The Spark Something Great grant reinforces Hypertherm Asscoiate’s commitment to educators and schools responsible for developing the skilled metal workers of tomorrow. This grant ensures the next generation of metalworking professionals is familiar with one of the most efficient technologies for plasma cutting and gouging.

To date, the company has awarded systems to over 120 schools, and it will once again award 12 schools in the United States and Canada with the equipment and training needed to instruct new metal fabricators. The submission deadline is April 15, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

“North America faces a skills gap, and vocational programs and schools are vital to overcoming it,” said Hypertherm Associates Director, Regional Marketing & Revenue Operations, Stephen Bruner. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen many programs in which dozens of students share a single system. We established this grant program to help educators prepare their students with direct access to the technologies they will use in the workforce.”

Jeff Sockwell, a previous grantee and agriculture science teacher, had nothing but praise for the system. “I think the Powermax SYNC is probably one of the best choices we made,” he says. “I would recommend it to anybody in the world.”

Public and not-for-profit institutions, including junior high school, high school, secondary, post-secondary technical, vocational schools, colleges, and universities located in the U.S. or Canada that offer welding or metal fabrication are invited to apply.

About Hypertherm Associates

Hypertherm Associates is a U.S. based manufacturer of industrial cutting products and software. Its products, including Hypertherm plasma and OMAX waterjet systems, are used by companies around the world to build ships, airplanes, and railcars; construct steel buildings, fabricate heavy equipment, erect wind turbines, and more. In addition to cutting systems, the company creates CNCs, and software trusted for performance and reliability that results in increased productivity and profitability for hundreds of thousands of businesses. Founded in 1968, Hypertherm Associates is a 100 percent Associate-owned company, employing approximately 2,000 Associates, with operations and partner representation worldwide.

The Titanium Cut features the Machitech NX4 CNC Controller and Hypertherm Pronest CAD/CAM Software. It incorporates Hypertherm’s XPR460 high performance plasma system for maximum productivity in x-y axis cutting, beveling and robotic cutting operations. With a versatile 460-amp rated system, the Titanium Cut plasma machine combines fast cutting speeds, rapid process cycling, and quick changeovers reliably. Other plasma systems are available.

Other Titanium Cut standard features include a customizable bridge and rail system, a table size range from 8-ft by 20-ft up to 30-ft by 300-ft, a 40 foot by 20 foot reinforced fabricated gantry, a patented inverted rail system, Industrial Servomotors, Bosch linear ways on the rails and gantry, a rotary tool changer with 16 stations, and mist coolant through tools.

Options include additonal plasma cutting stations, a 5-axis full contour bevel head, a cut and clean slag removal system, marking systems, up to 10 oxyfuel torches, chip and coolant extraction system, a dust collector, flood coolant capabilities, and other nesting software.

About Mechitech

Machitech has over 20 years of experience and over 2,000 machines installed worldwide. Solutions offered include CNC plasma cutting systems, fiber laser cutting systems, light industrial CNC plasma cutting tables, heavy-duty industrial CNC routers, pipe cutting systems, robotic beam cutting systems and press brakes.