Capstone project a success for local engineering students
Wayne County Schools Career Center engineering seniors display their finished four-axle off-road cranes. The finished cranes were donated to the U.S. Marines’ Toys-for-Tots program.
The senior engineering technologies class in the Wayne County Schools Career Center completed its annual Senior Engineering Design, Development and Production Capstone Project. The students chose to create a four-axle off-road crane. They manufactured 21 cranes total at the end of the 16-week project.
Each toy was composed of 190 parts, and 3,800 parts were made in total. Unlike past projects, there were 24 different parts that were made through the use of the laser engraver for about 600 individual pieces. The CNC router was used for two other individual parts, for about another 60 in total.
The class had a 96.64 percent efficiency rate at the end of the project, meaning only a handful of parts were considered waste over the course of the whole project.
The project began early in the year when the students designed, produced and assembled the crane for the annual project. It allowed the students to utilize everything they had learned in their engineering technologies experience including the design processes, CNC machining and drawing the 3-D parts.
“The big lesson we as a class learned was how to work together during a big project,” senior engineering student Jared Martin said.
Upon completion the 20 four-axle off-road cranes were donated to the U.S. Marines’ Toys-for-Tots program for distribution for children to enjoy. The project was entered in the Wayne County Junior Fair, where it was chosen as Best of Show.
Many thanks go to the annual sponsors, material donors and assisting individuals who make the project possible, as well as the many hours of hard work given by the students to ensure the success of this project.