Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Donation adds new equipment to school shop

By TOM LAVENTURE

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Hurley - Staff and students of the Hurly K-12 School wood shop are crossing another item off the wish-list with the addition of a new jointer machine.

A new 8-inch Powermatic Jointer makes it possible to flatten and smooth out boards with three speeds and other features that are not available on the older shop equipment. The $2,500 purchase was possible with a $2,000 donation from Wayne and Bridgette Nasi, and another $500 from the Hurley Education Foundation.

The equipment was installed in the wood shop portion of the Northwoods Manufacturing addition at Hurley K-12 School.

"The jointer was high on the wish-list of new equipment for the wood shop as the number of students getting backed up on one jointer slowed their production and efficiency," said Kevin Genisot, Hurley School District administrator.

The wood shop also recently installed new safety-focused shop equipment made possible by a $10,000 donation from Associated Bank. The SawStop table saw helps prevent injuries and a downdraft wood sanding table greatly reduces fine dust particles from the air while in operation.

Earlier this year the metal shop received a ShopSabre CNC Sidekick 4 commercial plasma cutter that generates 85 amps and can cut through 1.25 inches of plate steel. The equipment is also operated by computer numerical control allowing for more accurate and efficient projects, said Jacob Hostettler, the technical education teacher who runs the metal work program.

The $20,000 price tag for the cutter came from the Hurley Education Foundation to include a matching donation from Mike Zacharias, former owner of Extreme Tool & Engineering in Wakefield.

The plasma cutter requires a 480 volt power panel, special ventilation and a water table underneath. The equipment was installed during the $1.3 million Northwoods Manufacturing expansion project that was completed in fall 2019.

"Community support is, and has been vital to the success of our wood and metal courses," Genisot said. "If any one is interested in helping out please contact the school."