During his 15 years in industry, Matt Arnos wore many hats. He went from sweeping shop floors to machining, engineering, fabricating, and running CNC machines. He painted, assembled, and wired his way into the role of installer. He traveled the United States, installing manufacturing equipment and teaching others how to operate the machines.
“The part I enjoyed most of all was training the operators,” said Arnos, Stryker Local School District Career Tech Education (CTE) instructor and FFA adviser. “That was something that I looked forward to.”
His enthusiasm for teaching others has served Arnos well. For the past eight years, he has helmed the manufacturing program in Stryker Local Schools, Stryker, Ohio. When he began teaching at the high school, there was no CTE program in place and no physical shop. He worked with what he had, converting a teacher workspace into a tech shop of sorts.
“I didn’t make a lot of bonus points with the teachers when I moved their tables, chairs, the microwave, fridge, and pop machine out of the teacher work room,” Arnos said. “It’s been a very long process of building up the program.”
The modest beginnings have evolved into an exemplary setup. Arnos created a woodshop, greenhouse, aquaponics and animal science area. He appropriated a maintenance space that in the past two years has undergone a major remodel. Today, Stryker’s CNC Shop is home to a Haas VF-1 CNC vertical mill, a Haas ST-10 CNC lathe, a Laguna 4' by 8' CNC wood router, a Lincoln Electric Torchmate 4400 plasma cutting table, and 17 computer stations that run Mastercam CAD/CAM software from CNC Software of Tolland, Conn.
The Stryker district and Arnos start the high schoolers’ tech trajectory in eighth grade, with an introductory approach to CNC. Arnos’s laptop is connected to a Clevertouch interactive display; students watch the process of CNC programming, then see how parts are run. With younger students, if one seems particularly interested in a program or part, Arnos will have that student load the program and run the part. By the time they are juniors and seniors, students are exposed to the school’s Capstone class. It is more focused, and programming is at the forefront. A class of 15 students sometimes has 15 projects going on at once. Arnos estimates that, in the previous school year, students completed more than one thousand projects.
In Ohio, the program is categorized as career technical education. The focus is on supplying the manufacturing industry with skilled workers who, among other tasks, can program CNC machines and run parts. “I’m skipping over a lot of manual machining and getting them right into what Mastercam has to offer,” Arnos said. “I could spend the whole year just teaching them the old ways, but I guess at this point I’d much rather just show them how it’s done today.”
How it is done today is in many ways different from what Arnos learned during his years in machine shops. Stryker High School’s mascot is the panther, so machined panther paws are a popular pursuit in the tech program. But even crafting panther paws is not what it was just a few years ago, thanks to updated technology. Arnos is old enough to remember when manufacturing—and duplicating school mascots—did not involve CAD/CAM software. At times, his high school students challenge the notion, asking why anybody would invest in manufacturing software. Arnos will forever be armed with the counter-argument: speed and accuracy. Even the most sophisticated machines in the world are useless without capable programming software.
“Just this afternoon, we cut out a 10" diameter panther paw on the plasma cutter in 45 seconds,” he said. “Try doing that with a handheld plasma torch and an untrained operator.”
When Arnos asked a student if he could cut the same part on a manual machine in 45 seconds, the student replied, “No way. I couldn’t even walk over to the machine in 45 seconds, let alone try to cut out a round circle with a mounting hole on the top of a panther paw.”
One way that Arnos engages students is through hands-on class projects. They learn about end mills, chamfering parts, and engraving with ball end mills. Recently, the students used Dynamic Motion toolpaths to produce an aluminum coaster; each machined an “S” on the inside of the coaster using an 1/8-inch end mill. The students kept discovering ways to improve the aluminum coaster and ended up posting the program out more than 10 times during them the old ways, but I guess at this point I’d much rather just show them how it’s done today.”
How it is done today is in many ways different from what Arnos learned during his years in machine shops. Stryker High School’s mascot is the panther, so machined panther paws are a popular pursuit in the tech program. But even crafting panther paws is not what it was just a few years ago, thanks to updated technology. Arnos is old enough to remember when manufacturing—and duplicating school mascots—did not involve CAD/CAM software. At times, his high school students challenge the notion, asking why anybody would invest in manufacturing software. Arnos will forever be armed with the counter-argument: speed and accuracy. Even the most sophisticated machines in the world are useless without capable programming software.
“Just this afternoon, we cut out a 10” diameter panther paw on the plasma cutter in 45 seconds,” he said. “Try doing that with a handheld plasma torch and an untrained operator.”
When Arnos asked a student if he could cut the same part on a manual machine in 45 seconds, the student replied, “No way. I couldn’t even walk over to the machine in 45 seconds, let alone try to cut out a round circle with a mounting hole on the top of a panther paw.”
One way that Arnos engages students is through hands-on class projects. They learn about end mills, chamfering parts, and engraving with ball end mills. Recently, the students used Dynamic Motion toolpaths to produce an aluminum coaster; each machined an “S” on the inside of the coaster using an 1/8-inch end mill. The students kept discovering ways to improve the aluminum coaster and ended up posting the program out more than 10 times during read yet, so we’ll project Mastercam on the screen, and rotate the object around, or change something,” Arnos said. “Then those students will take that software file, plug in the USB drive, and the instructor will help them find their file. They know how to start the Haas desktop mill based off colors because of the Haas mill’s color-coded controls.
“So, kindergarteners are physically starting the milling machine and watching it run, all based off the color of the keys.”
In third through sixth grades, students are altering Mastercam text, resizing DXF files, and changing toolpath geometry. They learn to use the code editor so they can make fixes at their computers rather than at the machine. Though the grade school program is new, Stryker Schools may already have some CNC prodigies. At least two sixth-grade students can completely create files, delete the wireframe off the model they are given, create, post, and run the file on the machine to craft a part—all without any help from their instructor. The grade-schoolers are well-equipped with two laser cutters, a dozen 3D printers, a desktop wood router, plastic injection molding, and a Haas desktop mill. Several types of robotics and stations are set up with plastic engines where engine troubleshooting is performed.
Arnos considers it inevitable that there will be a day when more students arrive in his classroom with additional experience, skills, and interest than his former and current eighth-graders. He has three elementary-school-aged daughters in the program, so he experiences firsthand the fruits of his labor both in school and at home. His kids regularly bring home a variety of wood, metal, and plastic projects. Also, he has noticed a difference in how teachers view the tech program overall. It has come a long way since teachers were angry at him for removing the microwave and soda machine from their workroom.
“I’ve been blown away as some of the academic teachers have started picking up on different things the students do with the software and helping them with their projects,” Arnos said. “That’s neat to see because some of the teachers didn’t really see a value in the program three years ago when it was started. Now they see the value and recognize that students are excited to come to school because they have this program.”