By Editor Marty Baker with Upper Valley JVS Welding Instructor Alan Wuebker

The chill of a November morning in Ohio did not deter students from Upper Valley Joint Vocational School (UVJVS) from assembling and putting the finishing touches on the decorative arches on Prouty Plaza in downtown Troy.  The Christmas lighting display was instigated by Judy Fiessinger of the Troy Beautification Committee.  Judy took the idea to UVJVS and welding instructor Alan Wuebker directed and put the project into motion. 

Alan explains, “Around the first of October, UVJVS Welding Lab II was contacted by Judy, who brought in a picture of some arches with stars on them along with rough dimensions of the width and height of the arches.” 

“The students began by drawing the arches using an AutoCAD® program,” Alan continues.  “The drawings gave us the radius and lengths of the arches to start the fabrication process. We decided to use 5/16-inch x 3/8-inch mild steel bar stock, donated by Crown Equipment Corporation, for the fabrication of the arches.  The students drew the arches on the floor for a layout template.  Once that was complete they were able to derive their dimensions of the pieces required for the arches. The students cut, rolled and welded the bar stock for the first arch only.  This was done to assure fit up of all the pieces. The welding process was gas metal arc welding (GMAW) using a Miller Deltaweld® 452 with .035 Hobart® QuantumArc™ 6 wire.  When they were sure that all the parts fit correctly, the cutting, rolling and welding of all the arches continued.”

Alan explains, “The students also used AutoCAD to draw three different sizes of stars. Once the stars were drawn, the students used a Digital Height Control Hypertherm Powermax® 1250 plasma cutter to cut out a template for the fabrication of the stars. The stars were also made from the 5/16-inch x 3/8-inch mild steel bar stock. Again the students cut the material for the first star only to assure fit up of the pieces. Once fit up was assured, the fabrication continued on the stars as well.  GMAW process was also used for this fabrication. There were 13 stars for each arch which gave us a total of 65 stars.  Fabrication was completed around the first of November.  Paraprofessional Mike Lodge and I worked with fourteen level II students involved in the design and fabrication of the arches including Brad Anthony, John Barga, Travis Denise, Ron Doran, Shawn Fair, Ty Jeffers, Travis McClelland, Cody Miller, Zach Petty, Josh Pickering, Matt Shirey, Tom Siler, Nick Staugler, and Sam Thompson.”

After fabrication was completed the stars were sent out for painting and then returned to the JVS.  The welders enlisted assistance from their counterparts in the Electrical Trades Level I program, under the instruction of Eric Williams, to wire the arches, including 13 stars on each arch, with 14 channels and 90 electrical strands containing 4500 lights.

Electrical student Randall Hawkins says, “It took nearly two months of class time to wire the arches and complete the project by wrapping silver garland around the metal and each star.”

Christmas was just around the corner and it was time to transport the project to the scene at Prouty Plaza in Troy.  Segmented construction of the 11-ft. tall arches provided ease of assembly and disassembly for use in future years.  Installation was facilitated by Brian Ferree and his crew of electricians of the Troy Public Works - Electrical Division as they worked with the Electrical Trades I students to assemble the five arches across the brick plaza walkway.    

Students were able to complete the project at a cost of approximately $4000, saving the city $41,000, based on an estimate from a professional company.  The students were excited to gain experience by working on a practical project for the community and hundreds of people were pleased that the students made the stars shine in downtown Troy for the holiday season.