Sheet-metal Worker

Aimee Brown

He’s just three years into his apprenticeship, but sheet-metal worker Patrick McLachlan already has an impressive portfolio of work that he can put his name to — most notably, the fit-out of the new Hilton restaurant, glass.

“We made the three bars in the restaurant at the Hilton, and the 6x4m mirror with
a stainless steel rim that is also in the restaurant,” he says.

McLachlan, 19, works with Ribar Catering Equipment, which was responsible for crafting the stainless steel elements of the restaurant fit-out in the George St hotel. The Strathfield resident showed an aptitude for marking out early in his apprenticeship and his boss, Ilo Ribarovski, has encouraged him to develop his natural talent. “In my first year here, my boss noticed I had a good eye for marking out and he’s given me a lot of support in that field.”

Marking out is the first step in translating plans into products in the sheet-metal trade. McLachlan draws out the plans on sheets of metal and cuts them down to size for the next step in the process — welding. Once the products are welded together, they are ready for the final polishing stage.
If he doesn’t get his measurements right, the whole process is thrown out.

“You’ve got to make sure that it all turns out to be the right size,” he says. “You’ve got to keep in mind that when you bend metal — you wouldn’t believe it — it grows. You’ve got to take this into account when you’re marking it out.” Working in a smaller company has enabled McLachlan to gain a broad knowledge of the industry. “Because it’s a small company I get to do heaps of different things that I wouldn’t get to do if I was working at a bigger company where I’d probably be working on a production line,” he says. He also gets opportunities to challenge himself and practise new skills.

“Before Christmas, my boss came to me and said we had to make a rangehood for Woolworths,” he says. “First of all, I didn’t have any idea what to do, but I worked through it with my boss and the other workers and it came together perfectly.”

Before starting a trade in sheet-metal work, McLachlan started a course in panel beating, but soon realised it wasn’t for him. “I found that I didn’t like fixing people’s mistakes,” he says.

Love your work

How did you get into your job? The trade was recommended to me by a TAFE course adviser and I started my Certificate III in Engineering — Fabrication Trade.

Upside: I like experiencing new obstacles and learning new skills.

Downside: Sometimes the work can be really physical. We are currently doing a lot of work where we have to lift half-tonne things on and off a truck.