Practice makes perfect
Ross Ethan Grimm, a senior in the Butler County Vocational-Technical School collision repair class, had painted multiple car parts in many colors before he'd ever used an actual paint sprayer.
The 45 students this semester in Dave Peters' three sessions of the class have to prove their skills in virtual reality before they apply paint to a vehicle in the real world.
Kurt Speicher, school executive director, said students in both the vo-tech's welding and collision repair courses have been using virtual reality simulations to gain experience this semester.
Speicher said the school is providing cutting-edge technology.
Peters, who has been teaching collision repair for 14 years, said the school has been using the virtual reality paint sprayer for seven years.
“The simulated sprayer has the dimensions of a real paint sprayer,” Peters said. “It has the weight, and feel of the real thing.
“You can adjust the spray, work the trigger, make adjustments to the air control,” he said. “It even makes the spray noise. Everything but the paint smell. It's pretty spot on.”
Wearing a head set that covers the eyes, the student “sees” an auto part — a door, a bumper, a quarter panel — that he must paint beginning with a base, then a color and finally a clear coat.
Peters said the simulation equipment keeps track of and records every facet of the painting operation — from the angle of the spray gun to how thick the student is applying the paint.
Also, said Peters, the equipment allows the scene viewed by the student using the sprayer to be projected onto a screen to be studied by his classmates.
It beats trying to cram a whole class into a paint booth to watch and critique a real painting session, Peters said.
Asked if he worries about his fellow students looking over his virtual shoulder as he worked, Grimm said, “I try not to think about it. I try to think every time I'm painting, 'I'm painting better.'”
“Whenever I teach painting, we use it quite a bit for a month or so,” Peters said. “They get quite a feel for it. It's really a win-win situation.“I'm able to correct them on what they are doing wrong. And they get to practice without wasting $300 worth of paint,” he said.Peters said students in his classes spend three to four hours on the simulator before being tested. Students must notch a score of 70 or better to be allowed to use a paint sprayer on a car.On this day, Grimm is demonstrating how the virtual reality paint simulator works.On the machine's screen Peters points out the same image Grimm is seeing.“The machine tracks how thick he puts the paint on, the angle of the spray gun and its distance from the part,” Peters said.Grimm's stats show his sprayer is applying the paint unevenly on the virtual door he's painting, perhaps because he's standing farther away than what the equipment considers an optimum distance.“I would rather be a little farther away than get runs in it,” Grimm said.Peters said cutting down paint costs is important because the class works on damaged cars and trucks brought in by their owners.The school only charges vehicle owners for parts, paints and use of the space. The less paint used the smaller the bill, Peters said.Speicher said the results of the virtual reality lessons in the collision repair class led the school to get a welding simulator, used for the first time this semester by the vo-tech's 84 welding students.Ken Morgan, vo-tech welding teacher, said the VRTX 360 looks exactly like an industrial welder.The virtual reality display is inside what looks like a welder's helmet.Morgan said he can program the virtual reality welder to different welding assignments such as plate or pipe welding, alter techniques and conditions and even change the surrounding environment, say from a welding shop to a desert military base.“I'd say 70 percent of the students have welding machines at home, but they weld incorrectly,” said Morgan.“This machine actually tracks gas use, wire use, it tracks everything he did,” said Morgan, speaking of a demonstration given by senior Noah Kison.“It's pretty realistic,” said Kison who is applying for welding jobs and apprenticeships.
