Rijn ijssel is the largest vocational education school in Gelderland. Students are challenged to bring out the best in themselves. A graduate student is prepared for the job market, considers development obvious, and knows how to navigate society.
Martijn de Koning werkt er als beheerder van het Innovatielab. Het doel van het Innovatielab is om het technische niveau van studenten naar een hoger level te tillen. Daarvoor is er een divers machine-aanbod: van draaibanken tot CNC-machines en van lasermachines tot 3D-printers. Met alle apparaten en technieken in het Innovatielab zorgt Martijn voor verbinding op verschillende manieren. Verbinding met studenten maar ook met collega’s en opleidingen.
Martijn enthusiastically talks about the Innovation Lab, where the words ‘together’ and ‘collaboration’ constantly come up. Working together with a student to convert a drawing into a product. Collaborating with a teacher to find a solution for an item that would otherwise be expensive to purchase. But also making techniques work together – using a 3D printer for name tags and the laser machine for cutting wood – to create a unique storage box for the reception. The Innovation Lab is sought after for all sorts of projects!
Other schools have also discovered their way to the Innovation Lab. For example, students from secondary schools visit weekly. They learn, for instance, to program in a playful way using programmable LEGO. During an Open Day, they bring their parents along instead of the other way around. Then he hears, ‘Can I show my father or mother that robot?’ ‘Of course, the door is always open for them,’ Martijn says.
Construction engineering students make grateful use of the BRM laser machine. Creating scale models with a knife and fretsaw is a thing of the past. And in the Engineering program, they develop machines that require mounting plates. That was always outsourced. If a student made a mistake in the drawing, they had to reorder it. That resulted in additional costs and delays. Now, it can be done cheaper and faster internally.
‘They come in with an idea. Well, then I’ll come up with something.’ – Martijn de Koning
In addition to the projects or prototypes that students come to create, the BRM lasers are also used in other ways. For example, a colleague from Laboratory Technology needed 30 pipette holders. Purchasable externally at €45 each. That is expensive, and the colleague would not be immediately helped because it would require an investment request. Martijn cut the holder out of plexiglass and printed the bracket, providing a pipette holder for €2 and a happy colleague.
The first BRM laser at Rijn IJssel was purchased by another colleague and located in the Creative Industry program. It was used so much over there that there was no room to use it more broadly. When Martijn discovered this machine, he immersed himself in it and trained other colleagues so that they could also work with it. He visited Eric from BRM to view a larger laser machine. Ultimately, for Rijn IJssel, it was not the purchase price that was decisive, but the combination of price, accessibility, and support.
Martijn describes BRM as technical, enthusiastic, and service-oriented. With the second BRM laser machine in his Innovation Lab, Martijn is very pleased. He finds the user-friendly LightBurn software that is now included as standard to be a great step forward.
The complete overview of all laser machines will be sent directly to your mailbox.
Then you’ll see first hand what you can do with a BRM laser machine.
Then you’ll see first hand what you can do with a BRM laser machine.
