TEACH CNC BY MAKING YO-YO’S WITH YOUR STUDENTS!

Ever wanted to come up with an easy, fun way to teach CNC in your classroom? Jim and I have come up with a great project for you! How about having your students engrave a wooden yo-yo? This is an inexpensive project: only $1.29 per student, rather than $4.00 for a wax block! It also gives your students something that they can take home.

This will show up here in the Downloads section shortly, and will include all instructions on how to make the fixture, and where to get all the parts. It will also include video of how it works, as well as documentation for use in your classroom.

Student teacher extraordinaire, Chris Lallier from SUNY Oswego, is charged with designing a fixture to make this an easy project. Chris graduates in December, and will be looking for a job soon. He’ll go quick!

Here’s what he has so far:

• The fixture uses easy to find D shaped EPDM foam to hold the part tightly in place during the machining process, and is held in place on the CNC mill table using a vice.
• It is also spring loaded, and has finger slots to make it easy and safe for students to remove and place parts. It also uses two dowels as index pins to keep the fixture square in the vice.
• The best part is that there is a brass insert that easy to index from, making PRZ very easy to find.

Check back often, as Chris will have the inventor part files, and all the documentation you’ll need to be able to make this for use in your classroom.