It's been an exciting time at Clevedon School recently, with Yeti Tool giving them a free SmartBench to use, and the Head of Design & Technology saying "This CNC machine will help us to upscale our GCSE and A-Level projects."
With a number of Yeti Tool employees having attended nearby Clevedon School in the past, the company has ties with the school and wanted to give something back to the education hub in the community.
By donating a SmartBench CNC machine to Clevedon School, the students there are now able to experience CNC in a completely different way, as Ben Turner, Head of DT commented:
"In over 20 years of teaching, I've used CNC routers, lathes, CNC plasma cutters, laser cutters, 3D printers and that sort of thing. It's been amazing to see how the technology has developed."
"What motivates DT teachers to use CNC machines is that the National Curriculum references and directly uses CNC equipment."
Using SmartBench in schools gives students a number of benefits when it comes to design and technology as it is simple to use and delivers incredible results.
"CNC machines benefit students in classrooms in terms of scope and breadth of projects, speed of delivery of practical outcomes and prototype modelling. It's absolutely transformative to have CNC in the classroom," added Ben.
"The only reason students choose my subject is because they like practical outcomes and to get stuck into making things. Automated CNC equipment blows their minds."
The possibilities for students and DT teachers alike at Clevedon School have been massively increased as a result, as Ben said:
"The SmartBench CNC machine will help us to upscale our GCSE and A-Level projects."
"SmartBench is a really good machine for learning: it's easy to set up, has an intuitive control system, the front-end software is user-friendly, the students can use the control panel without a problem and it's a visual bit of kit which students love to see."
Yeti Tool has also been on hand to provide additional support, including highlighting the online resources available for teachers and students.
"The Yeti Tool tools, resources and CNC Academy are absolutely brilliant and it's fantastic to see the engineering team so clearly explain it all. I and my team will be using that a lot: we can just click on it and watch when we want to," concluded Ben.
To get a free SmartBench PrecisionPro+ demonstration that highlights the incredible benefits of having CNC in the classroom, please get in touch here.