Andrew Rohwedder Technology & Engineering Workshop
Longtime RTHS technology & engineering instructor Andrew Rohwedder was recently honored when the workshop was named after him. See below for a newspaper article from the Richardton Merchant detailing the event, a video of the surprise ceremony, the proclamation that was read, and several photos highlighting the process of designing, fabricating, and installing the sign.
Article
Ceremony
Proclamation
The sign was first designed on SketchUp, an online CAD (computer-aided design) program.
Logan Kessel works with his sign design on FireControl, the program used by the plasma table to cut the metal.
Kessel watches as the plasma cutter cuts one of his designs.
The plasma torch cuts an “A.”
The torch cuts the exterior border of the sign after the letters are finished.
The torch cuts one of the handlebar mustaches.
Holes are drilled into each sign for mounting on the wall.
A grinder was used to remove dross and soften the metal edges.
Each sign was cleaned extensively with lacquer thinner to prep it for primer and paint.
The sign was laid out on a table to cut the plywood to length and mark the locations of the holes already drilled in the metal.
Holes for anchors were drilled in the plywood.
The plywood was sanded.
The wood was finished to its natural color with two coats of polyurethane.
The metal parts of the sign are laid out for priming and painting.
The metal dries after a coat of primer.
Logan holds one of the plywood pieces in position to mark the holes on the wall for the anchors.
Kessel installs an anchor.
Both pieces of plywood are mounted.
Logan installs the middle row of text.
Logan installs the final screw into the anchor.
The sign mounting is complete.
Plastic was hung to cover the sign until the unveiling during the ceremony.
Logan Kessel, Andrew Rohwedder, and Neal Isaak post under the new workshop sign. Isaak is holding the proclamation that was read, and Rohwedder is holding a small sign that was given to him that was made with one of the mustache cutouts of the large sign.
Mr. Rohwedder’s yearbook photos through the years: 1978, 1998, and 2018.