PCM’s famous Lodestar Motor School continues its ongoing world tour, with the first, highly successful event to be held in Dublin. The School was coordinated by top Dublin-based lighting sales and installation company Stage Lighting Centre, run by Pat Walsh, assisted by Paddy Farrell. It was held in the prestigious Abbey Theatre in central Dublin--the National Theatre of Ireland. 28 people attended the School, presented by PCM’s tutor-in-chief Tony Dickson. They came from all areas of the professional entertainment industry from across the country.
The two-day Motor School covered many topics. A kingpin of the PCM course is the complete stripping down and re-assembling of a Lodestar motor, enabling students to learn about the role and significance of the machine’s electrical and mechanical components, and how they interrelate. Working in pairs, students are required to rebuild and test that the machine is working correctly to pass this section of the course.
Other areas covered include basic electrical theory and Lodestar faultfinding. The latter session identifies the most common faults, illustrates how to find them, explains why they occur, suggests preventative measures, and focuses on dealing with fault motors in the field. "This element of the course is aimed at instilling good working methods and practices," explains Tony Dickson. Faultfinding theories are then put to practice with the students diagnosing 10 genuinely faulty motors.
Pat Farrell explains why it was important to the Stage Lighting Centre to bring PCM’s Motor School to Ireland: "We believe it’s vital for technicians and industry professionals to have hands-on training opportunities like this." Stage Lighting Centre alerted people by word-of-mouth that the course was happening, and filled this first one in just two days. "The feedback has been so positive that we will definitely be doing another one next year and more in the future," adds Farrell.
The next stop for Tony Dickson and the PCM School is Valencia, Spain, in mid-December, followed by Hong Kong in January. "Demand is constantly outstripping availability," says Dickson.
PCM’s Motor School is a completely self-contained package: Tony Dickson, enough motors for the students to work on in pairs, a selection of faulty machines, plus demo motors. Also included is a full set of tools for each student and a comprehensive set of course notes including illustrations and diagrams. PCM’s Motor School will travel anywhere--interested parties just have to pay for the equipment freighting and Tony Dickson’s expenses. The tuition is completely free. For further details, call PCM at 44-151-609-0100.