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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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