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Wages of
entry-level carpenters have been driven down along with those of
many other nonprofessional occupations in recent years. If
carpenters stay in the field, they typically advance slowly over the
years until they reach the level of master craftsman, perhaps by the
time they read the age of 40.
But technology
is having a major impact on the carpentry field. Computerized and
numerical control (CNC) machines now provide the ability for people
with computer skills with far fewer years of carpentry experience to
produce complicated parts faster and to a higher level of accuracy
than the most skilled craftsmen.
The Mahoning
County Career and Technical Center, Canfield, OH, is riding this
wave by providing a program that teaches students carpentry skills
as well as how to program and operate CNC machines. Students who
have completed this program can, when they graduate, produce work on
the level of a skilled craftsman and so can demand substantially
higher wages than other graduates. Of the school's graduates to date
in the CNC program, every one has either taken or turned down jobs
in the carpentry field at wages approximately twice the level of
entry-level carpenters without CNC skills.
The program's
advisory committee has proved instrumental in initiating changes in
the program's curriculum. "There are too many carpenters out there
framing houses, and they are undercutting each other on price so
much that it doesn't pay to keep training these kids in that area,"
said one advisory member. "There is a greater need for finish
carpenters and custom cabinetmakers." He also stated, "CNC work in a
cabinet shop, now that's where the money and opportunities are."
Mahoning County
Career and Technical Center offers a two-year carpentry and
cabinetmaking program, which I teach, that focuses on two major
areas: residential/commercial carpentry and cabinetmaking. On
successful completion of both phases of the program, students can
apply for apprenticeship positions in the building trades or
directly enter the building trade’s field.
In the
residential/commercial carpentry area, we teach all aspects of
residential home building and light commercial carpentry, as well as
computerized drafting and estimating. In the cabinetmaking segment,
we teach all phases and most types of cabinetmaking. Students learn
to design, build and finish cabinets. Students build both
wooden-face frame and laminate cabinets. Students can also
participate in carpentry and cabinetmaking apprenticeships.
Adding CNC to
the Carpentry Program
About five years
ago, cabinet shops in our area began purchasing CNC machines in an
effort to improve their productivity and quality. CNC machines
automate the work of conventional power tools by using
computer-generated commands to move the cutting surface with far
more precision than that achievable by even the most experienced
craftsman. Getting the most out of these machines requires
considerably different skills than those required in the use of
power tools.
Rather than
controlling the tool with their hands, students must learn to create
a model of the part they want to make on the computer in
three-dimensional space. Once they have accomplished this task, they
can easily convert their model into a CNC program that will cut out
the part to a high level of accuracy. In addition, the machine will
build as many parts as desired without requiring any attention on
the part of the operator beyond loading the raw stock and pressing
the start button.
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The owners of
several local cabinet shops expressed great difficulty with finding
people who could program CNC machines. I decided to elevate the
carpentry and cabinet-making program to increase its emphasis on
technology in general and CNC in particular. I spoke to five local
cabinet shops that were not using CNC machines and learned that they
were in such dire need of skilled programmers and operators that
they would purchase CNC machines for their shops if I could train
students to program and operate the machines. "Most of us don't want
to take time to learn about computers and are too busy to stop
overseeing our shops to learn," said one shop owner of 32 years.
Choosing the
Right Equipment
The decision of
which machine to purchase was an important one. While the basic
skills required to program any CNC machine are the same, there are
subtle distinctions between the different machines and programming
software. I wanted to prepare my students to move as rapidly as
possible into high-paying jobs, so I consulted the owners of our
local cabinet shops to get their ideas on which machine my students
should learn to maximize their value in the workplace. The companies
had researched the market prior to purchasing their machines, and
most had selected
Techno machines.
I
looked closely at the Techno machine and felt that its wide use in
industry would make it an ideal learning platform.
Techno machines
have the right mix of features for small and medium-sized
cabinetmakers. For example, they have ball screws on all three axes
and closed loop servo systems. These are the type of features
required to produce top-quality cabinets at a competitive price.
Techno machines
also equip shops to handle many jobs that are impractical to produce
by hand because they would take too long, such as complicated
three-dimensional contours. Yet a machine with a 4' x 8' table and
all the required software costs less than $20,000.
Integrating CNC
Instruction into the Program
Not all students
participate in the optional CNC section of the course, partly
because it demands relatively high computer skills combined with
reading comprehension. We teach the students to program the machine
using a software package that is popular among cabinet shops. The
most difficult task involves defining the geometry of the part.
Students must first think through every detail of the part to fully
understand its geometry. Then, they can use the software to
construct the geometry on the computer, first in the form of lines,
then surfaces and finally as 3D volumes.
For example, I
often give my students the assignment of producing a 12" deep x 8'
high cabinet starting with 60" wide x 108" long Melamine board.
Students begin by creating cubes to represent the walls of the
cabinet. They then add dadoes to their model every 12" by
subtracting volumes from the walls to produce the two sides of the
cabinet. It's important to note that once students have created the
program, they add it to their library so they can reuse it whenever
they need it.
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Then, students
download the program to the machine, clamp the board to the machine
table, hit the start button and cut out their first cabinet. It's a
very simple design, but the accuracy is better than could be
achieved by the most experienced master craftsmen. And the students
have done it with only a few weeks of instruction as opposed to the
decades normally required to become an experienced cabinetmaker.
For example, I
often give my students the assignment of producing a 12" deep x 8'
high cabinet starting with 60" wide x 108" long Melamine board.
Students begin by creating cubes to represent the walls of the
cabinet. They then add dadoes to their model every 12" by
subtracting volumes from the walls to produce the two sides of the
cabinet. It's important to note that once students have created the
program, they add it to their library so they can reuse it whenever
they need it.
Then, students
download the program to the machine, clamp the board to the machine
table, hit the start button and cut out their first cabinet. It's a
very simple design, but the accuracy is better than could be
achieved by the most experienced master craftsmen. And the students
have done it with only a few weeks of instruction as opposed to the
decades normally required to become an experienced cabinetmaker.
Moving to
More Advanced Projects
Later in the
course, my students have an opportunity to program more complicated
high-end designs, such as the curved cabinets and woodwork sometimes
found in expensive custom homes. Curved woodwork is very difficult
to produce by hand with a router and a template. Assuming the curve
of the cabinet is concave, interior parts, like the box, must have
one radius while parts farther out, like the door, must have a
larger radius.
Students can
leverage software features to program curved cabinets and other
complex geometry in much less time. The cabinetmaking profession is
undergoing a revolution because there is no limit to the designs
that you can produce with a CNC machine. I find it quite amazing to
see what our graduates can do after they get a year or two of
on-the-job experience.
The students
that participate in this program have an easier time finding their
first job and earn more money than those who do not. In the last
four years, 15 students have completed this phase of the program.
Most of them got job offers of $10 per hour and higher while still
in school. When they graduated, all received full-time job offers
from local cabinet shops. Ten former students still work in the
field in this area, and most of those have seen their incomes
steadily in-crease.
The other five
have accepted opportunities in other fields. In some cases, their
CNC training helped prepare them for their current work outside the
field of carpentry. For example, one of my students now uses his CNC
knowledge in his pattern-maker apprenticeship in a local foundry.
It's pretty
obvious that CNC will play a major role in the future of
cabinetmaking and other industries-and we're preparing Mahoning
graduates for future success in those fields.
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