WILLIAMSPORT, LYCOMING COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — The Little League World Series is back, meaning hundreds of thousands of fans from all across the world will be visiting Lycoming County.
Excitement for it spreading not just globally, but at one nearby college. A plasma cutter makes cutting through steel look as easy as scissors on paper.
Cutting out ‘Sydney’ is nothing compared to making components to build a seven-foot-tall, 12-hundred-pound stainless steel globe.. To be put on display at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport.
"It had to go about 700 inches a minute to cut that stuff, so it was really zipping around there," said Michael Allen, welding instructor/co-dept. Head, Pennsylvania College of Technology
That task was something Penn College welding instructor and co-department head Michael Allen, other staff, and around 75 students were given ahead of this year’s tournament.
"Some of them rolled the rod, some of them welded, some of them did the mock-up of the whole globe to start with, and then figured out how to actually put it together," stated Allen.
The project was two years in the making, in addition to nearly six months for production. It started with the material, stainless steel.
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"There was a lot of problem solving that came in with the project itself, and there were some trial and error processes that our students attempted to work with, and they found that it took you know a considerable amount of time," explained Roy Klinger, Collision Repair Technology Co-Dept. Head, Pennsylvania College of Technology
Klinger says while the material will bear the elements and last the longest, it’s a challenge to bend. His role was to stretch and move it into a compound curve, to make up the continents.
"What may seem like a simple task became very daunting, you know, with the type of material that we’re working with," stated Klinger.
The globe is now on display outside of Volunteer Stadium, a finished product letting students reflect on finding the solution in a real-world project.
"To actually put that into action and do something for real, and then be able to come back for generations and see a stainless steel globe sitting at the Little League complex is going to be meaningful for students and families," explained Brad Webb, Dean of Engineering Technologies at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
The Little League World Series celebration begins Tuesday with the grand slam parade stepping off at 5:00 p.m. in Williamsport.
