This past fall Bolton Central School’s Maintenance Mechanic, Charles Robinson was made aware of a potential problem. Many of the plastic stops that hold our school windows in place were either, cracked, broken or missing entirely. The manufacturer did not have any available and online searches came up empty. Mr. Robinson had an idea; maybe Mr. Boire’s Drawing for Design and Production students could come up with something?
Drawing for Design and Production is a course offered to students in grades 9-12. It runs for 40 weeks and the curriculum involves visual problem solving and technical drawing applications. The rationale for this course is to give students the knowledge for understanding design methods and drawing knowledge needed for production planning and design. Students will study and learn the use of conventional drafting techniques and then advance on to implement this knowledge to learn CAD (computer assisted drafting) applications. If time permits, students may create items with additive manufacturing (3D Printing) and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling.
9th grader Abe Figueroa took on the opportunity to put his knowledge to the test. Abe took all the measurements with a vernier caliper and put them into a CAD program. The dimensions and placements needed to be just right. Part of the problem with the original window stops was that they were hollow. The piece had to be designed to serve the original purpose and last longer than the parts they were replacing. After some trial and error, the piece was ready to be put into the software that runs the 3D printer. Once the design proved to be accurate and successful, the printer software allowed for printing many at a time. Ingenuity saves the day!
Thanks to Abe, Mr. Boire and Mr. Robinson for being so resourceful in solving this real life problem!