TRAINING Mary C. Gannon • Editor
Training goes online — and free Several fluid power training companies and organizations are offering their training programs free-of-charge during the COVID-19 crisis, where most employees, unless deemed essential, are either working remotely or not at all.
YouTube Live
First up, Fluid Power World has teamed up with the experts at LunchBoxSessions.com to bring you free YouTube Live training sessions at 2 p.m. EDT on Tuesdays, in which Carl Dyke uses operating cutaways and his popular Live Schematics to bring hydraulic valves to life. Tuesday April 14: Proportional Directional Valves Part I — Dyke was live in-camera, where he used an operating cutaway of a single stage, electro-hydraulic proportional valve, a fully operational hydraulic circuit with all electronics, and some simulations to boot. He introduced some basic functions and a few troubleshooting tips as well. The archived video can be seen at https://bit.ly/3ekXPSU. Tuesday April 28: Pilot Pressure Control Valves and Systems — Dyke will have a working, manual pilot control stick and a fully operational, electrohydraulic pilot pressure system from a mining shovel. You’ll experience some intricate 3D simulations and learn some troubleshooting tips!
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FLUID POWER WORLD
4 • 2020
www.fluidpowerworld.com
Attendees can interact throughout the live video by logging into their Google or YouTube account. Questions and comments can be posed to Dyke this way. Visit fluidpowerworld.com or lunchboxsessions. com on the Monday before the live sessions to obtain the live video link. New topics will be launched each month.
Engineering Adventures across the pond
Engineering Adventures, a U.K.-based hydraulic training resource, is offering sessions to help businesses emerge stronger from this difficult time of remote working and social distancing. Much of the company’s basic fluid power training is now free and Gary Molton BSc, Owner of Engineering Adventures, said he has just released a new industrial power unit training project at www.e4training.com/ hydraulic_projects/tanksize1.php that will also be free until lockdown ends. “e4training.com includes virtual hydraulic test rigs, which let people experiment, in safety, by operating realistic simulations of actual components, circuits and hydraulic systems. The website provides a valuable training resource for all abilities from beginners to experts,” Molton said. “It includes a range of specialist ‘home working’ lesson plans for salespeople, managers, fitters or maintenance engineers. It also benefits from bite size tutorials, instructional videos, circuit builder software, visual calculators, reference information, troubleshooting and design guides.” Molton said discounts will be available for companies who sign up three or more people to the courses when the free promotion ends. Features of the training website besides the virtual hydraulic test rig include hydraulic circuit builder, hydraulic troubleshooting,
