The Workshop

 The Casey workshop is the central hub for all tradework conducted on station. This includes plumbing, electrical, carpentry, mechanical and general trades. General trades includes us two boilermakers who are currently on station.Each trade group has their own workshop section where they repair, manufacture and modify equipment for the station. The mechanical section is of course the largest section as it needs to accommodate machinery such as the "Haggs" excavators, loaders and trucks. The mechanical section has an overhead crane which traverses the length of the shop. The mechanics have a waste oil and fuel management system and exhaust gases vent. The carpentry and plumbers sections are the next biggest as they tend to manufacture items of size for the station. The carpenters have the usual stuff like a breakdown saw bench, linnisher, radial  arm saw and a myriad of battery operated hand tools. The plumbers have a sheet metal roller, pan break folder and a guillotine. Included in the plumbers section is a spot welder and brazing equipment. They also have a huge range of spares for the stations plumbing.  The electrical and  boilermaking

sections are relatively small, in particular the boilermakers section. It really only allows for the repairs and manufacture of small items. For larger jobs such as the repairs to fire escape ladder wells and excavator buckets, we have to invade the mechanical section. This usually works out okay, but space is tight. We have the gear to weld aluminium, Stainless steel, carbon steels, and alloy steels. We have mig,tig and stick welding machines plus a plasma cutter and of course the ever popular acetylene oxy set. Although access to all the tools is via the tradies, we have had the opportunity to give welding lessons in our spare time.  It has been amazing to learn how many of the guys and girls on station want to know how to weld. To date this has only being the stick welding kind as its what most people will have at home. The workshop, just like the one at home, is way too small for the amount of work that gets done in it. As the station grows, the workshop will struggle to meet the demands of an ever growing number of maintenance issues, repairs and manufacture of goods. But, it is a credit to those who work in it now and to those of the past that have built and maintained the assets of Casey.