RCC Machining Student Makes Part for Aggie Racing Team

ASHEBORO (April 29, 2010)

With the camera lens looking through the cover of the part, RCC Machining student Chris Hunt holds the sprocket box he machined for the A&T Aggie Racing Team. Photo by second-year Photojournalism student Wesley Beeson.

Chris Hunt of Archdale, a second-year Machining Technology student at Randolph Community College, has a plan. After graduating with his Associate in Applied Science degree from RCC in May, he plans to take several College Transfer courses at RCC and then transfer to North Carolina A&T State University in 2011 to major in mechanical engineering.

So imagine his excitement when students from A&T's Aggie Racing Team came to RCC looking for help in machining a part for their Baja Buggy, a dune buggy the engineering students build each year to compete in races around the country. "They were talking to our instructors," said Hunt. "I planned on transferring to A&T, so they said it would be a good project for me."

Hunt met with the A&T team, which provided him with the design for a sprocket box, "basically a transmission," said Hunt. "We modified it a little so it was more practical to machine; we made it in two pieces." Hunt said with the modifications to the design, set up, programming, and machining, it took about 30 hours to make the part.

Hunt, who graduated from Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, first came to RCC to study photography. "I realized that while I liked photography as a hobby, it wasn't something I wanted to work at full-time," he said. "I have an artistic side and a mechanical side where I like to get my hands dirty. Machining allows me to utilize both sides. I really enjoy it."

The Aggie Racing Team and their Baja Buggy (with Hunt's part) will be competing May 18 in Washington state and June 13 in Rochester, N.Y.

"By doing this project, I was able to meet some of my future professors," said Hunt. "It was a good foot in the door."