Welcome to our Project Web!
This school partnership is an initiative of our „European CNC Network“, a consortium of more than 30 vocational schools from Europe that has been in existence since 2004. The most well-known and probably most successful school project within our network was the „Train for EUROPE“, which was awarded the European Youth Charlemagne Prize in 2010.
Our Penny Press Machine in action
The project idea was the result of several preparatory meetings, most recently in Dublin in December 2018. The main product, a so-called "Penny Press Machine", was the focus of our school partnership. This type of coin press is often found at tourist hot spots. Typically, the customer drops a euro-coin into the printing slot and at the same time a 5-cent piece. By operating a crank, motifs are then imprinted on the surfaces of the copper coin.
The "European CNC-Network - Penny Press Machine for EUROPE" was supported
by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ KA229 School Exchange Partnerships
running for 34 months from November 2019 to August 2022.
View our Project Card!
We are very proud that our
Penny Press Machine School Partnership
was awarded the ERASMUS+ Seal of Quality 2022
(Rating: 91/100).
Our Penny Press Machine School Partnership
is nominated as an ERASMUS+ Success Story :-)
See you in Berlin in September 2023!
(more details will follow soon ...)
In total five vocational partner schools with mechanical background were involved,
one each from Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway and Spain.
And also our friends from Switzerland took part as associated partner.
You would like to know more about our project?
Feel free and take a closer look at our project web!
This School Exchange Partnership is coordinated by
BBS TGHS Bad Kreuznach, Germany.
Project Description
The project idea was the result of several preparatory meetings, most recently in Dublin in December 2018. The main product, a so-called "Penny Press Machine", was the focus of our school partnership. This type of coin press is often found at tourist hot spots. Typically, the customer drops a euro-coin into the printing slot and at the same time a 5-cent piece. By operating a crank, motifs are then imprinted on the surfaces of the copper coin.
The aim of our partnership was for the partners to develop a functioning "Penny Press Machine" as an exhibit in the course of the joint project work. This will be permanently displayed in a central location in the school building where it will receive public attention. Since a total of six partner schools participated in the project, the machine should also be able to mint six different motifs each, so that even after the end of the project, a bond within the framework of the "European CNC Network" is guaranteed. The motifs on the embossing rollers were individually designed. In addition to the specially designed project logo, they also show images which are typical for the region. As a sustainable European cooperation, the project work thus represents both, the commonality and the uniqueness of the member states of a united Europe.
Exploded Assembly Video
After the technical drawing had been finished and the 3D-model had been prepared, the construction and design was then transformed into an exploded assembly video to visualize the full design of the machine and to countercheck distances, tolerances and measurements. It is very impressive to see how many individual parts our Penny Press Machine consists of and the detailed solutions that the students have
Final Meeting in Germany 04/2022
Yes, we have finally made it to Germany, to the final meeting and we were all looking forward to seeing our "Penny Press Machine" running and of course to meeting all the European friends again.
The meeting started with a beautiful welcome dinner at a small restaurant in the middle of Bad Kreuznach, just in walking distance to our hotel. It was the time that we, all those involved in the project, said hello to each other. Of course, we talked a lot about the project, our work, the machine and our trip to Germany.
On our first day, Heinz and his colleague Elina gave us a tour through the city of Bad Kreuznach, to the famous "Brückenhäuser" and the historic center of this town in the southwestern part of Germany.
In the afternoon we went to school and started our meeting with a review and the first work line and group work sessions. The focus of our work in the different groups was the preparation of the final meeting on Thursday and solving minor problems of our Penny Press. Some students directly went to the workshop and assembled the "Penny Press Machine", others stayed in classrooms and worked on the concept for the final presentation.
Meeting in Austria 03/2022
On Sunday evening, the meeting started with a welcome dinner at Hotel Graf right in the center of Sankt Pölten. Most of us had "Wiener Schnitzel", a typical specialty of Lower Austria. It was exciting to see all the European friends again and to discuss the challenges and solutions for our Penny Press face to face.
In the following days, we spent a lot of time in the workshops at school. Before that we had a school tour through the HTL Sankt Pölten. The building is fascinating - everything is new, there is modern equipment, and the rooms are large and stylish.
Some students decided to focus on the electronic parts of our Penny Press and with the help and support of the teachers in Austria, we produced our own circuit boards. Some of us had never done that before and so it was very interesting but also challenging, but the two teachers from the electronic department did a great job! Thank you!
Some other students spent a lot of time in the mechanical department where some missing parts of the machine were prepared at the milling and the turning machines. Again, the Austrian teachers in the workshops supported us and helped us whenever we had problems.
Restart in Norway 11/2021
Sunday evening in the north of Europe! After all the delegations from different parts of Europe had finally made it to Trondheim, our third project meeting was started on Sunday evening Nov 14th,2021 at the "Egon Tarnet Restaurant", about 74 meters above the ground. Having a delicious pizza in a rotating restaurant with a beautiful view into the Norwegian night - what a start off!
On our first working day, we received an overview and an insight into project work so far, which was really complicated because of all the concessions and limitations due to the Corona pandemic. It became clear that we would have to take some major changes in the project organization and procedure to be successful in the end.
On the second and third day, we focused on what we had achieved so far, the difficulties we had encountered and discussed ideas and concepts for our next steps.
Corona Break 03/2020-11/2021
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In March 2020 we still were able to have the second successful project meeting hosted by our partner school in Barcelona. But just a few days later, the spreading of the CoVid-19-virus developed drastically there (as well as all over the continent), so the number of cancelled flights to our home destinations was also rising. In conclusion, we had to consider quarantine after returning back home.
In the following months, our school partnership was dominated by the CoViD-19 pandemic. The high numbers of incidences throughout Europe were leading to many lockdowns in schools and home schooling.
The web-based conferences established as an alternative to the planned meetings did not work out the way we had been expected to because the periods of lock down in the different partner countries again and again made it impossible for students to get back to working on the product.
Meeting in Spain 03/2020
At the beginning of March 2020, we met in Barcelona to push our Erasmus+ project called "Penny Press Machine for Europe" further to the next stage. While in Luxembourg the basic structure and challenges were discussed and analysed, we met in Catalonia to further deepen the technical issues and to start Workline D, which so far was only meant for evaluating the first meeting.
In our well-structured work sessions organized in different work lines and work groups, we had the chance to discuss different ideas and concepts for realizing the different element of our "Penny Press Machine" such as parts of the base frame or the mechanical parts, which would later be relevant for "pressing of the pennies". Apart from the workload, we took our time to get to know the city of Barcelona, the vibrant, beautiful, and joyful metropole and center of this region. We enjoyed regional food, organized a guided city tour and of course, threw ourselves into nightlife …
Kick-Off in Luxembourg 11/2019
About twenty general mechanics high school students and their teachers from five different European countries came to Luxembourg in order to take part in the Erasmus+ project entitled "Penny Press Machine For Europe (PPM4EU)". The guests stayed for a week in mid-November and met at the Lycée des Arts et Métiers to work on their mission funded by the European Union.
Their task was to develop a penny press machine that will produces souvenir coins with typical national and European symbols or landmarks. Every school will produce its own very complex machine.
In addition to the demanding workshops, cultural visits and sightseeing tours were organized by the Lycée des Arts et Métiers. These included the Court of Justice of the European Union in Kirchberg, the Musée des Mines in Rumelange as well as the Lycée des Arts et Métiers itself. Another highlight was an afternoon spent at the Science Center in Differdange.
