The 2nd Htec Skills Challenge for CNC milling machining took place last May in the Aveleda Haas Portugal, in the northern Portugal. Eighteen participants competed coming mostly from one of the Iefp or Cenfim schools, founded all over Portugal and providing, among others, professionals skills CNC training.
Participants, recently graduated, were given details and measurements of a piece, and needed to program it for machining in Mastercam and then machine it on one of the four Haas VF-2SS machines that were made available for the competition. The winner was Tiago Duarte da Conceição from Iefp Agueda, whose piece was lauded by the jury for the tolerances achieved, and second spot went to Flávio Pereira, also from the Iefp Agueda. Gene Haas, founder and owner of Haas Automation, congratulated the participants by conference call on their dedication and technical skills. At the event, Haas Portugal also announced the opening, after the one of Aveleda opened last year, of a second training center for CNC knowledge, that will be based in Lisbon.