Maybe you’re in charge of buying technical school machinery. Engine lathes. Knee mills. Surface grinders. Machining centers. And what the heck is a CNC, anyway? If these are unfamiliar terms, you may be unsure where to start. To get you up to speed, here are some examples of what other technical schools have done.

Hang on, though. It’s a long list.

Technical School Machinery 101

1. Advanced Manufacturing and Material Center (AMMC) – Laramie County Community College (LCCC) in Wyoming

For starters, there’s Laramie County Community College (LCCC) in Wyoming. The school invested in fifteen manual mills, lathes and surface grinders for its Advanced Manufacturing and Material Center (AMMC). All came from Kent Industrial USA. Since 1979, the company has sold, installed, and supported more than 24,000 industrial machine tools. Simply put, the technical school machinery LCCC students learn on will be familiar to them once they reach the shop floor.

2. Mountainland Technical College (MTECH) in Utah

Next on the list? Utah’s Mountainland Technical College (MTECH). It made similar investments in technical school machinery. For instance, MTECH recently purchased a KEB-606N sinker EDM for students in its Precision Machining Program. This is on top of five TRL-1340 precision lathes and a KGS-818AH surface grinder. However, because the school knows the importance of knowing how to program a FANUC machine control, it also purchased a KVR-2418A vertical machining center.

3. University of Dayton in Ohio

Then there’s associate professor Sean Falkowski. Together with his students at the University of Dayton, he’s hands on with a total of twenty machines from Kent USA. These include a handful each of KGS-618 manual surface grinders, SSM-1340 precision lathes, and KTM-5VKF CNC knee mills.

4. Gateway Community and Technical College in Kentucky

Next up is Gabe Lipscomb, an assistant professor and program coordinator at Gateway Community and Technical College. It’s one of sixteen community colleges in Kentucky. Because Lipscomb believes it’s important to learn by doing, he purchased a pair of KGS-818AH surface grinders for his students in the school’s machining technology program. A one-time machinist, it wasn’t long before he followed it with a WSI-200 wire electrical discharge machine(WEDM). It seems that Lipscomb wanted students to learn more about tool and die work.  

5. University of North Texas

Graduate research assistant Supreeth Gaddam is unraveling the mysteries of friction stir welding. The machine he uses to play the metallurgical version of Sherlock Holmes at the University of North Texas (UNT)? A WSi-200, the same machine Lipscomb bought. But he doesn’t use it to teach young people about the tool and die industry. Instead, Gaddam wire-cuts test “dog bones” for metallurgical testing. And when not busy with that, he uses the WSi-200 to separate 3D-printed parts from build plates. It’s a common application for WEDM.

6. Mid-State Technical College School of Applied Technology in Wisconsin

And lastly? There’s Ryan Kawski. As the Dean at Mid-State Technical College’s School of Applied Technology, he helped with a big project recently. It seems Kawski and other staff members oversaw the funding of the Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Technology, and Apprenticeship Center. AMETA, for short.

Thanks to their efforts, it’s now home to twelve pieces of Kent USA equipment.  Among them are ten TRL-1340 manual precision lathes, followed by a pair of CSM-1640 “teach lathes.” The latter is called that for the Acu-Rite TURNPWR turning control. It has the ability to operate in both manual and CNC mode, a great way to learn each. Kent USA partner Staehle Precision helped the school through the entire process.

That’s a lot of technical school machinery to ponder. Fortunately, Kent USA is here to help. As these and many other instructors have found, we know which lathes, mills, EDM, and CNC machines are best for the young and not-so-young to learn on. We’ll even put together a “starter pack” for your school board to review. Kent can also help with financing, whether it’s for a single machine or to equip an entire facility. Give us a call. As you’ll soon find, we’re quick studies.