Eyes locked on the project, never looking away and deeply concentrating on the project that is about to be chromed. Junior Daisy Espinoza uses the E-gun to spray the project with water following her instructor’s decisions. Following the water daisy sprays the Chroming G4 and G5 solution on the motorcycle gas tank, with no other thoughts in mind other than the teachers voice and the goal of having a chromed gas tank in front of her.

“I was pretty excited,” Espinoza said. “It was kind of weird.”

Auto collision recently obtained a chroming machine to use for their Skills USA projects. The Cosma Chrome machine allows the students to chrome anything that can be painted. It allows the students to repair items that could have never been repaired and have to have been replaced. The technology is not frequently used because of its rarity.

“What it’s doing for my students is allowing them to further their education in the auto repair industry,” Auto collision instructor Jason Tyre said. “It furthers my students’ education. It means a lot to have it in the program. It sparks the interest of the students.”

Espinoza was the first student to use the chroming machine.

“I felt pretty good, I was happy,” Espinoza said. “ It was amazing to see the transformation that it went through from grey to the vibrant chromed finish.”

Since the machine is fairly new technology it was Mr. Tyre’s first time using it.

“He’s never really done this before either so he was really excited too,” Espinoza said. “It was an honor to be the first student to use it. I was delighted to use it.”

First, the panel is sanded and prepped. Then, the auto collision student takes an E-gun and sprays the activator solution and rinses it out with water. After that, they apply the chroming solution; once that is done they rinse it with water, and they have a chromed product.

“It will make it a little easier for my students to get a job knowing how to work one of these programs.” Tyre said. “The students seem to be interested in the machine as far as how it works and the overall finished product. It is a valuable tool to have in the shop, now the students want to be here and want to learn, I think it’s a big help.”

Espinoza is also one the few girls in the Auto collision course.

“It feels kind of weird,” Espinoza said “They say that girls could so better than guys. There was a reason why he asked me to be the first student to use the machine.”

The Auto Collision Skills USA chapter will be using the chroming machine for their projects that they will be taking to the competition.

“It makes me really happy to take this to the skills competition,” Espinoza said.