REGION
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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