Once a year, Eaton Hydraulics invites fluid power instructors to its training facility in Maumee, Ohio to help give them a basics overview on different components and technologies that will help them pass this knowledge onto future students. I was able to attend this Instructor Symposium as a guest this week, so I could see first-hand what future fluid power students might be learning and get a little education myself.
I’ve known for years that Eaton had a training facility just an hour-and-a-half away from where I live—but I’ve never been there. So it was a pleasant surprise to see just how high-tech the training center was. In addition to several classrooms for lectures, the facility has two labs where students can get hands-on experience in everything from assembling, crimping, skiving, and swaging hoses, to using advanced fluid power trainers including one that replicates the motion of a mobile machine.
Several years ago, I had a chance to participate in MSOE’s introduction to hydraulics course, so this was a good refresher for me. I was pleased to realize I know more about this industry than most and happy to learn some additional things about hydraulic hose and fittings, ports and connections, sensors, CANBus, and cavitation and aeration.
As many of the instructors there—both Eaton’s and those in attendance—stressed the past two days, educating the future workforce about fluid power is critical. Not only will many of the current leaders in the industry be retiring in the near future, but many students just don’t know how to properly use or specify fluid power components. Courses like those offered by Eaton and at the community, technical and college level must continue to add fluid power exposure, particularly with hands-on demonstrations and training.
For me, the best part of the past couple days was getting out in the lab. I’ve written about crimping, skiving and swaging machines but never fully grasped how they worked. Operating two crimping machines and one swaging one brought it to life. And I am glad to say that my first crimp was perfect, as you’ll see in the video below (but my second and third attempts gave the rest of the class and Eaton’s Robert Koehler a laugh). I redeemed myself on the swaging machine, however.
And if there is one topic I know is critical for every user of hydraulics to understand, it’s the effects of cavitation and aeration. Allowing cavitation and aeration bubbles into a hydraulic system can cause serious damage and even machine shutdown. So it was especially cool to see what that looks like and most importantly, sounds like, in a hydraulic system.
Eaton’s facility is top-notch, as are its instructors. And offering a hands-on look at what students need to learn to thrive in this industry is a nice touch, because while some of the instructors attending the event were seasoned veterans, others are just getting starting to develop fluid power training.
Eaton Hydraulics
www.eaton.com
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