By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp. — During the Monday night meeting, the Brandon Board of Education approved the purchase of three lathes and a four-sided molder/planer for the high school wood shop. The purchase of three lathes was previously approved last year, but the purchase was put on hold due needing different equipment than previously thought for electrical purposes.
“The equipment that we have upgraded so far in the shops, the high school shop specifically, has literally jumped us 50 years in technology,” said Nathan Gillett, instructor for the wood shop and construction classes at the high school and middle school. “The machines that we had up there were from 1972, from the previous high school. The upgrading of this from my standpoint and my student’s standpoint has been huge. I’m very appreciative of that.”
Most of the equipment in both shops have been upgraded, and the classes continue to be well attended by students. By purchasing three lathes, the high school students will have more opportunity to work with tools they haven’t before.
“Those three lathes are going to be huge for the high school program. They’re fairly safe machines in terms of power tools. It’s going to allow me to take three students and just kind of allow them to have fun, safely,” said Gillett. “It’s going to allow them to turn bowls, turn legs if we need to, for tables, to turn bats and things like that that you normally wouldn’t be able to do. They’ve been asking for 2 and a half years when we’re getting lathes back.”
The other piece of equipment Gillett requested was to help cut down time he spends joining and planning the boards, which he gets at a discount.
“I’ve already talked about the massive savings I get, $2-$3 a board foot versus $9 or $10 a board foot, well that comes with a price, for me,” he said. “Right now I have to join, edge, face join and then plane all of those pieces of wood, which takes hours of work.”
Currently, the process to fully join, edge and plane a board can take anywhere from 20-45 minutes depending on the board. But, the discount he gets on supplies will pay off the machine used to process them.
“It’s not a cheap machine, it’s almost a $22,000 machine, but somewhere between 6-10 years, it will have paid for itself in savings,” he said.
The purchase will also come from the funds made in the Belle Ann Elementary sale, not out of the general fund or bond project funds.
“I want to make sure they have the best equipment I can offer from a safety standpoint,” he said. “After this I do not foresee any need for upgrades for the machines.”