Myles Kemp is the equipment manager at Chemawa Golf Course in North Attleborough, Massachusetts and the inventor of the Birdie Bar height of cut gauge. Myles caught the turf equipment bug as a high schooler and went on to the famed turf equipment program at Lake City Community College. Myles hosted a PGA senior event at his first course fresh out of school. Hear from Myles on what it’s like grinding reels at his house instead of the golf course. Myles reminds us why it’s important to avoid cheap grease and cheap washers, and gives us all the backstory and details on why he invented the Birdie Bar and how they’re made.
Transcript
Trent Manning:
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. Manny let’s have some Welcome to the real turf text podcast, episode 31. Today we’re talking to miles camp. He’s the equipment manager. Uh, Chimo wall golf course. And north Attleboro, Massachusetts. Gemma was an 18 hole public course. Miles has mostly Toro equipment with some Jacobson and John Deere mixed in. Miles is also the inventor of the birdie bar. Uh, precision how to cut, gauge. That will definitely be talking more about. Let’s hear from miles Welcome miles to the real turf text podcast. How you doing today?
Myles Kemp:
Good. How are you?
Trent Manning:
Doing great. thank you so much for coming on. Tell us your story on how you got into the turf industry.
Myles Kemp:
Well, it was 1987 or so my dad came home one day and said he took a job selling John Deere golf and turf, and everybody’s like, oh, that’s great. But what is it? I’d never heard of that. I knew what John Deere was. So that’s where it began. He was selling equipment for John Deere and through that, he got me a job at a local golf course, just raking bunkers. Weed whack and all the summer kids stuff. So did that for a couple of seasons there. And then we relocated up to Vermont. And when I say there, that was in Rhode Island,
Trent Manning:
Okay.
Myles Kemp:
Golf course down here. So I went up there and I was still in high school. So I took a job working on a local golf course doing the same thing, but I learned a little bit more about the equipment there. I was fascinated by. Things that had big facilities, 36 holes and pretty big. I think there was at least 30 people that worked there in the season.
Trent Manning:
Okay. Yeah.
Myles Kemp:
It was a lot of people. There was two full-time mechanics of one full-time golf cart mechanic, and I was just amazed, just so much stuff going in and out, and these guys would fix it, like it would break and it would be right back out. And it was pretty amazing. So I think that’s probably why. Got the interest was probably right around that time. Then I would go over in the winter and make snow on that same hill. They owned a golf course, and then there was a ski hill there. So we’ll go make snow there. So that’s kind of what I did through high school, but then I took a job, a few miles closer to my house right in my senior year and wanting to go into maybe be a superintendent. Superintendent that was there, said, no, you probably would want to do the mechanical end of it. In a few years, that’s going to really be something that’s important because he was an old school guy and he did everything himself up until that job. And then at that job, he had a mechanic and that was his first full-time mechanic. He’d always done all that stuff. So he really appreciated it. So. Conversation. And through that summer, I ended up talking with the guys at lake city, community college and packed up my stuff and drove down there for a year. And that was in 1993. Cause I left there in 94. At that time it was only one year they didn’t have the associate’s degree at that time.
Trent Manning:
Do you happen to run into David Brower’s?
Myles Kemp:
I don’t remember.
Trent Manning:
I don’t think he was there. I had to find out when he was there, but I think he just went for one year. He was from The course that you worked out was out of our super good. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt.
Myles Kemp:
That’s that’s right. I don’t remember him. There was a few guys that I do remember, but met a few guys a few years ago at a T tech show or a meeting that had gone there. So I was really a great experience to go down there and learned a lot from them. And there was four instructors at the time, they were pretty regimented, they really kept after us to do the right thing. I left there for my first job, which was supposed to be on the job training. And I started that job May 9th and we had the senior PGA tour. That course.
Trent Manning:
Oh, wow.
Myles Kemp:
So here I am couple months out of school and not even a couple of months, I drove up from Florida on think I got back to Vermont on a Friday and I started work on a Tuesday or something, and that was quite experienced. So I had to learn a lot fast. And that course was all Jacob. So they sent the guy down to work with me for a week or two. And he was a great guy, older guy. He had been in the business a long time. So he taught me everything from setting up the groomers to, pretty much everything to do with walk mowers on greens. The other stuff that kind of. You’re going to rely and figure out. And that was a really interesting, so there’s tour would come through and it wasn’t that bad because there was a lot of other mechanics that would come help out during that week. It’s kinda good because you’ve got you know, to me. Everything was fast. So everything got done quicker and the day went by quicker and he met a lot of people and it was interesting. So did that for three years. Then I left and I went to another course in Rhode Island and that’s how I ended up in Rhode Island. And that course was the 23rd best course in the country at the time.
Trent Manning:
Well,
Myles Kemp:
Yeah. it was quite the place they had. Northeast amateur tournament would come there and that was even more intense than the senior tour, because I was pretty much by myself as far as cutting units and daily checks. And. Over time, I got somebody that worked with me during that, and he was great. We’ve worked together for a long time. But that was interesting. Cause we were going crazy with the Heights, the superintendent he, wasn’t a big fan of rolling greens or Verde cutting or top dressing. So she wanted the height slow. So we would stay at about oh 9 0 4. Most of the. And then we will lower it from there during that tournament week.
Trent Manning:
Okay.
Myles Kemp:
And that was tough, but we were have enrollers custom made. So we had solid aluminum rollers made and they were right on when we went to pick them up, the guy, put them into these Vblocks and measured them for us. And they were right. Exactly. Perfect.
Trent Manning:
Well,
Myles Kemp:
And that was the challenge there because we couldn’t roll or it didn’t roll. So that we’ll come back into play later on, but that was a very important you know, you get a roller from the dealer or the factory, and it’s not exactly perfect, you know, five, six, maybe 8,000. So on some of them. So that was a challenge. We cut front bars off cutting units. We had to use brand new reels at the beginning of every season cause we didn’t have her leaf grinder. So that was very interesting. I learned a lot there and the superintendent was Awesome. Go my own way. And that’s sort of learned a lot of the skills that I brought with me today and still have,
Trent Manning:
That’s really good.
Myles Kemp:
yeah, that was cool. So the first few years of my career were high pressure,
Trent Manning:
Yeah, I would say so.
Myles Kemp:
So I stayed there for about nine years and that was great. In the middle of that whole time, we got a new building, so I got to be part of that, Setting that up. So I think it was 2,500 square. I don’t exactly remember. It was a big, big building. Just the shop alone, I think was 25 and got to install, lift from scratch. That was interesting. It was a really nice place.
Trent Manning:
Will you walk us through your daily shopper?
Myles Kemp:
The course I’m at now is a lot more laid back than those other places. So I get there right around six in the morning that the guys are all out cutting, except for the rough Malone guys. So superintendents already gone out and driven around and checked, see what’s going on. And then, we’ll figure out what we’re going to do for the day or what he needs done. That’s when I spend my time ordering parts making a parts list things of that nature and using the computer to look stuff up when everybody’s got their morning tasks, there’s a lot less interruptions. No. So I’ll get that done. Then we’ll go out in the shop and work on a project. We always have a project going on there. Some sorta big project. And then the greens mowers and triplex mowers, you check those on the day that they come in from cutting in the fairway mowers or check those on the off days, you know, the days that they’re not out. So check all those. And then I’ll the rest of the day is, little things that come up for the most part,
Trent Manning:
But now.
Myles Kemp:
you know? Yeah. That’s it. A lot less of them.
Trent Manning:
Do you relief grant?
Myles Kemp:
Yep. So up here, we have the off season, so in the off season, I’ll put really fun. The fairway mowers greens, doors, everything. And then in the first cut of the season, I’ll send out the last. Set of rules that went out in the full for that first one or two cuts. Cause there’s always debris left around. Then I’ll bring those in and relief, grind those and send the good reels back though. And then I just bounce back and forth, but I know we’re going to top dress, I’ll put on, set a reels that are not so good. Then he’ll cut the sand with those, sharpen those.
Trent Manning:
Do you do any bag laughing?
Myles Kemp:
Very rarely I’d rather take them off and touch them up. Fairway mowers I’ll do them towards maybe the fourth, fifth week. I might hit them if I can’t get them ground that week. Grounding is a little different there. I grind all the reels for that club at my house. We don’t have machines there, so I have my own setup at my house and that’s kind of how I met them. It has its own challenges because you’re not at the course. If you were there, you could, cry in the bed nights or, whenever it had a bed knife, grinder thing was always running. So that’s unique, but I do like that aspect of it.
Trent Manning:
Tell us something you fabricated lately.
Myles Kemp:
I would say the biggest thing that I’ve done lately was we have Agra metal blower. I mean, a vacuum that we bought. So it’s got a vacuum with the rotary head on it. It was PTO powered, but. Really sweet deal on it locally, but I ran off a PTO and at the time we didn’t have the skilled enough operators to use that. And it had a big suite. He had to make really wide turns with this thing. So. I took the PTO mechanism and the gearbox off of that and bought a 27 horsepower cooler engine and adapted that to fit. And it took a little bit of time, but I got it to work. Agra metal still had a lot of bracketry that was available. So I got most of the stuff I needed, but we had to fabricate the engine mounts, Where the belts ride and where the muffler mounted. So it was quite a bit of work, but now I’m converting that over to be remote control so the guys can operate it from the seat. Yeah. one of those pictures, you might see the valve bank with a bunch of wires. That’s that. So I bought from Agra metal, the remote control and the control box, and I adapted this to fit it. And right now I’ve got it working except it’s backwards. So that’s after we air it next week, we’ll get back to that. But yeah, it’s working perfectly. It’s just that up is down and down is up. Try changing the wires that didn’t work. So,
Trent Manning:
oh,
Myles Kemp:
but figure that out.
Trent Manning:
arrest and yeah, I’m looking at your pictures here. That’s some incredible work and it looks really professional.
Myles Kemp:
Thanks. It was quite a job,
Trent Manning:
And the interesting thing is I have the same backend and I bought it with the gas engine and a Subaru, and I have not been the biggest fan of the delivery of engine.
Myles Kemp:
Yeah. The cooler is a better option for you. And I think you need to. The Shiv on the back the split tape or pushing, I think the only difference between that and the Kawasaki and the color, I think they used three different ones. So we went with the Kohler because there’s a Kohler distributor right. up the road, the warehouse for new England. So we were able to pick it up without having to pay shipping. Plus we could make sure that’s exactly what we wanted before we took it out of the box. so that was a big project. So that’s probably the biggest project I’ve done in a long that’s the one that involved with the most money that wasn’t mine. So I wanna make sure that thing works when I was done.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. That’s the first year. What’s your favorite too?
Myles Kemp:
I just got a golf lift last year. Prior to that, we had an old automotive lift that someone had welded some pads to and. The more I use that. The more I like it now I can put everything that we have up there. To me that’s really handy before that I couldn’t get that center real on the triplex mowers. Now I couldn’t get in there to check the height. The bar would always hit no matter what I did. And I just couldn’t get in there. So this was a huge deal for me to get. I was very happy to get the. Before that it just didn’t work out. I couldn’t fit the bigger equipment up there. That, and I would have to say the computer being able to track down parts. Especially now it seems like the parts supplier line is definitely got some problems here and there.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, no, I’ve definitely had a lot of struggles in the last few months with getting parts in a timely manner The correct part, ordered
Myles Kemp:
Yeah. Oh, by the, by the time I get some of the parts, I forgot that even water, you know, like it’s like Christmas or whatever, I don’t remember. But, So that’s been a little bit of a challenge and that’s gonna force us to make some changes with some of the equipment we have, because now you gotta be able to get parts quick and know right now, Toro is still seems to be right on. We haven’t had any problems with them.
Trent Manning:
What do you like best about your job?
Myles Kemp:
Being appreciated, the fact that I come in and everybody’s glad I’m there and they’re happy to see me and you know that they appreciate what I do. You know, stuff that they really need done and they’re happy to have it done. So I would say that and definitely the ability to do something a little bit different every day, Building those projects. And one of those pictures was attractor. That was a huge product. And it’s nice to have a project that you can go work on or just get on a cart and go outside.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. And I got to imagine there’s a lot of jobs where that’s not an option jumping on a golf cart and going and riding around and just enjoying the weather.
Myles Kemp:
Yeah. They’re just stuck in a building and that’s not for me.
Trent Manning:
My dad, he worked in a factory for 30 years and when he went in the building, they never saw this on it. Until it came out, You don’t know if it’s Ryan and you don’t know anything.
Myles Kemp:
I don’t know exactly how it is down there, but in the Northeast you could go to work in the morning in the dark and leave in the afternoon in the dark,
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah.
Myles Kemp:
That’s not for me.
Trent Manning:
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen at work.
Myles Kemp:
Strangest thing is in one of those pictures that upside down. So that more was about 120 feet up the hill and it was wet and he made a turn and it slid sideways and he rolled that thing all the way down the hill. And then he was on it when it flipped into that position
Trent Manning:
Oh, wow.
Myles Kemp:
upside down. Yep. That was the strangest to me. He was a little shaken up, but he was. He crawled out from that thing. Now we didn’t see that part, but that’s what he said. So the bars come across your chest, you know, there’s really no way to jump out of that thing. And he went over, it destroyed, the bars to see that particular one doesn’t have a roll bar on it. So the air cleaner, a few other things, but we still use that. I would have to say there was another one. When I first started up in Vermont, we had gang wars and a older guy with Mo and there was one spot that was out of play inside, like a dog leg, but they would keep the height down. He spun around his hat blew off. And he spun around to grab it and he turned and drove right into a pond. And the tractor went in and that was the first craziest thing I’ve ever seen.
Trent Manning:
Okay. Ben, any rods?
Myles Kemp:
Oh yeah, But I didn’t know that then I didn’t know exactly what happened. I just knew he wrecked the engine, even though, I don’t feel that he did it just, it got wrecked, but now I know now that it did that’s, that’s what had happened to it. He was one of those older guys, so he felt bad. He went, when it come to work, you want to pay for it. And I’m one of those deals, but yeah, so that was the oldest 4, 2 31, I think.
Trent Manning:
that’s been my experience. If a diesel goes and while it’s running, it usually bends a rod.
Myles Kemp:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
That’s what I’ve seen. We’ll have to go back to the picture that we’re looking at. Is that a five foot wall? A Stonewall? I mean it’s four or five feet.
Myles Kemp:
It’s five feet to the top of that from where he is. So he slid down about 110 feet or so. And when he got to the end, he said he was pointing forward. So if you look at it, he went 180 over. Yeah, the zero turns don’t have much traction, you know, side to side on the hill.
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
Myles Kemp:
and that was wet and he was not supposed to be there, but that happens
Trent Manning:
I think it was John. was say on the is amazing what the operator will do to get one more blade of grass.
Myles Kemp:
right.
Trent Manning:
You know,
Myles Kemp:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
this is kind of a left. What’s one of your pet peeves around the shop.
Myles Kemp:
My number one, pet peeve is spitting on the floor and that I hate that and they don’t do it now, but it’s happened before. You know, a new guy might come in and do it like, oh dude, I might have to kneel there anytime. Plus just just go do that somewhere else. That’s a big one. That’s a pet peeve and then, it’s the same other things that we all talk about stuff getting put away. That’s broken, That’s tough. We have a small crew, we have nine guys and. The role part time, you know, for the most part, we have older guys working and also if they put something away, it might be a day or two before someone else needs it and they go to get it and, you know, not working or whatever. And you know, of course all the other stuff, even the carts full of crap and that sort of thing, but
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
Myles Kemp:
can get over that.
Trent Manning:
I understand spending on the floor. I wouldn’t be able to tolerate that either. And you said that, and it kind of took me by surprise, but I haven’t had it happen in a long time, but I have seen that happen before and I would say something really fast.
Myles Kemp:
I guess it’s a garage, but it’s not, it’s not a barn. It’s not a field and wants to garage. all working in there.
Trent Manning:
What would be your dream job or opportunity?
Myles Kemp:
I think at this point I would probably like to stay doing what I’m doing. But maybe in a few years, go to more of a part-time type of position and then concentrate more on my side hustles I think I’d like to do that. I don’t want to go back to any of those, you know, high profile jobs. We’re a nice public course. Cut at an eighth of an inch and you know, I’m happy with that. I like that. So I think I always want to be involved in, the maintenance end of the golf course.
Trent Manning:
Well, this is your request. new one day. So just so everybody knows miles sent this question then on our survey, if you hadn’t done the survey, go to our Twitter page and in the bio, there’s a link to the survey and you can tell us what questions you want to ask. So miles put this in and he’s getting it back right here.
Myles Kemp:
I know I had to study for this one,
Trent Manning:
Yeah,
Myles Kemp:
but I think for me when I first started, so when I was at lake city, those guys were. Pretty regimented. And they told us when you leave here, people are going to want to hire you. And they’re going to seek you out and all these things. And so I think I was really cocky at first and I think I probably shouldn’t have been. I thought I could do it all, but I couldn’t. If I couldn’t, it was someone else’s fault or, they put it away broken and. I wish I knew then not to be like that cause I’m not like that now pretty laid back. But that was tough. Cause I thought that I’d be able to do it all. I couldn’t, I thought that or the other guy left because he couldn’t do it. Well, the reason that he couldn’t do it as, because maybe there’s other turmoil around the building or something. Social issues, I guess. so I think that would be the big thing too, is just been a lot more laid back in the beginning toward the other people that I worked with. I thought about that a few days in a row. And that’s really the only thing I keep coming back to
Trent Manning:
I think that’s an important, and I can relate to that. I mean, in my younger days I was, you know, I, I thought I knew more of.
Myles Kemp:
If the one guy left, he just left in the middle of the day stormed off. So that’s it. I’m done. I’m out. He left. And everybody blames him. Well, if you really hear the whole story, there’s a lot of reasons. He didn’t just decide in one minute that he was going to leave something built up to that point, you know? So you got to look at it from that side and what will happen if you take that job, you may find out and, you know, being hotheaded in the beginning, doesn’t help.
Trent Manning:
what are the latest tips and tricks you’ve seen or used that you would like to share?
Myles Kemp:
Number one. I know that Westminster mentioned this but don’t use cheap crease. It doesn’t save money. Definitely need to use a good quality. I like aluminum complex creases, but I know there’s other water resistant ones out there. And then one thing I’ve seen a lot of is if I take out pins and bushings to redo them and we have a lot of downtime in the winter, so we can go through that. It seems like there’s always a pin that’s worn on one side and not.
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
Myles Kemp:
And so if you look back at it, the side that’s worn on the low side would be where the weight might be, like say a lift pin. One thing I started doing few years back was making sure that I don’t grease them in the same position every time, if it’s on the lift and I greased the lift pin that grease may not go in the lower part or the back top part. But if I take it, put it on the ground and get that pressure off it, that seems to. Grease would get into those other spots when there’s less pressure, especially a rear axle that kibitz on a fairway more, you know, we’ve got one big pin.
Trent Manning:
That’s a really good tip and I don’t know why, but I’ve never thought about that. And I’m probably guilty of grease in it the same way every time, but that makes total sense.
Myles Kemp:
I have it, you know, it does, we had a pinch, your offer more. And I, and I’m looking at it. I’m like I grease the thing. You can see that there’s grease residue everywhere, but it’s not in those two spots.
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
Myles Kemp:
And that’s the only thing that could be. So it would make sense to me that it would work, but jury’s out on that. So I haven’t done pins and bushings in a couple of years now. Maybe that’s why, but I’ll also, cause we’ve got a lot of other stuff going on. The other thing too, is one of the things I keep in the shop all the time. I even keep it in my house. Is this tape from 3m? I forget the part number, but they’ve got this tape that you cannot take apart once you put it together. So if you’ve got a wire that breaks or switch or something that you’ve got to get the mower back in this tape is amazing. It’s called, it’s number. Oh 6 1 4 7. And it’s called a moisture sealant tape.
Trent Manning:
Okay.
Myles Kemp:
If you touch those two pieces together, they don’t come back. And I’ve used that for years and that’s, stuff’s great. You can get it on Amazon now or, Lawson or any of those types of places, but I think they were charging $40 a roll for Amazon. It, because it for 12 or Granger has it too. And the only other one too is not to use the cheap washers. I’ve always used the Lawson puff, pork washers. And I find with those thinner washers, or you put some pressure on them, they bow out, Nick you’ll see them bone. So they’re not clamping that whatever you’re trying to clamp together, it’s just not working. It’s noticed that. with brushes on the Jacobson mowers, everything about those rear brushed assemblies on those has to be clamped together. There’s nothing else that holds it together. And so if you use the cheap washer you can see it. And That’s what came from the factory at that time.
Trent Manning:
That’s a good one.
Myles Kemp:
I think they’ve saved me more than once. They definitely let some of the older mowers where you had to clamp the roller brackets for the height. They definitely see the height state tighter on those. If you use a better word,
Trent Manning:
Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. I’ve seen that plenty.
Myles Kemp:
And the only other one, and then I’ll let it go. But years ago, whenever we top dress, we always go out, we’ll do like send out two mowers and start on the first screen and maybe the ninth screen. And we started switching that up. So after you taught dress, maybe don’t start on the same green every time, maybe start on the fifth or sixth one in. Because as you’re always picking up, seeing even as much as you try to take it off there, there’s still going to something, so if you start on the same one, by the time you get to the last one, your cut quality is diminished. So maybe starting on. And I know that’s not always possible because of play and things like that, but. I think that helps quite a bit. Cause one of the places that it worked, we put sand down and that was the only way we picked them up was for the cutting in it. He didn’t brush them. And I know I’ve heard one other person on your podcast. Talk about that. I think we all have tons of tips and tricks. We just don’t realize that that’s what they are.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. It’s trying to identify what, what you do know that could help somebody out is not always an easy task. Well, let’s talk about Assata. You got going on over there?
Myles Kemp:
I know you know, about the birdie bar. That was because of that one place that I worked, where we had to make the height really low. And we were cutting really, really low 0.080 at one point. And the tool I was using at the time didn’t allow for that, it would be off it wasn’t right out of the box. We all know if you put a little pressure on it and it was different. And we’re spending all this money on these precision ground rollers and new cutting units, just to keep the real diameters biggest we could. So that’s where that idea came from, was to make something better. And so I worked down at, from there
Trent Manning:
How long ago was that that started.
Myles Kemp:
Late two thousands, I guess probably oh 7 0 8, maybe somewhere in there made a few. And I used them a couple of the local guys tried them and. And that’s kind of where it started and then it built up and then a few things happen in my personal side of life. So I just had to put it on the back burner for awhile. And then in about 2015 or 16, I started back up again and been working out at from there trying to make, a real good. Quality height of cut gauge. That’s the same thing we’re used to ergonomically. We don’t have to relearn how to hold it. And it’s comfortable
Trent Manning:
Hmm.
Myles Kemp:
and rugged. You want a good fasteners on there. So, the fasteners are not a small bolt with just a couple of threads or a screw rather than there it’s a heavy duty bolt then. So that’s where it started was from having to do that and not having the tool to be able to do it. And then worked it up from there. So now I assemble everyone that’s ever left Warwick, Rhode Island, every one I’ve built and put together. And I’m the only one that has done it. And that’s been a challenge learning, everything. The logistics of it, When I ordered the material, the material comes to the manufacturer and then I take it home and I inspect each piece and then I take it back to them and then it could be four weeks or six weeks or eight weeks before they make it, so sometimes I run out so learning all that, the balancing and how to do it, and then listening to customer feedback and Trying to adapt it seems to have worked out. People really seem to like it.
Trent Manning:
Yeah ever want other I’ll talk to as enjoyed using them? I mean, pretty much everybody in my group, if you will, that’s the preferred Bharti use. And we thank you for that. We appreciate you making it as awesome. Have you ever thought about making a grimmer bar or anything like that?
Myles Kemp:
So I have. More bar prototype and don’t have groomers. So for me, I’m like, all right, this works good. I had a couple of grooming reels that I got, cause also because of the fact that I have grinding equipment on my house, I also have a lot of grinding customers. And so I got ahold of a grinding unit and I’m just trying to figure out, there’s a couple of things there. Didn’t quite understand that now I understand a little bit better. I think that will probably every year I say, oh, it’ll be out in a couple months. And then that was like three years ago. So yeah, I do have a groomer gauge coming of good. Another couple of things that I think that’s gonna probably. That goes back into where I’ll be needing to work more, to do that and less time doing other stuff, because it got a couple of really good ideas and not stopping with just that tool. The newer design. We talked about earlier, I bumped the Verde bar thickness up to half an inch and then. Super stable. It’s really rigid. Doesn’t flex, if you flex that, then you’re doing an, a purpose and there’s no need for that. You know, if I give it to you to use and your assistant or my assistant or whoever, we’re all gonna get the same reading on it, because there’s no way to influence it by putting more pressure on that.
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
Myles Kemp:
So that newer design that’s really good design. And then now I’m working on a few other things to make that a little bit easier for people to use. Hopefully I have them together, but again, I do all of it myself. So now I’ve got to update everything to add those tour,
Trent Manning:
Can you walk us through the process? So you get all the material machined somewhere, and then you’re doing all the assembly.
Myles Kemp:
Yes. So the process as it is now is the company that manufactures them as a regular. They manufactured, all kinds of things. Hydraulic valve spools, they have a whole thing. And I think they started with screw machines. So what I’ll do is I’ll say I want, this many bars and they’ll order the stock in. And then when that comes, I’ll pick it up. I’ll bring it back to my house. And I’ll take each one out now. And so they’re 18 inches long, but I have a granite plate and the granite plate is 18 inches long also. So I actually start the birdie bars out at 18 and a quarter. That way they fit flat on a plate and I don’t have to deeper them or anything first. Cause I’d actually was a little bit of a challenge, but worked my way through that. So now I check them and then any that aren’t quite right or off a little bit. Don’t use those, they can be used for something else, but I had a batch come in one time, looked like they all fell off a truck, so I couldn’t use them. And lately they’ve been really good. So that’s what happens. They come in, we’ll check them. Then I take them back to them. And they might be there. It could be a month or two, depending on how busy they are almost small customer compared to some of the stuff that they make. Then they put them in this automated machine and it brings them down to the 18 inches and then it cuts them to make sure they’re perfectly flat and they call it qualifying it. So it qualifies it in these special clamps that they have. Then they do the work. Then the side that we use on the rollers, we call that the measuring surface. Then they put that back in this clamp and they make sure it’s flat. So when I get them, that used to be, I’d have to come home, check them and, I would use a scotch brake pad on a vibrating sander with a couple of cushions in the middle, just to clean them up the last batch, including the ones that just came. I don’t have to do that anymore. So I take them out of the box from them, double check the flatness to make sure there’s no crazy marks on them. And then they can go right back out. So now the finishes a little bit brighter than it used to be. Looks a lot better and it’s more considered. Once then they go from there, they go to a hard coat company and they hard coat them. That may take a little time, but get them from there, bring them back, make sure there’s no blemishes or anything. And then they go out to get the laser marking put on.
Trent Manning:
Okay.
Myles Kemp:
There’s a guy that does that for me. And he’s the guy who also does the custom engraving. If somebody wants it, that hasn’t worked out as well as I thought, because they have specific formats to use. You can’t use JPEG, it’s gotta be vector or EPS or think the other one’s called Adobe outline. It’s gotta be something like that to make it work.
Trent Manning:
I got ya. Yeah.
Myles Kemp:
There’s other ways around it now. And I’ve tried the other ways in the machine that he uses has a lot of power. So that’s why that white looks really white on the newer ones. And the other ones I’ve tried that you could buy for yourself. You can buy ones from a company called glow forge. So I found a guy locally that has one and we tried it and it just doesn’t work. So that’s why the custom engravings are a little bit tricky for me to do every now and then somebody will want one and they’ll have the right format. so when I get them back from there, then I have to put them together. I have the parts and sometimes they’ll stay out there a couple hours after work or on the weekends. That’s pretty much all I do is anything to do with that. Then, the gauges, there’s three different dials. I just added another one that has orange needles on it. I recently had a problem with my eye and visibility was an issue and the orange one I could see. So, you know, so I said, all right, well, I put that on the web and I think I’ve sold a few, I think, four or five in the last couple of weeks.
Trent Manning:
Okay, awesome. The hard coding that you put on there, does that help when you’re turning the roller wearing a down,
Myles Kemp:
That’s its intention. So if you put that up there, you spin the ruler, the cast iron rulers will dig right through it. Your aluminum is not supposed to. I feel that’s an area that could be improved because it doesn’t seem like it’s as good as it’s supposed to be. It seems like they were through in spots and certain customers where I’m right through. So that’s an issue try to address. But I had a company put the, you ever buy like a solves all bleed and it’s got that cool tint on the cutting teeth, or they call it cobalt or whatever the trade name is they want to use. So how the company do it with that. And they put that stuff on this bar and then they put the blue coating on the top. And you could scratch the blue coating off with anything in the shop, the screws. But you could not get through that other code. It was impervious. I tried and I took everything that we would use, beat up old cast, iron roll as rollers from an old Blitzer real, and it just didn’t go through, but it was this brownish color. And it would been too expensive. The cost to that would have been, people wouldn’t have bought it, you know? And so anyway, he and I stayed in contact over the years and he’s got another idea, but that same material went up in the last year. It went up three or four times. You know, I don’t know if that’ll ever happen or not. That’s the idea behind hard coding. It’s supposed to keep that from wearing through and, and then last quite a while but it’s not the be all end all. There’s gotta be some other thing out there,
Trent Manning:
I agree. I think there’s probably some answer. I don’t know, like you’re saying, is it economical or not?
Myles Kemp:
well, that’s it. I mean, do you want to pay, you know, three or $400 for a nice way to cook age? That’s not absurd. That’s reasonable, but seven or $800. That’s a lot, especially if you could accidentally drop it and the whole thing gets messed up. So somewhere there’s got to be a medium. I don’t know what that is, but I’ve got some ideas, but I don’t have an answer for that.
Trent Manning:
Can you tell the listeners how to get ahold of you if they want a birdie bar?
Myles Kemp:
Twitter. So it’s par bar company@twitter.com. I have Facebook, you could go search it on Facebook. It comes right up and the websites, PowerBar company. And they can go on there. There’s a link to send a message that will come right to my phone. Most of the time I can answer pretty quick. So those are the best ways right there. And. I don’t have the Instagram and all that, but it’s just linked to the other pages.
Trent Manning:
I don’t know. Pretty much just stay on Twitter. That’s where a lot of the golf texts are, so I just kinda stay there.
Myles Kemp:
Yeah, that’s interesting. I like it. I, liked it. know, like yesterday with the chicken and the more that thing was,
Trent Manning:
that was hilarious.
Myles Kemp:
We have the same. I’ve never seen that before, and that definitely fits in that category.
Trent Manning:
Yes. Yep. Yeah. I don’t know how that happened, but my will had to get hacked around and get him to tell us that. Well thank you so much miles for being here and talking to us and to the listeners. Go get you a birdie bar. You won’t
Myles Kemp:
I got plenty of them coming up,
Trent Manning:
all right. Awesome. Hope you enjoyed hearing from miles. Great and chatting with him. How cool is that? Making your own Halakha gage. And making the best one around. I’m going to be prouder at miles and. All the stuff he’s accomplished. And if you hadn’t checked into a birdie bar, We’re checking it out. I’ve been using the one for, I don’t know how many years now. Absolutely love it. So go get one. On another note. Sip is having an open house. On Friday, October 22nd. in Tampa, Florida. You can, RSVP. So they can get a head count for lunch. John Patterson will be there. talking about. Real theory. And there’ll also be a factory tour. And real turf tax will be in the house. So I would love to be. Meeting all the listeners. So you buy thank you so much for listening to the real 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 real turf techs.