Machining team competes in national championship

Photo by Chris Rogers

From left, Minnesota State College Southeast students Austyn Warren, Joe Schultz, Brad Bishop, Ellery Keisel, and Ivey Wadman Vehrenkamp pose for photos on May 4 before heading to a national machining championship in North Carolina.

by CHRIS ROGERS

Not too many teams make the final four in their first year, but the students of Minnesota State College Southeast's (MSC Southeast) competitive machining team suddenly went from dipping their toes in the water to making big waves.

Machining Instructors Rick Hengel and Todd Ives heard about Project MFG's Advanced Manufacturing Championships last year. It's a sort of "Iron Chef" or "Great British Baking Show" of machining. Teams are given specifications for parts to manufacture, then graded on the quality of their results and the cost of production, all on a tight time window. Adding to the reality TV analogy, the national finals are filmed for a "Clash of the Trades" special. Since the trades-promoting Project MFG was willing to pay the school's way, Hengel and Ives thought it would be worth a try.

MSC Southeast didn't have the kind of 5-axis CNC machines other schools would be using, but that was OK, organizers said, Southeast's 3-axis mills would be fine for the first stage of the contest.

As Hengel tried to assemble a team of students, he ran into another issue. He needed students who could TIG weld, but Instructor Casey Mann explained, "Well, my students aren't at TIG welding yet." Then Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (G-E-T) High School grad Ellery Keisel chimed in, "I can TIG weld."

Problem solved. Four other students formed the team: Winona Senior High School grad Austyn Warren programmed the CNC mill, Joe Schultz of Minneiska and G-E-T grad Ivey Wadman Vehrenkamp did the CNC machining, and Brad Bishop ran the lathe.

"We all know our own strengths and weaknesses," Warren said, "my strength being programming, especially programming the mill. So that's my primary job. So when we figure out what parts we’re getting, that's sort of the piece of the pie that I take. And then my teammate Ivey, she's great at actually running the mill. So she knows she is going to be running the parts. My teammate Brad is great at running the lathe, and he can actually also program a lathe part as well. So basically when we get the parts we can divvy out who gets what piece of the pie based on our skill sets."

After performing well in an initial contest, the team earned a spot at regionals in Wichita, Kan. Now they did need a 5-axis machine. Hengel started calling all over trying to borrow one. Rushford Manufacturing graciously agreed, he said, and a staff member spent all day and even stayed late helping the team learn how to use it. "I can't thank Rushford Manufacturing enough for what they did because we never would have made it this far if it weren't for what they did," he said.

Still, Southeast was up against stiff competition from schools that had taken part in the contest before and practiced regularly with 5-axis machines. How well could they do? Hengel wasn't holding his breath.

Once they got their assignment and the clock started ticking, Warren said, "Our number-one problem was time. Because it was very demanding to get them done in the eight-hour time window, especially when you haven't run the parts before, you don't know how long they’re going to take and sometimes if you know how long a part is going to take, it gives you the opportunity to alter your process for making that part [to save time]."

The team ultimately wasn't able to finish their last part before the buzzer sounded. It was a bit deflating. "We all thought there was no chance [of advancing]," Warren said. "We did so well on all of our parts leading up to that last one. [Initially,] we didn't expect to move on to nationals, but once we started making these really good parts, we thought there might be a chance, but then we just fell short on time. So it felt like, ‘Oh, we were going to be this close.’"

When the results came out, Hengel couldn't believe it. There they were, one of the top four teams in the country with a chance to compete in Greenville, S.C., at nationals. "We started cheering," he recalled. He added, "It was amazing because us not finishing all the parts — I didn't think we were going to."

Hengel and Ives couldn't be more proud. Keisel finished second in the welding portion, which helped lift his team, Warren said. Hengel added"I’d put Ivey against any machinist out there."

"We still expected to fall short at regionals, but when you put in the work you can surprise even yourself," Warren said in a May 4 interview. "And now here we are going into nationals and we have more confidence, I feel, than any other team. … You overcome obstacles and it gives you the confidence you can overcome them again in the future."

While their classmates were getting ready to walk across the commencement stage last week, the team was wrapping up at nationals. Results won't be released until June, MSC Southeast Director of Communications Katryn Conlin said. "Clash of the Trades: Season 3" will be available at www.projectmfg.com and on YouTube.

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