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Young Engineers from Bruntál For two years the Bruntál Polytechnical Secondary School and Business Academy (Střední průmyslová škola a  Obchodní akademie, Bruntál, p.  o.), collaborated with Linaset, a. s., a  significant company in the region of Bruntál and Opava. It started with a brave and clear vision of a voluntary extracurricular club for the students to design and produce a split injection mold, and make two plastic products: a windscreen scraper and a yo-yo. The Government of the MoravianSilesian Region supports technical education. The school was therefore granted sixteen million Czech crowns from the Centre of Technical Education in the District of Bruntál regional project to purchase new equipment for CNC machining. Continuous modernization of the school’s machine shop helps keep pace with topical trends in engineering. Linaset, a. s., producer of press dyes and injection molds, invested 750,000 CZK into a project in which ten engineering students,

with a teacher of vocational training and Linaset engineers, participated. Having experts and professionals engaged is one of the most efficient ways to connect education and professional training with enterprise and practice. At the beginning of the collaboration, the students engaged with the project took a few excursions and lectures in the factory, learning principal information on which they based the project itself. One of the first and crucial steps was to decide what products would be produced.

Students chose a windscreen scraper and a yo-yo. They produced models, drew up plans in the CAD programme SolidWorks, formatted their results, and were ready to begin production. They tested the functionality of their products, used a 3D printer to make it, and the following school year they produced the mold. “Once we succeeded in assembling the press die and performed tests, we moved to the Injection Hall of Linaset. We connected the die and its circuits in the press, and employees of Linaset set the time and pressure so that the mold got filled properly without undesired bubbles. The professionals commented and described each step in great detail as they performed each action, then adjusted the lockout which prevents and compensates for too much shrinkage when material cools down. The final cycle was performed then, with the serial production of a few dozen products continuously. Unlike the trial production, the final products were made with the logos of the school and Linaset company. The production was faultless, all processes moving as expected. The products were functional, without any defects on the surface, and therefore we can conclude that the production of the form was successful,” said Jan Kozelek, a sophomore. All participants have come a long way. Processing the project involved some complications from the initial design to the production itself. The task was timeconsuming, required expert technologies, was slowed down by participant illness, brought on technical challenges and demanded learning new skills. There even was a moment when the project got nearly cancelled, as it was unfeasible within school curriculum and current conditions. In the end, two student leaders helped bring the project to a successful finish, and made both parties happy. Moreover, students brought to practice theory they had learnt at school. This project also helped the Bruntál Polytechnical Secondary School and Business Academy reach the next level of their planned development.

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