2013 AFS Birmingham Scholarship Application
Click here to download the 2013 AFS Birmingham Scholarship application. The form contains the contact information of those that can answer any questions about the scholarship application and awarding process.
AFS Birmingham Chapter Donates Foundry in a Box to Local High School
On September 18, 2012, the AFS Birmingham Chapter donated a complete foundry kit to the Calera High School Engineering Academy. These students have already designed and produced castings with the cooperation of local foundries. This equipment will enable the students to make prototype castings in their classroom. The kit contained safety equipment, two melting units, crucibles, flasks, patterns, molding tools, oil bonded zircon flour, thirty pounds of pure tin, containers and a number of hand tools.
On the same date, the engineering program at Calera High School received national recognition from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Educational Foundation. They were recognized as one of only fifteen PRIME Schools in the nation. This award includes a fifteen thousand dollar grant.
The Calera Engineering Academy students are active in hands-on engineering experiences. They produce bio-diesel in the classroom for a rugged Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV) which they designed and built. They build electric cars. They also designed and manufactured a low cost adjustable prosthetic leg. They traveled to Honduras last summer to help fit fourteen patients with the legs while also delivering a BUV to a remote mountain village to serve as an ambulance and school bus. They also built attachments for the BUV to drill water wells and plow fields.
Click here to read an article in the Shelby County Reporter about Brian Copes, a teacher at Calera Engineering Academy whose class is using the Foundry in a Box. Mr. Copes was recently selected as one of 5 recipients of People Magazine’s inaugural “Teacher of the Year” competition.
Click here for an article about Mr. Cope’s class on the local Fox website.
Click here for the article on People’s website.
Foundry Demonstrations
The Birmingham District Chapter of AFS is currently visiting local high schools and presenting the Foundry Industry to local students using a PowerPoint presentation and a real demonstration of the art of metal casting.
Using the “Foundry in a Box” kit, chapter volunteers make sand molds and melt low melting temperature metal in a small laboratory furnace and pour castings, in a safe environment using a safe method. This procedure gives the students real-life hands on experience with the process that foundries use on a daily basis to make castings. Most people have no idea how these products are created. The students gain exposure to the metal casting industry, which is extremely important to the society in which we live.
The Birmingham District Chapter of the American Foundry Society extends this offer of our “Foundry in a Box” demonstration to any high school who may be interested. Our team will demonstrate the art of metal casting. The session will last approximately one hour.
Click here to view a Powerpoint Presentation about past Foundry in A Box presentations.
Please contact Ken Murphy (205) 325-7828 or foundryinabox@afsbirmingham.org if you are interested.