Sheetmetal Workers International Association Local Union 104

Organized Labor

Kenny Quan, Journeyman
I always loved math, but I didn't know what to do with it. In grade school I thought it was a joke. Why do I have to learn this crap? I enjoyed it, but I never thought I'd get the chance to apply it. Now I found my calling. I love the sheet metal trade. Trigonometry, geometry, ductwork, is all about the angles and making everything fit right. The computer won't do everything, and sometimes you need to lay out something by hand, and that's fun. I made this hood for the plasma cutter. I visualized the design and then had to figure out all the angles and how to put it together. Then after figuring it out, I had to put it all down on paper. Then I had to figure out how much actual sheet metal we'd need and how to cut out the different pieces without wasting too much metal. The material is expensive.