Description:
Today we’re heading across the pond to talk with Chris “Minty” Minton, Head Mechanic and Workshop Manager at Leicester City Football Club in Leicester, England. Minty oversees an elite training facility with 24 football pitches, a nine-hole golf course, and more than 460 pieces of equipment across three sites, all with a team of four and a lot of John Deere green.
From growing up fixing engines with his dad to designing his own dream workshop, Minty shares how his career evolved from a small lawnmower repair shop to one of the most advanced sports turf operations in the UK. We talk shop design, apprenticeships, the Sports Turf Academy, and his go-to Milwaukee tools. Plus, we hear about his grandson George, his trusty cockapoo sidekick, and the strong network of technicians driving innovation in UK turf.
Transcript:
Trent Manning: 0:57
Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some this episode are real turf techs on golf course industries Superintendent radio network is presented by Foley county a strong supporter of equipment technicians and golf course maintenance departments everywhere Foley county offers a proven solution for above and below the turf for turf professionals To learn more about Foley company’s line of real grinders bed knife grinders and the air to G2 family of products or to find a distributor visit www dot Foley C o.com Foley Ready for play Welcome to The Real Turf Text Podcast, episode 1 53. Today we’re talking to Chris Minton, also known as Minty. He is the head mechanic or workshop manager at Leicester City Football Club. In Leicester, England, he has a state-of-the-art elite facility with the main focus on football. They have 24 football pitches of various types and surfaces, but also have a nine hole golf course. He looks after 460 bits of equipment over three sites. He has a team that consists of four people, including himself. He has mostly John Deere equipment. Let’s talk to Minty. Welcome, Chris to the Real Turf Tech podcast. Thanks for coming on.
Chris Minton: 2:50
Thanks for having me. Been a long time coming.
Trent Manning: 2:52
yep. It has been a long time coming. I appreciate you staying late and as you can see back here, this is not my normal studio. I’m still at work. And our clubhouse is, yeah, I see some equipment back there. Our clubhouse is under renovation, so that’s the ladder back here. And why some ceiling tiles missing over here, but, oh, well, hopefully they won’t make too much noise. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Chris Minton: 3:23
So, my dad really is responsible for me getting to the turf industry. So from a young age of. I, seven, eight, maybe nine years of age. Dad always had a garage full of tools and spanners and, you know, all the engineering tools. We had the lathe and the milling machine, and we did a bit of modeling, engineering and stuff like that. but if anything broke, like a washing machine broke or the motor went, or it like strip everything down to see why it didn’t work. And really my dad had kind of inspired me really a little bit and I learned along the way with stuff that didn’t work. And my dad also used to repair all the people in the street. If their mowers broke and stuff, they’d all bring them to Graham and stuff like that. And it wasn’t at all into our industry, but it was just interested in little petrol engines and electric motors. And, you know, back then there were little battery mows and all sorts of stuff around back in the day. And my dad my dad went into a local kind of horticultural machinery place for parts for his lawn mowers, for his spark plugs, et cetera. And I’d just been, when I left school, basically I left school and I had two opportunities to follow up. One of’em was going to work for Rolls Royce to do a craft apprenticeship which a four year apprenticeship like most apprenticeships are. but there would be a lot of schooling with that. And I didn’t particularly at school, like school in terms of academically, I liked what, like what we do metal work was engineering. I did a like an O level, which was the highest level at school category exams if you like. So I did engineering and I took woodwork as well’cause I liked doing things with my hands, practical stuff. But maths and English and sciences and all that. Rubbish. Not rubbish, but obviously I didn’t really, but I didn’t really want to go and end up going back to school or doing schoolwork or class college work, if you like, for four years. So the op, so what I took instead of that was going to agricultural college and doing agricultural mechanics. So that’s cover your tractors and your your combines and all your implements are going in the back of a tractor. And that was City and Guilds. It was only for one year came out that that apprenticeship passed that. And I went in, I went with my dad to this lawnmower repair place. This particular Saturday morning he was getting some parts and my dad said, oh, my son’s just is looking for a job. He’s just come outta college. And you know, been dabbling with mows for a lot of years. Have you got anything? So on the Monday, I went in for an interview and that’s kind of where I started my career really back in 1983. When you probably not even thought of Trent, but
Trent Manning: 6:04
Oh, no I was around in 19, I was five years old in 1983. Yeah. Oh.
Chris Minton: 6:09
wow. Okay. So that’s kinda where my career started and I worked there for about nine years and then people kept coming in, like people, customers were coming in and saying, oh, do you do any work at home? Any private jobs and stuff like that. In the finish I ended up leaving there and setting up on my own. And I worked on my own for about four years. I had a lad that worked at the same place as well. He left there and came and worked with me as well, like on a self-employed basis for a couple of years. But then we had one really dry summer and I was relying on the work coming through the door to pay the mortgage and the bills and stuff like that. And then I had the opportunity to go and do something different. So I came out of that industry, came out of the turf industry for about two years to do something completely different. And then I got fed up with working long hours for less money and stuff like that. And then an opportunity came, for a com for a major dealer in the uk, which was Midlands based, which is where we are kind of based in the uk in the Midlands, to go and work at a Ransom Sherston dealer. And at the time they employed like 70 odd people. I think my payroll number was 72. So I went to work for this company, ransom Shakespeare dealer. And I was working in the hire department and I was mainly looking after machinery. That was commercially going out on hire. So could be out from Rotaries. You know, rough mowers and that kind of thing. Aeration equipment like GA thirties and all that sort of stuff. So I was maintaining that equipment for about three years. And then I did a little bit of work more in the sort of private type like homeowner machinery repairs as well while I was there. And then an opportunity came up to go and work at a Toro dealer. So, I left that job after only three years to go and work for the local Toro dealer. And the guy that owned the Toro dealership, I met him when I worked at this lawnmower place back in the eighties.’cause this guy came and worked at the same place. And a few years later he set his own business up. Over the time he was I think he was a Jacobson dealer and he did a few different things on the way. But the long and short of his, I joined this Toro dealer. I was there for about six and a half years, mainly workshop based stuff. obviously all commercial stuff, mainly golf course machinery and some of the time was a little bit on the road doing some like service contract work at golf courses and stuff. And then while I was working there a guy got a friend of mine got in touch with me and he was head mechanic for a golf club just quite local to Coventry, the area I live in. 54 whole venue. And he told me that the then course manager or director of golf courses and stuff, he was looking for a new head mechanic and that was at the Bel Free Golf Resort. So I kind of met up with this guy, a bit of a laid back kind of interview, bit of a relaxed interview kind of thing. Went for the interview and got that job. So I moved from the Toro dealer to the RIE as head mechanic. That’s the 54 hole venue. They’ve just had, it’s just been the 40th anniversary of ride the first Rider cup that was held at the Belfry. The first one was in 85. I joined in two th April, 2006. The Rider Cups have done by the time I joined, but straight away in 2006, 7 0 8, they had the British Masters. So after three weeks of me starting of coming from a Toro dealership straight into being a mechanic at a golf course, and like three weeks time we’re having the British Masters, I’m like, oh
Trent Manning: 9:42
Wow. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 9:44
yeah, incredible
Trent Manning: 9:46
Did you have mostly Toro equipment at
Chris Minton: 9:49
Yeah, no. So, so no. So when I joined they were just in the deal. So there’d been John Deere for a lot of years. And there was a lot of John Deere equipment there, but it was quite tied. Equipment hadn’t really been that well maintained for the latter years of the John Deere equipment’s life. But they’d just done a deal to go completely with Toro. So, like tournament support. There was some John Deere stuff, there was some Toro stuff. And yeah, we got through we got through the, my first year was a bit of a not tying time, but it was a hard time’cause a lot of tires worn out equipment. And then the second year I was there we’d gone into a brand new Toro deal. I think that, and the first year, the second year was there, the Toro deal was like 500 grand worth of Toro equipment. So it was got like total, So it was nice the first year or so, while
Trent Manning: 10:39
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 10:40
new, all under warranty and stuff, And then yeah, probably about halfway along there that was in the Toro deal or Toro machinery. And then chain of o change of ownership. And then budgets became tight and a few different bits and pieces on the way. And then course managers changed. New guy comes in, then he turns it all back to, eventually turns the equipment back to John Deere which is what it was and what it still is now when I left. But, so I ended up being there for 11 and a half years, and then I was getting a bit itchy feet towards the, to, towards the last, you know, bit of time there and looking for a new challenge. And then guy who used to be the head green keeper on one of the courses at the Belfry got in touch with me and he’d seen an advert. In one of the magazines online, if you like, about a job opportunity for less city football club, which is where I am now. And they were basically advertising. We were looking for a mechanic who could procure and put a parts department together and all this sort of stuff. So, got my CV done sent it in, and obviously the rest is history. So, it’d be eight years tomorrow since I
Trent Manning: 11:50
Oh, nice. Nice.
Chris Minton: 11:52
There’s a little bit of, that’s a little bit of my background.
Trent Manning: 11:54
No, that is really good.
Chris Minton: 11:56
we,
Trent Manning: 11:56
So, yeah. How big of a transition was it going from a golf course to the football club?
Chris Minton: 12:03
to be fair, it’s very similar. So like at the golf course I had similar members of staff which is like three or four depend. U usually like the team here is four. Ideally it was for the Be free, but for the most part it was three in the workshop. But coming from a big, like overall green keeping team, if you like, I think there were th probably 30 odd, 36 people at the bere initially coming to football. When I joined, I was the 10th member of staff. So when I joined, they’d never had a mechanic before. So, they create, so, John Ridge, who was the guy who employed me back then who was head of grounds for the King Power Group basically he went to board of directors and said, look, we’re spending X amount of pounds on having stuff sharp and serviced and maintained through the season. It’s about the time we employed our own mechanic. So they employed me the first year, and then during that first year we, I kind of built a workshop in existing. Buildings within the old training ground for the city football club. But then I was told well, John had told me within a couple of years we’ll be moving to a brand new facility like a world class facility. And you’ll have the job of designing that workshop. So, so literally in probably after the first year I’m being asked to start to draw up a workshop, like a world class facility workshop. And I got a nice budget, 150,000 pounds to you know, to kick outta such workshop.
Trent Manning: 13:33
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 13:33
off with, it started off with drawing it on bits of paper, trying to get it all drawn up as neat as it could if you if you know what I mean. And then the drawings went to the architects, and then my drawings ended up being proper engineered drawings from the architect. And he eventually went to the build stage. And yeah, what I’m in now is kind of from where it all kind of really started, if you like, when I first joined the club. So before we moved up to this facility we’re in now was just myself for a couple of years. Then I took on another guy who was my deputy who happened to be my deputy when I was at the Valry as well. And then we took on two apprentices as well. So, so the apprentices do the qualification over here is called land based service engineering. So you can do it in level two or level three. So my first two apprentices didn’t last. They ended up leaving for different reasons and then I think probably two years in from when I started, we employed another guy who was my next apprentice, if you like, and then he qualified about five months. With distinctions. So he’s now one of our four members of staff. So we’ve got kind of got three qualified members of staff in my team. And then we’ve just, maybe two months ago took on another apprentice, a school leader who’s only 16. He’s not 17 till October. He’s six foot full and
Trent Manning: 14:56
oh wow.
Chris Minton: 14:57
17. He looks like he’s 17 or 18 now, and he’s, you know, so,
Trent Manning: 15:01
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 15:02
so yeah, so what we, what kind of, what we do here is bring apprentices in and like, not just within the workshop, so we’d have apprentices on football, garden and landscapes and golf as well, because we’ve got, so basically the facility we’re at was an 18 hole golf course. And the center part of the golf course was kind of leveled and screened and leveled in, into making obviously the training ground that it needed to be. So we’re like 24 football pitches. But we retain nine holes of golf as well. So we’re quite an exclusive kind of training ground,
Trent Manning: 15:39
Yeah. That’s something else. I mean, that’s a lot going on.
Chris Minton: 15:43
yeah. Yeah. So,
Trent Manning: 15:45
Yeah. No, that is awesome.
Chris Minton: 15:47
So,
Trent Manning: 15:47
cool.
Chris Minton: 15:48
so, so here the workshop is in the Sports Turf Academy. I refer back to John Ridge again because John Ridge has always had a passion to build a Sports Turf Academy because there’s no, certainly in the UK and probably across Europe, never been anything of its kind. So, sports Turf Academy, is basically, has kind of supports four pillars that, that kind of make the Sports Turf Academy what it is. And the pillars are tournament support. So we support football globally, we have qualified members of staff that go out and. Gone and worked at the last two or three World Cup, like fifa, backed football stuff. We have volunteers that go to tennis events and stuff globally. And we also golf as well. So, like the deal that we have with Deere and stuff like that, we get people going out to like, I’m just trying to think of the events, but a couple of the events they have in the US and stuff like that, we send people out to the us. Not, we didn’t have anyone in the US Open, but we are obviously the John Deere Classic and a couple of other ones that we send people out to tournament support. That’s one of the pillars of the STA another pillar is education and training.
Trent Manning: 17:02
Okay. Is that part of the people that they’re employed by the football club
Chris Minton: 17:08
Yeah, it can. It can be. Yeah, it can be. So, yeah, so some of the training is some of the training is delivered by, some of our in-house team, but we also use external training bodies as all training people as well. So we can pretty much build a course if there’s not a course out there. And somebody came and said, look, we want a course on, I dunno, electronics training or hydraulic training or whatever. We can tailor, make and build courses to whatever needed. Or if it’s a course like courses that sell really well here irrigation courses. So we have an external guy come in and it’s usually a two day course. And as soon as we advertise the, this particular course, it sells out pretty much straight away. That’s just one of the courses we do. and that all ranges from short courses to apprenticeships and to like degree level internships and stuff like that. So we couldn’t pretty much tailor make any kind of education training package to suit, you know, to suit the needs of whatever’s needed. Another pillar of the STA Sports to Academy trials and research. So that really focuses on innovation and emerging tech technologies entering the sports surf industry. And the key area for this is, investigation is the relationship between turf management and player performance. So like we can we can we have a guy that, measures on a daily basis, takes all the data off the pitch to see how firm it is and how soft it is. And they get all the readings and like, so they can, like when they’re prepping pitches for tournaments or, you know, foot just football events, they can advise the like the player performance staff or whatever on like, maybe on the firmness of the football stu they need in the boots and stuff like that working. Like that’s all determined on like the firmness of the pitch pitches and all that kind of stuff. So that’s quite interesting part of that part.
Trent Manning: 19:09
sure. That’s probably really interesting.
Chris Minton: 19:11
and then. And then the fourth part is what we call stats. Or the fourth pillar, I should say, is stats. So stats stands for Sports, turf and Technical Services they do. So we’ve got a team of three people that are pretty much out when say out they’re not working on our premises, they’re working for like the grassroots football clubs in the uk. So basically, if you are like a grassroots football club you can apply to get a grant to get help with the, not necessarily the upkeep, but like to, like, if you are pitches in the poor condition and may, maybe the field’s all muddy and there’s hardly any grass growing through. Our guys go in and they do like a pitch power report, and they’ll do sa, they’ll take samples off the pitch and they’ll come back and do like an analysis report and then go back and say, well, to get your pitch up to the standard, it needs to be you. You’re gonna need verification, you’re gonna. Seeding you’re gonna need, you know, scarifying and all this kind of thing. So they put a plan together and then they help them. There’s a way of filling in some forms to fill in a grant. So basically you can apply for a grant to get the, obviously the services paid for. So we have a team that just condos us that all year round and three people that are out all year round looking after grassroots football clubs.
Trent Manning: 20:33
So where do, where does the money come to fund all this stuff?
Chris Minton: 20:37
so, so, so the, so this part of it, what I’m talking about, grassroots football clubs, they the clubs apply for a grant, and the grant could be up to 35,000 pounds per year to spend on that one. Maybe it might be more than one pitch, but within a grassroots football club. So I’m talking of, you know, the local club down the road and they haven’t really got. The funds coming in and they haven’t got the investment to keep the, to get the grass pitches up to where they need to be kept to. So you can apply to a, for a grant from the football foundation, which is all part of the football association, right? So we have a guy that goes out and he’ll do the pitch power report, come back, do the report, and go back to the club and say, you need, like, we recommend that you have this, and this done to obviously improve your pitch. But to do it, obviously you, you need the monies to pay for it. So we’ll talk you through how to fill in the application form to apply for the grant. So the way we get paid is the clubs. The clubs receive the grants and then they come back to us and ask us if we can do the work. So we get paid, if you like, via the club they’ve had the grant.
Trent Manning: 21:52
Okay. I gotcha.
Chris Minton: 21:53
And currently, well in the last three years. Yeah, in the Leicester sheer area, we’ve looked after over 400 pitches
Trent Manning: 22:00
Oh, wow. Yeah. That’s a lot,
Chris Minton: 22:02
and so four, so 400 pitches worth of money coming in. That’s how it’s kind of supported, if you like.
Trent Manning: 22:09
Gotcha. Okay.
Chris Minton: 22:10
And when you go back to your trials and research and some of the training and stuff like that, the people that come on the training courses obviously come on the training courses and pay their, you know, whatever the courses are coming on. So obviously that’s income coming in as
Trent Manning: 22:22
Yep.
Chris Minton: 22:23
for the Sports Turf Academy. So, and then, so our workshop is in, in the building of the Sports Turf Academy. So we have through the year, probably three or four cutting u cutting unit courses. So we have a guy that comes in with his own grinders and it’s a two day course, and it you get a certificate at the end of it, Elantra accredited. certificate, I dunno what the equivalent to that is in the states, but it’s it’s a, it is a good level of certification, you know, recognized certification in the UK for sure. And that, so we, so the, like, the actual, the theory part of it is done in the classroom, which is in a, just at the back of the workshop or just outside of the workshop. And then the third, then the practical side of it’s done in the workshop. So the guy brings his own grinders, but we also help with our grinders if there’s a big group of people and stuff like that, you know, and we’ll get involved and help them like at the end of when they’re maybe sharpened as that curtain units, we’ll get it back onto maybe a green strip or if we’re doing greens units or 27 50, and then we’ll take’em out onto a green and show them the, like, to optimize the quality of cutting in terms of like, yeah. Cut quality. Well, obviously not you cook quality, but you are. A clip rate and show’em how you can change the clip rate and speed and all
Trent Manning: 23:39
Right, right, right.
Chris Minton: 23:41
so we do a lot of that kind of stuff as well. So,
Trent Manning: 23:43
No, that’s awesome. What’s your favorite tool in the workshop?
Chris Minton: 23:47
I would probably say anything that’s got Milwaukee on it, like,
Trent Manning: 23:49
Okay. Yep. Yep.
Chris Minton: 23:51
like, like, Milwaukee ratchets or,
Trent Manning: 23:53
Uhhuh.
Chris Minton: 23:54
you know, three eight sort of impact gun and stuff like that. It’s pretty much u using that sort of stuff day and day out, to be honest with you.
Trent Manning: 24:01
yeah it’s hard to beat. And Milwaukee makes a really good product too.
Chris Minton: 24:05
they do, yeah, they do. We’re not all Milwaukee. We’ve got a bit DeWalt and a bit Yeah, bit of a mix at the minute, but yeah.
Trent Manning: 24:13
Yeah. I, one of my favorites is the Quarter Inch Drive Milwaukee Ratchet. Yeah. I mean, it’s awesome.
Chris Minton: 24:20
I was on, on ratchets, not here, it’s at home. But I really like the, quarter Fcom
Trent Manning: 24:29
Okay. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 24:30
in, did you see Fcom in the States?
Trent Manning: 24:31
I don’t, nah, I’m not familiar with it.
Chris Minton: 24:37
Facm.
Trent Manning: 24:38
back on? No.
Chris Minton: 24:39
to be part of brittle, but it’s, yeah, it’s, it is what it is, but they’re ratchets. Whether it’s quarter three, eight, half inch, they’re really fine increments and stuff like that. But
Trent Manning: 24:49
Ah, okay. Cool.
Chris Minton: 24:51
there’s one piece to look for. But
Trent Manning: 24:52
What do you do to relax or find your balance?
Chris Minton: 24:55
pretty much outside of work, obviously family life.
Trent Manning: 24:58
Uhhuh.
Chris Minton: 24:59
so, my grandson, George, he’s eight tomorrow.
Trent Manning: 25:03
Oh, nice.
Chris Minton: 25:04
and he pretty much keeps us on her toes. For five years. They lived with us until about a year and a half ago. I say us my daughter as well lived with us for a while. So we, yeah, so family stuff, going out with George and the family and just chilling really.
Trent Manning: 25:19
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s good. That’s good.
Chris Minton: 25:21
And I’ve got my, I’ve got my dog as well. We’ve got a little cockapoo,
Trent Manning: 25:25
Okay.
Chris Minton: 25:26
and she currently comes to work with me, so she’s in the, she is in the room at the back of the minute.
Trent Manning: 25:31
Okay. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 25:32
so, but yeah, so I’ll take her out at dinner time, take her for a walk on the golf course and stuff like that, so,
Trent Manning: 25:38
Nice. Does she, is, does she mind staying late today?
Chris Minton: 25:43
I dunno, she’s ha she’s probably not really happy about staying late,
Trent Manning: 25:46
yeah. Probably not.
Chris Minton: 25:47
if she was in here now, she’d probably go,
Trent Manning: 25:50
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 25:51
But So she’s in, sitting in the room. She is in the classroom behind us at the minute,
Trent Manning: 25:55
Yep. Ready to go home?
Chris Minton: 25:57
but
Trent Manning: 25:57
what’s one of your biggest challenges that you’ve had to face over your career?
Chris Minton: 26:03
I mean, I haven’t really like challenges to face. I mean, one of my favorite challenges to, to date what I’ve achieved I dunno if that’s the same question and building this amazing workshop we’ve got.
Trent Manning: 26:15
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 26:16
I dunno if that’s the same question
Trent Manning: 26:17
yeah. No, that’s good. Yeah. I’m fine with it.
Chris Minton: 26:21
just be just being part of it really. And well, not part of it, actually designing it. And obviously when I joined the club, the John and Simon and caller, our managers now upstairs senior managers that they had the faith in me from obviously from the start to be able to do what we’ve achieved here. So,
Trent Manning: 26:40
No, that is awesome. Yeah. Did.
Chris Minton: 26:44
A lot of people that come here. So when we have training courses. There, there could be upstairs in the conference room. People come and they wanna have a tour site, tour facility tour. come in the workshop. This sounds really bighead of me to say, but you speak to Matt or James or anybody you know, they’ll pretty much tell you I I’ve kind of set the standard for the industry in terms of what a workshop should look like.
Trent Manning: 27:09
I’m sure.
Chris Minton: 27:10
for me, that’s, for me, that’s a massive achievement.
Trent Manning: 27:12
Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. What kinda resources did you have or use? Putting all that together? Like Yeah. What, how do you decide all that?
Chris Minton: 27:23
so I think for myself, because I’d worked in dealership Ransom, Jacobs dealership, worked for myself and worked at the RIE of course as well. I kind of know what you kind of need in a workshop to like, from your two post lifts to your. Obviously what your tools and your extraction like, so, I kind of know what you I think over I, from what I’ve experience from working at other venues, you kind of know if you had, I think it is almost every mechanic’s kind of dream to be able to build your own workshop and almost not have a limitless pot of money, but to have a good pot of money to like, at hand to be able to put something amazing together. And I think it’s just along the way, I’ve kind of seen, or I’ve worked in places that where you’re working on your floor, on your knees and have another lift and like welding extraction, not having extraction and stuff like that. So just to be completely compliant with health and safety. As well along the way. I just wanted to be, get everything right so. I dunno what, I’m not sure what it’s like over there, but if you are any kinda welding in the uk health and safety wise, you to be compliant, you have to have extraction. So, when I was at the other training ground before we moved to this one so we still have a workshop at the old training ground as well, which is tiny in comparison to what we’ve got here. But if you’re doing any kind of welding, you’ve gotta have welding fume and grinding dust extraction it’s law. You’ve gotta have it. So we had a mobile unit there, but here I just wanted some, I just wanted it to be I’ve got a big unit in the corner of the workshop, which is like the suction unit. We have a, like a cutting welding fabrication bench, which is all piped up to the extraction. We have a plasma table again, which is all piped up to the extraction unit. And as far as I know, we’re certainly the UKs. I’m not sure if we’re globally, but Bernard is our grinder. We also have extraction going to the grinders as well. and putting all that side of things together. Getting it all to fit in the workshop is quite I dunno about achievement, but it’s quite a tight knit we, I think we’re 15 meters by 15 meters,
Trent Manning: 29:43
Oh wow. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 29:44
workshop wise, but getting it all to fit in, you know, comfortably and so it all fits, fit in well, was quite a niche thing to do.
Trent Manning: 29:52
No, that was awesome.
Chris Minton: 29:53
then we all, we also have two like cotton reel type. You might just see if I turn the camera on there for exhaust extraction.
Trent Manning: 30:02
Ah, okay.
Chris Minton: 30:03
So when we’ve got the door shut, obviously we, you know, in the colder months of the year, we can obviously have engines running and still be completely safe on that side of things. So,
Trent Manning: 30:13
Yeah. No, that is cool. That was really nice. Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Chris Minton: 30:20
Don’t really know. Not, I mean,
Trent Manning: 30:21
Not really. In the industry.
Chris Minton: 30:23
like, like, like I know a lot of people that do the same sort of thing as what I do or what we But my mentor really as a younger age would’ve been my dad and my dad weren’t even in the industry,
Trent Manning: 30:32
yeah. yeah. Yep. That’s fair enough. Yeah. What’s some of the good stuff you learned from your dad?
Chris Minton: 30:38
just about putting things away after you’ve finished. Finish the job, hang your, like in the garage at home where you add all the different, like, you hang your screwdrivers and and obviously your spanners and everything had the place and just really tidy up after yourself, you know, even if the job’s not finished that you’re working on today, be back on it tomorrow. I’d still want the tools wiping down and put, putting away. hate it when people maybe get something out of cupboard, a chemical cupboard in the workshop. So you, if you’re getting some petrol out or you’re getting some
Trent Manning: 31:11
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 31:11
you’re get, if you’re getting an aerosol can out the cupboard, close the door after. You don’t just leave it open for somebody else to put away, you know, that kind of thing. Really.
Trent Manning: 31:21
No I get it. I get it. Do you have a technician you’d like to work with for a day?
Chris Minton: 31:27
yeah. It’s you.
Trent Manning: 31:28
Oh, come on now.
Chris Minton: 31:29
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 31:30
Who?
Chris Minton: 31:31
For some, for somebody to do. The, you know, the work that you do so well, and to be able to run the podcasts and everything out all the other training that you do and all the events you go and support, that’s something that’s somebody amazing. So,
Trent Manning: 31:45
Well, thank you for that. For sure. I just feel like a normal guy that’s,
Chris Minton: 31:52
But yeah, just that really,
Trent Manning: 31:54
but and you’re welcome. Anytime you come over here you Yep. Shop door’s always open.
Chris Minton: 32:01
Yeah. Nice one. Like
Trent Manning: 32:02
For sure. Yeah. And I don’t know when it’s gonna happen, but I am gonna get to the UK at some point’cause I’ve decided that I want to go so.
Chris Minton: 32:11
I wasn’t sure if you’d said not in January this year, but maybe the year after, you might come to Harrogate, which is BTME, which is the equivalent of GIS in the States.
Trent Manning: 32:23
Yes. Yep. I would I would definitely like to do that. Yeah, I would definitely like to make it over there. I need, and I can’t remember, I, I got a contact to send my classes to, and I just hadn’t done it. I’ve been dragging my feet.
Chris Minton: 32:41
Yeah. Yeah. So we were chatting and yesterday with Jonathan. So Jonathan Knowles runs the Sports Turf Academy. And we’re always looking for people like yourself who are obviously comfortable with delivering training and stuff So, I was just talking about, obviously to Jonathan about doing the podcast with you today.
Trent Manning: 33:00
Oh, okay. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 33:01
and he was like, well have a word with tr if if he does come over to the uk, whether he could come here and deliver some kind of training
Trent Manning: 33:09
oh, yeah. Yeah. I would love to.
Chris Minton: 33:12
yeah. So
Trent Manning: 33:13
I would love to. Yeah. And I gotta visit James and yourself and Matthew for sure. Yeah, that would be that’d be fun times.
Chris Minton: 33:24
Nice one.
Trent Manning: 33:25
Let’s see what do you know now you wish you’d done on day one? It’s always a fun question’cause it can go so many different directions.
Chris Minton: 33:36
yeah, it could do to be fair. Dunno really Dunno what, I dunno how to answer that really.
Trent Manning: 33:42
Alright. That’s okay. We can move right along.
Chris Minton: 33:44
Yeah, I’ll have to think about that.
Trent Manning: 33:46
Yep.
Chris Minton: 33:46
about it for a bit.
Trent Manning: 33:47
Get ready for tips and tricks Any kind of tips and tricks your favorite ones that you’ve used over the years.
Chris Minton: 33:55
yeah. I mean, over the years I’ve used a few, but I think over here, like a lot of our work is, we do a lot of John Deere stuff. We’ve got a lot of infin up machinery. I don’t really know tips and tricks to be fair. Again, it is just, we just get on, we just get on and whatever is thrown at us, we just get on and do it, you know?
Trent Manning: 34:12
Yeah. For sure. No worries. Let’s talk about Tito.
Chris Minton: 34:19
Tito,
Trent Manning: 34:20
Yep. What is Tito, let’s start there.
Chris Minton: 34:23
Te Tito is two equipment technicians organization,
Trent Manning: 34:29
And who founded that?
Chris Minton: 34:32
well, I think it have to be Matthew Axton,
Trent Manning: 34:34
Okay.
Chris Minton: 34:35
so, so I think it, I think you inspired Matt originally,
Trent Manning: 34:41
Okay. Well, awesome.
Chris Minton: 34:42
possibly. And possibly James as well with your, with the real turf text. If I rewind back to, san Diego, not this last time, but the time before when I was lucky enough to come out there. I did brief briefly meet you out there. I don’t even remember that
Trent Manning: 34:57
yeah. No. I remember meeting
Chris Minton: 34:58
I met you out there. and I met Mike Rowlands and I didn’t even know who he was pretty much jumped on me and he’s like, oh, Matty told me he were coming out and all that kind of thing. And while I was out there I heard Mike talking about a WhatsApp group. And I heard a few other people talking about WhatsApp group, and I’m like, what’s his WhatsApp group? And I was obviously it was your what? Your WhatsApp group? which I did join.
Trent Manning: 35:21
Yep. Yep.
Chris Minton: 35:22
And I did join. I just and obviously Matt and James were on there as well. And I’ve known Matt, I’ve known Matty or Matt. I’ve known him, I dunno how long over, certainly over 20 years. And I used to see a lot more of him before he went out to work in the Middle East.
Trent Manning: 35:39
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 35:39
I was at the rie, he used to, because he lived locally, he used to call in and see me at the RIE and stuff. and then Matty was just, he was getting ready to come back to the uk. And then he texted me this one day about starting up a WhatsApp group. And then he said similar really to the real turf text. And then he kind of introduced me into to meeting up with James as well, James Wilkinson. And obviously we spoke about building a WhatsApp group and then I think Matt was on his way coming back. And then James and I we got a lot of contacts in the industry, so we spoke to a few people in the industry, including manufacturers. So we spoke to. Toro, which in the UK is kind of done through a distributor, which is a company called Resync. to Ransom Jacobson, we spoke to Bernard Grinders, we spoke to Dennis and SOIs, which is another lawn mower manufacturer over here. And we spoke to John Deere and we spoke to all the major manufacturers and we basically said we wanted to start like a technician group that we could like if I’ve got a problem with an X, Y, Z, I could say, you know, I’ve got an X, Y, Z and it’s not doing blah, blah, blah and all this sort of stuff. And then somebody might chime in and say, yeah, I’ve seen that problem. The fix is B, C, or,
Trent Manning: 36:58
yeah. Right.
Chris Minton: 36:59
So it was started off for that. So initially it started off through a group of technicians and managers and suppliers to all talk to each other to help grow our outside of industry. offering solutions to problems and sharing ideas to make the job easier Productive. So that’s what it was all about. So initially it was gonna be really just technicians. At the end of the first year of the WhatsApp group, we had 58 people on the group. So at the 58 people, I think probably, I dunno, 14 or 15 of them might have been manufacturers and stuff, Quite a nice number in the UK being a much smaller country than the US to have technicians like on the group talking to each other. And then a couple of people came, I told a few people about it. Well actually just at the end of the first year, James and I delivered at BTME at Harrogate, we did a PowerPoint presentation on the value of a turf equipment technician. we had like an audience of. Course managers, what they, superintendents and their deputy roles, maybe course managers not club managers, maybe the managers of the golf clubs in our audience. And we were just trying to, because as we all know, it’s a global problem. There’s not enough young Coming into the industry. So we wanted to try and get across to the audience that we were delivering to on what our value is and what the value is by having a tech technician at your golf club, do you just imagine where your club, if they didn’t have you,
Trent Manning: 38:40
No. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 38:42
And I could speak for our club before I started, Have to rely on, you have to rely on your dealer coming out and picking your machine up, taking it away. you could be without your machine for weeks on end when you need it. It might be the only machine you have. You might now have backup machinery and the inconvenience, the cost implications. So we, we put a, a presentation on and we got overwhelming response from a lot of q and a in the audience and stuff like that. and then so during the second year, we opened up group from just being technicians to like green keeper technicians or groundsman technicians. So it might be a club that’s got somebody who’s a bit about them that can do servicing, but you know, limited to what they, you know, information they’ve got. So we opened it up to a bigger group of people and in the third year we opened it up to, I wouldn’t say everybody, but we opened it up to ground staff, green keepers, everybody out there that needs help. So I think at the end of the year too, we had like 166 people on the group.
Trent Manning: 39:40
Oh, wow. Okay.
Chris Minton: 39:41
and then we had a, well, year one and year two we had the Tito meetings here in the Sports Turf Academy which is good for a lot of people to come and see, obviously the workshop and the facilities and the whole grounds and machinery and stuff. And then we currently got 327 people on the group.
Trent Manning: 39:59
Wow.
Chris Minton: 40:00
like, that’s like I really could have done with maybe before today. We do have I’ve got a sheet like a spreadsheet if you Of how many technicians, how many, you know, green keeps and all that kind of stuff. But last time I looked it was like, I think there was about 140 maybe mechanics or, you know, like green keeping mechanics or technicians on the group.
Trent Manning: 40:21
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 40:22
but every day, like I’m sure your group is as well. Every day there’s, you know, I look up my phone now, look for Tito’s, the fourth one down, you know, people asking stuff and helping one another along the way. But along with that as well, we wanted to be able to offer education. So, so again so last year last year was the first time at Harrogate. We did we were asked by bigger, so bigger is British International Green Keeper’s Association, which is like the equivalent to G-C-S-A-A. so, we con we, we put together on the Wednesday afternoon of the Harrogate week like free education if you like. So we had guest speakers, we had Tomer talking about cutting units and different like angles, approach angles and bottom blades and all that sort of stuff. And loads of, you know, loads of information. We had a guy. In something. They’re talking all about sprayers and common folks with sprayers. And then we had a guy talking about I dunno if you know what Turf Keeper is, but it’s like your management software for you, you know, like for your workshop, for all your service records and your, Your parts and all that kind of stuff. So we had a guy talking all about that sort of stuff. And yeah, so we, we look for that kind of, we put that kind of, sort of event on at Harrogate, like a free education event. We’re doing another one this year. So this year we’ve got guest speakers talking about robots and common things to look out for, you know, robot mowers things to look out for, faults or easy fixes and stuff like that. Then we’ve got somebody, ransom Jacobson, they’re talking about electrification and how that, how technology’s moving on, stuff like So we do, so we get involved with education and training. But I think one of the bigger things is like for us is trying to like attract school levers. So if you’ve got school levers over here, other than going, applying for an apprenticeship role, which obviously they can do, but I don’t think it’s massively like publicized for somebody leaving school about the sports turf as a whole with it, whether
Trent Manning: 42:26
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 42:26
whether it’s working on the golf course or whether it’s working on football or
Trent Manning: 42:29
Right, right.
Chris Minton: 42:30
is. So we want to try and get people talking and try and, get people to want, you know, like, so like I said to you before, we’ve got we’ve got an apprentice who only two months in when he applied for the role this time round, there was 77 people. That applied for that role.
Trent Manning: 42:48
Wow.
Chris Minton: 42:49
when 77 people, but previously we’d put an advert out there, I think we had seven people apply.
Trent Manning: 42:57
Uhhuh.
Chris Minton: 42:57
so I think if you’re getting into schools and colleges and getting the word out there about what we do, A little bit about what kind of, what we want to try and achieve with Tito is get more, get young blood into the industry and how you attract the young blood. And if the salaries are paying the right sort of money and stuff like that.’cause you see a lot of school leave I dunno, maybe if you see the salary at some places, I’m not saying here, but some places they’re not paying, you know, the monies.
Trent Manning: 43:26
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 43:27
they get’em trained. They get’em trained up and they end up leaving. They’re going, working in a different industry, it’s paying a lot more money and stuff like that. So,
Trent Manning: 43:33
Yeah. Yep.
Chris Minton: 43:34
so a little bit like that really.
Trent Manning: 43:36
So what how often do y’all offer, I know you do this stuff at Big. And Harrogate, do you do other trainings throughout the year for the Tito Group?
Chris Minton: 43:48
we haven’t done yet, but it’s on the cards to do other stuff within the group.
Trent Manning: 43:54
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 43:54
so that’s all I like. We kind of plan to twice a year, have a meeting, have a certainly a meeting and training session. the two meetings we’ve had so far have been here but we’re looking to have events north of the country, you know, up towards Scotland maybe, and then south down towards London and stuff like that, it, we can attract people from different areas. but yeah,
Trent Manning: 44:18
Yeah. Yeah. How far, I have to excuse my ignorance, but how far is it from the north to the south?
Chris Minton: 44:26
so like, so it pretty much depends how north you go, but like. So the north of England, you’re probably looking at 300 miles. If you’re going up to Scotland, you could probably go four or 500 miles up
Trent Manning: 44:39
Oh, okay.
Chris Minton: 44:40
and tip of Scotland.
Trent Manning: 44:41
Yeah. All right.
Chris Minton: 44:42
And then south could, depending on where you go south, it could be two, it could be 200, 300 mile down to the southern tip of Cornwall,
Trent Manning: 44:52
Okay. All right. So we’re talking a big, pretty big distance from north to south.
Chris Minton: 44:58
yeah.
Trent Manning: 44:58
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 44:59
So, but yeah, so I think we’re just looking as well at the minute as well about having a Tito members golf day. It’s something that Matt asked the group about, probably six to seven weeks ago. and so we’re just looking at having a golfing event at some location. I think the next, I think it is probably gonna be at Matt’s place. It’s just looking at the minute for towards the end of October. So that’ll bring. Technicians, maybe suppliers all People talking and networking and such that stuff, you know? So,
Trent Manning: 45:30
Yeah. So, you familiar with Ttac? Yeah. That’s the group out of the Carolinas, the technician group out of the Carolinas. They’ve been together over 20 years. I don’t know the exact number, but I know over 20. And the Carolina GCSA, they have a big show in November, and Ttac also has it’s a day and a half of training. But what I’m getting to the, so on Monday they play golf. And on Tuesday, eight hours of training and Wednesday, half a day of training. And it’s one of the greatest events. It’s, you know, it’s really cheap to attend. It’s in Myrtle Beach every year, which is on the coast. And
Chris Minton: 46:14
So if, so, if you if you go to it, do you have to pay or do, or is
Trent Manning: 46:17
Okay,
Chris Minton: 46:19
does somebody sponsor the event or,
Trent Manning: 46:21
well, I’m trying to remember. Most of the time your club will pay for you to go, but I mean, it’s like$50 or something for, you know, I mean, it’s really cheap. And then the hotels this last year were a little more expensive, but in past years, I mean, the hotels were less than a hundred dollars a night and you can’t hardly find a hotel for under a hundred dollars a night because it’s a big tourist area for the summertime. But in November, that’s kind of their off season, if you will. So. It’s discounted rates at most of the hotels and stuff and a ton of you know, things to do around there and just a lot of good people. Yep.
Chris Minton: 47:04
All good.
Trent Manning: 47:14
You ready to do some rapid fire?
Chris Minton: 47:17
yeah. What’s that?
Trent Manning: 47:18
The rapid fire questions? What’s your favorite movie?
Chris Minton: 47:22
Oh, yeah. Don’t really have one to be fair. I just watch out. I usually just watch what the wife puts on the telly
Trent Manning: 47:28
Okay. Whatever. Whatever your favorite movie is, whatever the wife is watching. I love it. That is a smart man that’s probably been married for a little while.
Chris Minton: 47:38
Yeah. Yeah. A lot a while.
Trent Manning: 47:40
Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. That’s awesome. What would be your last meal?
Chris Minton: 47:46
yeah, I was thinking about that. I think it would have to be, it probably wouldn’t be a meal, but I really like Cadbury’s chocolate and a nice cup of Yorkshire Cup of tea. Yorkshire tea.
Trent Manning: 47:56
Yorkshire Tea. Okay. And what was what?
Chris Minton: 48:00
And a bar of Cadbury’s chocolate.
Trent Manning: 48:02
Cadbury chocolate. Okay. Do y’all have
Chris Minton: 48:05
cho It’s the best chocolate when you come to the uk.
Trent Manning: 48:08
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 48:08
you want, you’ll just want to take a shit load home with you
Trent Manning: 48:11
Okay. Cadbury
Chris Minton: 48:14
really, it’s not really a meal. If it was a, if it was my last meal, it’d be probably steak.
Trent Manning: 48:19
Okay. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 48:20
a nice filet steak.
Trent Manning: 48:21
Okay. Nice steak. Yeah. All right.
Chris Minton: 48:25
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 48:25
What are you most proud of besides your little grandson?
Chris Minton: 48:30
This workshop.
Trent Manning: 48:31
This, yeah. Yeah. It looks yeah. You can you give us a little.
Chris Minton: 48:36
if you’ve got time, I’ll walk around
Trent Manning: 48:37
yeah. Give us a quick peek of the workshop, you don’t mind.
Chris Minton: 48:43
so I’ve just starting over here is to the grinders,
Trent Manning: 48:48
huh.
Chris Minton: 48:49
and then we’ve got, a te Gator we’re working on at the minute. We’re just doing some rebuilding the brakes on it. There’s a set of units down here coming for a re grind,
Trent Manning: 48:59
yep.
Chris Minton: 49:00
off of John Deere 8,000.
Trent Manning: 49:02
I don’t, what do you got the floors done in? Is that a epoxy or,
Chris Minton: 49:07
epoxy resin? Yeah.
Trent Manning: 49:08
okay. All right.
Chris Minton: 49:09
Originally I wanted to do in Battleship Gray, but the guy that came to do the quote a Lester City fan, and he
Trent Manning: 49:20
Oh, okay.
Chris Minton: 49:20
oh, what he told the boss, why don’t you have it done in blue?
Trent Manning: 49:23
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 49:24
So we had it done, so we had it done in blue.
Trent Manning: 49:26
Fair enough.
Chris Minton: 49:27
so our oils kept in the barrels, and then we have some hand pumps for smaller quantities pumping it into like smaller Honda engines and stuff like that.
Trent Manning: 49:40
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 49:42
And then looking back that way, maybe we’ve got two lifts in the workshop. Both rotary lifts,
Trent Manning: 49:49
Yeah. I’ve never seen a gray rotary. I’ve seen blue and red. I’ve never seen a gray one. Yeah, sure. We
Chris Minton: 49:54
right. I think I’ve only, yeah, I’ve only seen them this color in the uk.
Trent Manning: 49:58
Ah,
Chris Minton: 49:59
Maybe all the Europe, maybe all the European ones
Trent Manning: 50:01
Yeah. Maybe.
Chris Minton: 50:03
that’s a hydraulic or pneumatic bench. This is worth its weight in gold. I love this. It’s a three in one oil drain unit,
Trent Manning: 50:13
Okay.
Chris Minton: 50:14
So you can either drain your oil into the top so you can, sorry, I’m not holding that very good. But if you could put that underneath the machine and drain your oil into it, or you can put a pipe into the dipstick filler hole and suck the all out.
Trent Manning: 50:29
Yep.
Chris Minton: 50:30
Or you can that tray you can put the brakes on the trolley and push that tray all the way down to the floor and like put it underneath an engine and then you put the suction on. It sucks all oil back into the tank. So
Trent Manning: 50:46
That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool.
Chris Minton: 50:48
And then all our tooling hand tools are all beater.
Trent Manning: 50:53
Okay.
Chris Minton: 50:54
so everything has a place,
Trent Manning: 50:57
Ah, that’s so nice.
Chris Minton: 50:58
about, like, I was like, like I was on about my dad’s workshop.
Trent Manning: 51:02
Uhhuh. That is so
Chris Minton: 51:03
so
Trent Manning: 51:04
So does those foam inserts, they come, is that like a kit? You buy it that way.
Chris Minton: 51:10
You spec them up. You spec them up. My other cab is over here where I’ve been working. So, like the sockets and such like,
Trent Manning: 51:24
Oh yeah, that’s something else. That’s amazing. That’s so cool.
Chris Minton: 51:27
so we’re going back to what did I get from my dad? It was all about putting my tools away. I just like it that everything has its own
Trent Manning: 51:36
Yeah. That’s so nice.
Chris Minton: 51:38
so, so, so that, that’s kind of my set of tools and I work this is kind of my workstation over here. It’s not the screen’s not completely on a minute, but that’s our turf management software program if you like.
Trent Manning: 51:53
Okay. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 51:54
so so every bit of kit we’ve got, so we maintain, I think I told you, 360, but it’s actually over 460 bits of kit. We maintain across three sites.
Trent Manning: 52:03
Wow.
Chris Minton: 52:04
So, so we’ve got the stadium where all, obviously all the games are played at. Which is about 13 miles from here. And then we’ve got the old training ground, which is where the men’s training used to be before this place was built. And that’s now home to the Leicester ladies football team. So we’ve got a workshop there as well and machinery. And then we’ve got the machinery at this site as well.
Trent Manning: 52:26
Okay. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 52:27
So that was my set of tools. And then the apprentices, they share this set of tools here. And then some specialized, some tooling on the racks above,
Trent Manning: 52:38
Yeah. Yeah. No, that was awesome. I love how organized everything is.
Chris Minton: 52:41
consum consumable trays. nuts and bolts. So you go over all your nuts and bolts, tire machine jacks. This is Collins is my number two. That’s his set of tools. Another kind of hydraulic bench. working on a Procore at the minute that the head won’t drop on.
Trent Manning: 53:00
Okay.
Chris Minton: 53:01
and then I dunno
Trent Manning: 53:03
Yep
Chris Minton: 53:03
Floor press drilling machine bottles. This is our flat plate, which is a bit so we bought basically a slab of machined 25 mil thick aluminum.
Trent Manning: 53:14
Okay.
Chris Minton: 53:15
I can’t remember what the tolerance tolerances are, but they are pretty tight. So we use that as a flat plate for, particularly for infin cuts. We have a problem with the road tree infin cuts, trying to get’em to cut level. So we use this flat plate for the infin cuts.
Trent Manning: 53:32
Okay. Nice.
Chris Minton: 53:33
And then if you look into the corner, that big orange and gray unit, that’s the extractor unit.
Trent Manning: 53:41
Okay. Yep.
Chris Minton: 53:43
And then this is the cutting weld in fabrication bench.
Trent Manning: 53:47
Nice.
Chris Minton: 53:47
not saying I’m not saying that we don’t weld in other places other than in here, but you know, like raw material basically the ends of this open up and you could, you can you know, get, you get your material in with the door open and I obviously got the chop saw, but when this is running all the horrible fumes and stuff that you’d normally maybe breathe in or obviously all taken care of
Trent Manning: 54:13
yeah. That’s awesome.
Chris Minton: 54:13
so, so I’ll just shut that back up.
Trent Manning: 54:16
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 54:16
And then obvious obviously MIG welder. and then we’ve got a localized arm of just pulling out here for you know, if we’re doing any grinding or anything or welding on the floor or anything like that. So that
Trent Manning: 54:26
Okay. Yep.
Chris Minton: 54:27
fold up and go out the way. That’s me plasma table.
Trent Manning: 54:31
Yes. That’s awesome.
Chris Minton: 54:33
the little ben bench grinder. And then that system up there is obviously all piped into the extractor unit. That’s really good. So we have that turned on, obviously welding fabrication when the grinders are running still into grinders, bottom blade grinder, that’s all piped into the extraction as well.
Trent Manning: 54:51
No, that is awesome setup.
Chris Minton: 54:54
I turn my chair around today’cause I normally sit at the other side of the desk.
Trent Manning: 54:57
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 54:58
so you can see the backdrop. And then if you just come into here, this is my parts room.
Trent Manning: 55:05
Okay.
Chris Minton: 55:05
And put the compressors in there as well. A few belts on the wall and Like all the you know, all your filters and stuff. And
Trent Manning: 55:13
Yep.
Chris Minton: 55:13
bits and pieces. But yeah that’s really the work.
Trent Manning: 55:16
awesome.
Chris Minton: 55:17
about, that’s the workshop. So,
Trent Manning: 55:18
Yeah. Something definitely to be proud of. That’s awesome. That’s cool stuff. Are you going to be able to make it to Orlando this year, this coming year?
Chris Minton: 55:29
I, I really do want to go.
Trent Manning: 55:30
Okay.
Chris Minton: 55:32
I’ve asked upstairs in the office upstairs, we do get, usually get an invite from one of the manufacturers,
Trent Manning: 55:40
Okay. Yeah.
Chris Minton: 55:41
If I can go I’ve asked and told the reasons why I’d like to go.
Trent Manning: 55:45
Yeah.
Chris Minton: 55:46
so all I can do is hope.
Trent Manning: 55:47
yeah. Well, I hope you get to come. I think it’s gonna be it’s gonna be a big one this year. Yeah, because San Diego last year was one of the what best attended and I’ll forever,
Chris Minton: 55:59
it?
Trent Manning: 56:00
And San Diego usually isn’t as high as Orlando, just because it’s West Coast and harder for people to, you know, there’s more of us on the East Coast and it’s a little bit harder to get there. It’s more expensive and all the things. So I hope I get to see you there.
Chris Minton: 56:16
Yeah, too. Right. I was lucky enough in 2012 to get out to Vegas to the golf show So I’ve done that one and I’ve done the San Diego one night, four years ago. So,
Trent Manning: 56:26
Okay.
Chris Minton: 56:26
I’d love to, I’d love to get out to Florida,
Trent Manning: 56:29
Yeah. Yeah, it’d be fun. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Really enjoyed it. And thanks for the shop tour too.
Chris Minton: 56:37
Yeah. Lovely. Thank you very much.
Trent Manning: 56:45
thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don’t forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you’d like to discuss, or you’d like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.