LFP - Large-Format-Printing

Technical school has plans with the MDX-15

Wednesday 08. December 2010 - TIHH, a technical school in Hasselt, decided last year to invest in a small milling machine with scan unit from Roland DG. They bought the MDX-15 for the students in the first two years of high school, but also the youngsters from the plastics department learn to work with the machine. The school wants to reduce the gap between the school and the industry by making students familiar with techniques and machines that are actually used in the industry.

TIHH is the oldest technical school in the Belgian province of Limburg and has 850 students. The school offers four branches of study: Construction, Wood, Metal and Electricity. Students in the first two years of high school get the opportunity to try all four branches before they make their final choice. TIHH wants to prepare its students as good as possible for their future job and employs technical advisors to maintain contact with the business community. These advisors visit trade shows and maintain close contacts with companies in order to stay in touch with new techniques and challenges.

Tony Pollaris is technical advisor for and coordinates the part-time education at TIHH. He decided last year to invest in an MDX-15 from Roland DG. Tony Pollaris: “At the time, we had to replace an old machine. Our objectives prescribe that our students need to learn how to work with a coordinates system and that’s why we bought that Roland machine. Unfortunately, we could not yet integrate it in our teaching package, but we surely want to teach our students how to work with the machine. At the moment, we use the MDX-15 in the technical lessons. Students learn to engrave a name or a word in a small plate. The older students from the plastics department also use the machine. They use it to scan objects and consequently mill them in wood. Then they learn how to create a vacuum.”

TIHH is a high school that also sets up projects for primary schools to introduce technique to students. Tony Pollaris: “We encounter adults that have so little feeling with technique that they don’t even know how to replace a lamp. That’s unacceptable for us and we believe everyone should at least have a first contact with technique at school. Therefore, we set up the TOBO project to introduce technical education in primary schools. We invite school teachers for workshops and guide them in setting up lessons about technique. This way, we hope to guide kids with a feeling for technique faster to the right branch of study and an appropriate job.”