Attendees and Exhibitors Gathered at Cerritos College to ‘talk CNC’
Board President Saúl Martín staffs the SWM booth and visits with (from left) Spencer, Steve, and Corey from Rockler. (pc: Diana Ramirez)
February 27, 2023, Anaheim, Calif. — The Society of Wood Manufacturing (SWM), a Southern California industry-education chapter of AWFS® (Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers®), sponsored a CNC-focused educational event for high school teachers. The event took place on Friday, February 24 at Cerritos College, a Los Angeles area community college with a well-known, thriving wood manufacturing program. Thirty-one high school woodworking teachers attended the event, driving from throughout Los Angeles and nearby San Diego county, Ventura county, San Bernardino county, and beyond. The educator-attendees were treated to a full day of intensive training on CNC manufacturing and how to introduce this topic to their high school students. “The core of SWM’s mission is to bring educators and industry professionals together”, says SWM Board President Saúl Martín, “this event was successful in doing so, and providing current and relevant education to help strengthen our high school woodworking programs.”
“Advanced” track instructor Kenneth Thomas (right) assists educator David Sorenson with his project on the ShopBot.
The training event featured two seminar tracks: one for “Introductory CNC” and one for “Advanced CNC”. Most of the educator-attendees were new to CNC concepts; they either did not yet have a CNC machine in their high school woodworking program, or they had one but it was not yet running. Several of the attendees were already teaching CNC to their students. In the Introductory CNC track, session attendees learned about “CNC Basics”, including terminology, and the research and purchasing process. They were then led through a project of creating a customized name plaque using Vectric software, and then producing the sign on a ShopBot CNC. In the “Advanced CNC” track, attendees created a personalized mallet in VCarve, and then machined it on the ShopBot. They also discussed and shared project plans for their students.
The ShopBot machines were generously provided by Cerritos College, who also allowed attendees to use their computer lab, which had Vectric software installed. The sessions were developed and presented by TJ Imholte, Chris Thomas, Kenneth Thomas, and Mike Trejo, all members of the Inland Woodworkers Association, who have led similar sessions at local Rockler stores. Jordan Clarke, faculty at Palomar College, also served as a presenter and led an advanced session.
Karl Frey of Colonial Saw (left) demonstrates Lamello joinery to educators Carlos Sanchez (center), Peter Krause, and Johnna Stanzione.
Nestled among the impressive machinery at Cerritos College, eleven organizations exhibited, they were: All*Star CNC, Blum Inc, Colonial Saw/Lamello, Complete Cutting Solutions (representing Altendorf), Inland Woodworkers Association, Paton Group, Rockler Woodworking, ShopBot, Stiles Machinery, SurfPrep, and SWM. The attendees had an opportunity in the morning and in between sessions to engage with the exhibitors, who generously distributed giveaway items including tools, tape measures, safety glasses, notepads, stickers, and more. There were some exciting demos taking place as well, including CNC at Paton Group and ShopBot, sanding at SurfPrep, hardware at Blum, Lamello joinery systems at Colonial Saw, and hold-down techniques at All*Star CNC. SWM and AWFS® thank all these companies for supporting this event.
Thank you to SponsorsAlong with SWM sponsoring the event, Royal Plywood donated all material for the event, FastCap provided adhesive and SpeedTape, and Paton Group contributed flash drives for each attendee, which were pre-loaded with the session handouts and other resources.
As an added bonus, the educator-attendees took home local, urban-sourced oak by The Whittier Conservancy, to be used for projects with their students.
Event Developed with Educator Feedback and AWFS Board Support
This event was organized by SWM based on feedback from SWM’s educator-members, who shared that they would like to offer CNC education to their students, but they didn’t know where to start or where to find resources. The funding was approved by the AWFS Board of Directors. Here are some attendee comments:
If you would like to learn more about SWM and get involved, contact AWFS Association Director, adria@awfs.org, or (323) 215-0311.
To see more photos from this event: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LBveunntV9pTxE4X6
To learn more about SWM and future events, contact AWFS Association Director, Adria Salvatore adria@awfs.org.