Students taking Mechanical Drawing 1 have been working on a project where they create a design to print and cut on vinyl using the Roland printer and vinyl cutter. This project introduces students to the machine, and moving forward, students will use it considerably more in the second and third level classes Solid Modeling and Advanced CAD Applications. 

Students used Adobe Illustrator to create their designs and then learned how to set up their designs on the software called VersaWorks. This software is what drives the machine. Technology Education teacher Mr. Tom Moran then showed them how the machine operates. 

Students’ designs ranged from stickers to graphics for businesses, and the project took about a week to complete. 

“It was just a fun project to break up all the mechanical drawings we do in class,” Mr. Moran said. 

Students are now switching between mechanical hand drawing and computer-aided drawing (CAD) moving forward in the class.