Four hours of walking slowly, holding a precision made piece of wood, guiding the wood down the edge banding machine. A methodical process that requires intense concentration, one mistake can throw off the entire project. Four hours of sweating and pressure will pay off as the accurate works of art come together to form a masterpiece.

¨We took the cabinets to our industry partner Millworx and we edge banded the material there.  We are in the process now of actually assembling the cabinets in the class,” said Stowe Hoffius, the CNC teacher.

Most people don’t give two thoughts to the cabinets in their house or garage that they use everyday. Students in Hoffius’ CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) class have been learning the extensive process it takes in order to build cabinets. A project that began at the start of semester, a group of students have been designing different cabinet sizes and will finish installing the cabinets in the coming weeks. Building cabinets is a traditional project that each generation of CNC students participate in.

“We are presently designing and developing a set of cabinets and constructing them that will go in the tool room inside the construction department lab. It’s a three section module that will give us eight feet of cabinets,” said Hoffius.

On Thursday February 4th, five students traveled to their office in Springdale on Elm Springs Rd. and got to experience the production process of an industrial standard company. On the outside, the tin building doesn’t look inviting but on the inside, a world of skilled labor and precise management dominates the successful company. Millworx owns top of the line equipment and can turn out top quality cabinets in a mind blowing time. They design, produce, and install cabinets such as granite dentist cabinets, garage cabinets, and plumbing cabinets.  

“We made the parts and needed to edge band them (a process that puts the shiny wood finish on the edge of the cabinets) so we partnered with Millworx Inc. to complete the process,” said senior Caroline Hornor.  

A multi-tool project, students learn how to operate simple tools such as drills to industry standard equipment such as the CNC machine. The CNC is a precision wood cutting machine. It uses a variety of valves, drills, and moving parts to cut any type of wood with amazing accuracy.

“The cabinet project is done and created completely by students.  We design the parts on the computer, then we cut them out using a CNC machine,” said Hornor.

The process took four hours to edge band the cabinets. This time frame is nothing compared to the two weeks designing the cabinets, the two weeks cutting them out, and the four weeks assembling them. This huge project will benefit students in their future careers.

¨The students are learning exactly how the cabinets are constructed and the business model that we are trying to develop to market these customers for a user. The ultimate goal is to go to a customer’s garage, measure their garage, come back and design the cabinets, cut them out, construct them, and then install them in the customer’s garage,” said Hoffius.

Students like Horner have applied simple construction fundamentals to widen their range of skills for their future careers.

¨From this class I have learned the importance of understanding how much work goes into building what we believe are simple things in life.  I have also learned how to see if something is well made or not” said Hornor.

The cabinet has been an enjoyable experience for students such as sophomore Morgan King.

“Getting to work with other students and learning how to use the tools is the best part” said Morgan King.

The cabinet project has allowed students to apply their math skills, their hands on skills, and business skills in an effort to prepare them for a successful career.