Machining.Blog® is a weekly blog focused on manufacturing career development. It features blog articles on the fundamentals of manufacturing for aspiring machinists. Our goal is to create an interest in manufacturing in the USA. Our writer Matthew Schowalter has worked in manufacturing for 24 years, and he covers the topics that matter to someone starting their career in manufacturing.

Machining Blog logo BLUE 600x300 LLC.jpg

“The soft skills the machinist uses are the unseen tools in their box and can directly impact the success or failure of a dreamed after machining career.”

How I Developed A STEM Presentation for Schools

How I Developed A STEM Presentation for Schools

Recently I made a unique tool for showing science, technology, engineering, math, and manufacturing to students. It is a mechanical clock that has over two dozen 3D printed parts in it. In the presentation, students are truly engaged in learning more about the clock.

I have spent thousands of hours developing the clock, from research, development, and engineering, to manufacturing the device. I tell the students that after twenty iterations of making a couple different parts, that I invented my own way on how a clock functions.

The questions that they asked me, display their engagement and interest in the subject matter. This was the case recently at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Port Washington Wisconsin. I had the opportunity to show several technology education and engineering classes how I took a device that was invented several hundred years ago, and I made it with a new technological process, and I invented my own way on how several components’ functions.

Building Solid Employability Skills in a School Program

Building Solid Employability Skills in a School Program

The Evolution of 3D Printing

The Evolution of 3D Printing