The Oak Ridge Board of Education voted Monday night to use state funds to buy new manufacturing tools for Oak Ridge High School.
These tools, a 3D printer and a 5-axis mill, will be part of ORHS classes working with local industry and research companies in the Oak Ridge and East Tennessee area, and possibly selling needed parts to some of them.
The funding will come from a $1.24 million Tennessee Department of Education Innovative High School (iSchool) grant that the school board added to the school system budget. Board Vice Chairwoman Laura McLean made the motion to add the funding to the budget and member Ben Stephens seconded.
Holly Cross, supervisor of career readiness and communication for the city school system, said she and Mark Buckner, Center for Career and Technology Education iSchool robotics innovation design and manufacturing teacher, requested this grant. The school board voted to spend $119,795 on the Markforged X7 composite 3D printer. It voted to spend $152,295 on the Haas UMC-500SS 5-axis Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) Mill from Phillips Commercial.
"You won't find this type of equipment in many high schools," Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said of the 3D printer.
Cross, in a phone interview, told The Oak Ridger students can design and build metal pieces with the 5-axis mill while the new 3D printer can print carbon fiber parts. She said the ability to print carbon fiber made the new 3D printer a step up from the school's existing polylactic acid (PLA) plastics printers.
She said Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering, Tennessee Tool and Engineering and Lokar Performance Products are interested in working with the high school.
"They will come up with problems for our students to solve," she said.
Students then will make drawings and prototypes of parts for those companies, possibly even selling the parts.
Cross said Buckner would like to set up a shop "where we're actually making products for real people for real money," which he confirmed in an email.
Buckner, in his email to The Oak Ridger, gave more details about the operations of this facility, the iSchool Design and Manufacturing Center. He stated the school will re-invest the money from these sales for new equipment and materials. It will be used to provide scholarships for qualifying students seeking to further their learning at local trade-schools, community colleges or four-year programs.
Cross said Buckner currently teaches a dual enrollment robotics course for juniors and seniors at ORHS, working with Roane State Community College. However, the school is hoping to expand this program, offering related classes for sophomores and freshmen through the Innovative High School (iSchool) program. The $1.24 million grant the state approved is for all these iSchool programs at ORHS.
"The Haas UMC-500SS 5-axis CNC and Markforged X7 composite 3D printer are only two of the cutting edge/state-of-the-art tools that will be used to empower and accelerate the learning of our students," Buckner said in an email response to The Oak Ridger. He said the school system will combine these tools with "the most advanced and proven processes in agile engineering and project management ... innovation and design, critical thinking and team-based problem solving to create a word-class program in digital innovation design and manufacturing."
He said the school is aligning the iSchool program of studies, made possible in part by the Innovative High School Model Grant the school system won over the summer, with the needs of local industry partners. These partners include industrial companies like Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering, Tennessee Tool and Engineering and Lokar. They also include research organizations like Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI). Still other partners with which Oak Ridge Schools hopes to align are local educational partners and programs like the Southeastern Advanced Machine Tools Network (SEAMTN) and America’s Cutting Edge (ACE) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Industry 4.0 automation and manufacturing programs at Roane State Community College; and engineering and manufacturing programs at Tennessee Tech University.
"A part of the program of studies is to inspire, motivate, and challenge students by providing real-world problems in a work-based learning setting," he said.
He gave various examples of these projects, which include more than the collaborations Cross discussed in the interview. They also include participation in the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge, Airgineers STEAM (Science, Technology, Art and Mathematics) Drone Challenge and ideas the students dream up as part of an iSchool Lean Startup pitch competition.
"We are also aiming to create a middle-college program where students can graduate with both a high school and associate's degree, as well as a for credit dual-enrollment/AP matriculation program with UTK and TTU (Tennessee Tech)," he said.
Ben Pounds is a staff reporter for The Oak Ridger. Call him at (865) 441-2317, email him at bpounds@oakridger.com follow him on Twitter @Bpoundsjournal.