Ball High 10th grade engineering students Quinn Quigley, Patrick Koza and Caleb Stein won 1st place in the recent 2024 Project MFG Additive Manufacturing competition.
The competition was held Thursday, May 2nd at the TEES Facility for Advanced MFG (Texas A&M Experimental Engineering Station). School districts from Bryan ISD, Montgomery ISD & Austin ISD also competed.
“The students were given two challenges to design and 3D print in the Ball High School FabLab. Specifications and customer drawings were provided by Project MFG to design and build a bridge and a slot car body,” FabLab Coordinator Kevin Anthony said.
Each item had to fall within exact specifications as required by the customer. The competition was timed, and students were allotted a few hours to complete the tasks. To simulate a real-world scenario, a change order was given at the last minute to modify the original size specifications. The Ball High School students met this change in plans with professionalism and used their engineering skills taught by Mr. Laurent Langevine & FabLab Coordinator Kevin Anthony.
“The Ball High students’ bridge was 3D printed and weight tested and passed the weight test with it holding up under 71 pounds of stress,” Anthony beamed.
Next up was the design and printing of the 3D slot car body.
“The BHS students also met this challenge with ease and produced a streamlined slot car body that met specifications provided by Project MFG,” Anthony added.
The winner was announced late in the afternoon Thursday, with Ball High School as the winner of a brand new Bambu X1 Carbon 3D printer.
“Project MFG provided a great way to test student learning in a real-world environment,” Anthony said. “Students were able to utilize the state-of-the-art facility at the TEES Station and gained valuable firsthand experience with industry professionals.”
Project MFG is a catalyst that helps elevate the next generation of highly skilled trade professionals by changing mindsets, fostering community preparedness, and challenging how the critical skills needed to succeed in modern advanced manufacturing are taught.
