If you venture into the basement area behind Galileo Hall, you may hear rock and roll “oldies” tunes wafting from the
machine shop—that is if the music is not overpowered by the din of the mill and lathe machines grinding out a plethora of projects.

It is here that Mike Wheeler, machine shop manager, has spent 16 years helping create tools and gadgets for students, faculty and staff. The music helps temper the sometimes noisy atmosphere, Wheeler said. And, it’s the only station that comes through clearly underground.

It wasn’t music or machine noise but cheering that was heard at a May staff event where Wheeler received the Mary G. Binder Prize. The award is given to support staff who combine a record of exceptional service with a helpful and friendly attitude toward students, faculty and fellow staff members. Wheeler helps design and manufacture equipment for instructional laboratories and research and provides consultation and technical assistance for engineering Clinic projects. “It’s a fun job,” he said.

Wheeler’s background makes him a great fit for the job. His father was a machinist, and Wheeler took shop classes in high school. “It was something to do. And I went along with it after school. It was a job.”

Before coming to HMC, Wheeler worked at the Chevron Oilfield Research Company in La Habra. In 1993, he took over for Ed Stubblefield, who also had worked at Chevron (before Wheeler) and had been the college’s machinist for over 20 years. When not in the shop, Wheeler enjoys working on cars. He’s part of a friend’s racing crew and raced in Utah two years ago. He said he got a Camaro (with a Firebird front end) up to 200 miles per hour.

The pace is a little slower in the machine shop, though, according to Wheeler, it can get hectic. Sometimes the shop is busy and Wheeler stays there from early morning to late at night working on a variety of projects. One device, created for an Engineering Clinic, was eventually developed by NASA.

“We made a small robot that had an arm that collected particles and then deposited them in a container,” he said. “They liked the model and have something similar to that on Mars now.”

He also recalled a project for Loma Linda University Medical Center consisting of a halo device and screws that was designed to hold a patient’s head steady for neurosurgery. Students have designed a robot, rockets, a chess set and, just for fun, unusual bicycles and a gas-powered hovercraft with an attached paint ball gun (the latter for a faculty member).

That the students have the freedom to use the shop for academic and fun projects is a plus.

“I just like to be able to build whatever, whenever I want,” said Carolina de Freitas ’10, one of 15 students who served as a shop proctor last academic year. Wheeler trains and oversees the student shop proctors who supervise their peers in the shop. They work in one of the safest and most well-equipped shops in any undergraduate college. Equipment includes a Haas Computer Numerical Control lathe and mill, as well as drill presses and grinders. And, like all other HMC academic areas, the shop is available to students 24/7.

“We’ve got a good program here,” said Wheeler.

And, as his supervisor and peers have attested, a great program manager.

Lyndsay Gravis and Jonathan Smith contributed to this story.