New tech, new tools for Wolf Fabrication

The workshop at Wrangell High School is humming, hammering and making all sorts of noise as students in the various fabrications classes work on a number of projects.

Under the Wolf Fabrication umbrella, students of industrial technologies teacher Drew Larrabee have been learning to use a widening array of tools on and off campus.

The humming comes from the new tech room, which Larrabee and the school's

technology department set up inside the high school's old computer lab. The dust from the shop and the lack of space ultimately prompted Larrabee to move the program's half-dozen computers to a cleaner, quieter environment. Plus, the extra space it afforded accommodated the addition of three more computers and a larger 3D printer.

"We're in the process of adding a couple more," Larrabee said of the PCs.

The new tech room has also been seeing use by the art program and yearbook group, and sports a large-format printer that allows the creation of larger-scale projects and banners.

2015-16 is the second full year where students have used the Rhinoceros computer-aided design program, which allows students to draft projects for different mediums. Students have already been using the program for the Universal Laser cutter, which can carve and cut different materials with precision down in the shop.

Using the Rhinoceros modeling program, students can draft three-dimensional models that can be used to craft items with the shop's new 3D printer.

The new printer is twice as wide as the older model and uses dual extrusion technology, which allows it to work with two materials simultaneously. This allows not just color variation in a single project, but textural differentiation as well. For example, Larrabee said the machine can create a soft-grip whiteboard stylus in one sitting. The possibilities are nearly endless.

"I can't possibly think out all the projects," he said.

Instead, Larrabee gives his students general themes to work out using their own initiative. With the tools at their disposal and a little familiarity, their imaginations are free to roam.

"It lets the kids think outside the box," said Larrabee.

The Rhino program can also be used to create blueprints for manual projects, such as the greenhouse Larrabee's students are building for Evergreen Elementary's agriculture program. Evergreen Agricultural Testing Site (E.A.T.S.) was established in 1998 by teachers, with students helping with the gardening and learning about horticulture, biology and nutrition in the process.

The new structure will support the program's efforts, and is being built from locally-sourced red cedar. It will also be much larger than the school's previous greenhouse, which has lately seen use for storage.

Once built, the building will be 16 by 20 feet, 16 feet high, and sided with corrugated plastic.

The shop received its

first consignment of lumber

this week, and students have already begun joinery work and planing. Larrabee anticipates the project to stretch into the next school year. While his

construction trades class is involved in the work right now, other students may be enlisted as the project takes shape.

Other larger scale projects include the construction of new bleachers for the local diamond, which shop students are helping Curtis Wimberely with for his senior project.

Larrabee's marine fabrication class has also taken on an extra project, working on three aluminum boats this year rather than the usual two. Two of these will be 12-foot sprint boats, with another a large 20-foot jet boat.

Larrabee said the students ordered the modeling plans online, and were able to use Superior Marine's plasma cutter at their yard.

"That did change the game a little bit there," he said.

Real hands-on experience has been another facet of Larrabee's program, and students have been encouraged to get off campus and into businesses through on-the-job training.

Job development was identified as a goal by parents and faculty during community strategic planning sessions held by the school district last year. Labor development and education has also been a priority item set by Southeast Conference.

While widely desirable, Larrabee has found coordinating the idea to be difficult between balancing school and work schedules. Also, the school's insurance policy does not cover some off-site programs, meaning business owners and contractors would have to put students onto their workplace policies.

"I'm still trying to work some of those bugs out," he said.

Meanwhile, his classes are still settling into the new tech room after the move, which pushed back some project schedules. A large crop of seniors graduating last May also meant a good number of students familiar with the Rhino-CAD program are gone.

"I almost had to start from scratch this year," Larrabee said.

But students have gotten the hang of things again, and a renewed technological focus within the school system is enabling students to learn such skills at a younger age.

This year Larrabee said Stikine Middle School's exploratory classes have ventured into the new classroom, exploring projects that include robotics, programming and computer modeling.

"We're hoping that it'll create some better makers," Larrabee said.