Students at Clearwater Secondary School have a new educational tool to train with.
“This puts us several years ahead of any other school in the province,” said principal Alan Stel, speaking of the school’s new CNC (computer numerical control) wood router.
Stel gave credit to a donation from Wells Gray Community Forest through the Clearwater Educational Woodlot Society for helping to pay for it.
The robot-like machine can move in three dimensions and be controlled to 1/1000th of an inch, says woodworking teacher Brent Buck. The large vacuum table behind him holds material down. With a 12” envelope, the machine could even be used to carve masks and other sculptures from blocks of wood.
“We saw this as a way to engage the students,” said Buck. “There’s nothing more attractive to students today than a computer screen.”
Using the machine will teach a variety of skills such as computer assisted drawing (CAD) and even geographical information systems (GIS).
“It’s been a long process but we’re now leaps and bounds ahead,” said the teacher. “It’s quite a feather in our cap.”
The school also recently obtained a CNC plasma cutter for the metal shop.