 degrees & the truck stopped in 6 inches of bulldust.....you can just imagine the "pleasantness" of removing a gearbox in this environment !- I did achieve success though by working throughout the night & had the truck up & running by 9am the next morning). I relished this time as a great opportunity and was eventually promoted and moved back into the workshop based back in town. It was also around this time (The early 90's) that I returned to night (Trade) school to gain my second trade qualifications in Hydraulics & pneumatics so as to facilitate my growing interest in this field.
The next group of pics. are from my time at Pavequip. This company worked in close conjunction with Air-Ride Transport Engineers.
We redesigned the first hydrostatic road roller that I rebuilt whilst at Shell Bitumen and it was a great success. Along with this, we also redesigned the aggregate loader to incorporate a (Malco) screen deck in place of the industry standard trommel.
The last group of pics highlight some of my interesting & challenging tasks whilst I was self employed. Some of these pics are from my time at MSP Group (Fastfab Steel) where I reveled in the challenge of all their building, plant & equipment mechanical repairs, maintenance & upkeep inc. new fabrications.
