Welding Students Create New Russellville Area Technology Center School Sign

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Welding Students Create New Russellville Area
Technology Center School Sign
The Russellville ATC now has its new lettering on
the building for all to see.
Amber Allen, a Sr. at Russellville HS, cuts out
letters on the new CNC Plasma Arc Cutter.
Russellville Area Technology Center now has new
school lettering with the right name to promote
technical education thanks to Rex Cundiffs
welding class. It was important to me, my
students, and our school principal to be
identified by our correct school name, says
Cundiff. It was confusing for people to see one
name on the road sign and another name on our
building. As a result, we decided to do
something about this dilemma and turned it into a
wonderful learning project. Students
entered into the project with excitement,
determination and the goal of creating a
professional new look for the school. The month
long project was created using the new CNC Plasma
Arc Cutter. Cundiffs advisory committee
recommended buying the equipment because of
industry demand in the area. His principal
agreed when he realized the overall value of this
equipment and that it would save the school
approximately 2,000.00 for this project
alone. The CNC Plasma Arc Cutter is made up of
three components a standard PC on a roll-around
cart with software for importing and reproducing
almost any shape from scanned images, computer
fonts, to common drawing programs a 4 x 4
Plasma CAM cutting table which includes an
electronic control box and table frame with a
moving torch carrier and a plasma cutter (a
conventional unit that attaches to the computer
control cutting table). Visit the Plasma Cam
Company website at http//plasmacam.com/ for more
detailed information.
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Roger Boyd, the student project coordinator, is
shown here using the GMAW process to weld the
letters to the stainless steel flat bar.
From l to r Roger Boyd, Amber Allen, and Jon
Yates proudly display the Russellville lettering
they created in class.
 Mr. Cundiff ordered one 4 x 10 18-gauge
stainless steel sheet to use for the lettering.
We logged onto the computer to decide what font
and size we wanted to use for the letters, said
Cundiff. We decided on an 18 letter so it
could be easily seen from the road. Once the font
and size were determined, we loaded the stainless
steel into the machine and cut the letters one at
a time. This machine is amazing. We can see the
letter on the computer screen and the student can
then decide how to best use the steel in order to
get the greatest yield. Its like working a
jigsaw puzzle.  Once the letters were cut,
students deburred the edges using a standard flat
file. The letters were then welded to a
stainless steel flat bar to form the complete
sign using the Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW)
process with stainless steel wire. This provided
a fast and clean weld. The sections were then
fastened to the school wall using stainless steel
concrete anchors.  The sign brought a real world
project to the students in the welding class and
also a sense of personal pride in knowing that it
would be on our school for all to see, says Don
Evans, principal of the ATC. The welding
students were so proud when they looked at their
finished work after they mounted it on the
building. I was proud of them too. It is also
important to note that the high tech equipment
they used might also help some of our students to
land jobs in local industries.  My students
feel they have left their mark on a worthwhile
endeavor, says Cundiff. This machine is great
to use and provided an opportunity for students
of various skill levels to have a part in the
process. We all have a great sense of pride in
the final outcome.
Click on logo to go to KY Tech Website
Good News Flash 19 March 20, 2003