Carbon Career & Technical Institute gained national recognition last week when incoming senior Kyle Kuznicki won a top title.

Kuznicki, from the Lehighton Area School District, won a gold medal at the 2024 SkillsUSA National Competition in Atlanta in the 2-axis CNC turning competition, making him the best student machinist in the nation.

What exactly is 2-axis CNC Turning?

“The simplest way to explain it would be that there are two axis are on a lathe, they are called x and z,” Kuznicki explained. “The center of the part spins around the z axis. The diameters of your part are controlled by the x axis.”

Such a lathe can be use to create parts or tools.

During the national competition, he had to create a barber hose fitting.

The SkillsUSA National Championships were held June 24 to 28 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

The philosophy of the SkillsUSA Championships is to reward students for excellence, to involve industry in directly evaluating student performance and to keep classroom training relevant to employers’ needs.

After arriving in Atlanta on Monday, June 24, there was orientation on Tuesday. Programming and creating the barber hose fitting were done on Wednesday.

A series of tests and an interview were done Thursday. One test was a g-code and m-code test. G and m code are the manufacturing programming language.

Then he took a measuring tool test. “They gave us a picture of a measuring tool and we answered with what the measurement is on the tool,” he said.

Another was a theory test, ranging from blueprint reading to geometric dimensioning tolerancing. He also took a professional development test prior to going to Atlanta.

In addition to his classroom training at CCTI, Kuznicki gets on-the-job training at TPEI, a business on Blakeslee Boulevard Drive West in Lehighton. TPEI identifies itself as “a leading domestic manufacturer of continuous mixer and single screw extruders for the plastics and rubber industries.”

Kuznicki listed a number of people who helped him prepare for the national competition.

“My work at TPEI prepared me for the g-code portion. The CAD/CAM portion which is how I programmed the part, I had to learn on my own,” he said.

The interview part was a challenge. “Being good in an interview is a skill you either have or you don’t. And let me tell you, the interview I had with the lady at the competition was one of the best ones I ever had.”

Kevin Kuehner, head of the Precision Machine Technology Department at CCTI, helped him all the way. “The measurement portion of the tests I learned from Mr. Kuehner,” Kuznicki said. “The GD & T (Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing) portion I learned from reading a GoodHeart Wilcox book. And all the little stuff that helped me prepare is attributed to Mr. Kuehner and TPEI.”

Kuehner has been teaching at CCTI since 2007. He worked at Kovatch before becoming a teacher and SkillsUSA adviser.

Kuehner has now trained six national champions in his years as an instructor and SkillUSA adviser, a phenomenal accomplishment. Kyle’s brother Matthew won in CNC turning specialist competition in 2022.

“In his shop, he doesn’t tell you what to do,” Kuznicki said. “In machining, there are a million different ways of doing things to make a good part. He shows you how he does certain things. The only way a machinist gets better is through learning via reading and learning via mistakes.”

Kuehner, a graduate of CCTI, discussed how he got started in precision machining.

“My two older brothers were students at what was then called the Carbon County Area Vocational Technical School (now CCTI) and they studied precision machining. I had no idea what it was; but, once I did, I fell in love with it. I especially credit my instructor, Anthony Pondish. “He said I was good at it, and that was it.”

Kuehner gives the credit to the students.

“They’re the ones who do all the work,” he said