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Patience is a virtue, but when it comes to working in a production lab, speed and precision rate pretty high too.

Thanks to an anonymous gift, Lohr College of Engineering has been able to buy six new CNC (computer numerical control) machines valued at $120,000. The machines arrived and were installed in the production lab of the Chicoine Architecture, Mathematics and Engineering Hall in September.

They are still going through guinea pig  testing with class instruction to begin with spring semester in January, according to Tyler Hanks, lab coordinator.

“We will be able to make parts more precise and twice as fast as the old machines,” which date to 1999, he said. While those machines still work, they are obsolete and the  manufacturer is no longer in business, Hanks said.

A CNC machine takes what is designed on computer software program and shapes a solid block into what had been designed. “The CNC machine can be used for wood and plastic parts, but 99% of the time the material is aluminum or steel. We also use wax blocks for testing and in some learning situations,” Hanks said.

First Technologies, a third-party education company out of Brookfield, Wisconsin, handled installation and initial training, and is available for  troubleshooting as well as doing scheduled maintenance.

Would have made lunar project much faster

Hanks is being assisted by lab veteran Nick Sieler, a senior mechanical engineering major who is a work-study student in the lab. Sieler has been helping to set up the lab for teaching next semester and will be creating tutorial videos for the machines.

He also was part of the 2023-24 SDSU team that competed in NASA’s Break the Ice contest. The team designed a built a lunar excavator and a rover. Among his responsibilities was making the aluminum tread plates that formed the outside of the wheels on both pieces of equipment.

“I personally did 70 of the 80-some plates that were manufactured in-house before we outsourced the remaining ones to Mitchell Tech. Just the work we did in-house took over a month. With the current machines the work could be done in about a week,” Sieler, of Sioux Falls, said.

The college also annually fields an entry in the SAE Formula race car contest. “Previously, we didn’t have the capacity for what we needed to make, so we would outsource the job to local companies and hope for a good deal. Now the Formula team can make the parts themselves,” Hanks said.

Machines to impact all ME students

Sieler added, “The new students are getting pretty excited about the machines.” 

They will be extensively used in ME 121 “Product and Fabrication Processes,” a class that all first-semester ME students take. They also will be used in the sophomore projects class, the senior capstone class and for research.

Hanks said, “It will be easier to teach students on what is the industry standard. This is the type of CNC machine that would be found in a small metal shop.”

The machines are visible from the hallway windows of the AME production lab so prospective students can get a glimpse of them without actually touring the lab.

Purchase shows value of Excellence Fund

The college purchased three Model 770s CNC mills, a larger Model 1100 that primarily will be used for research and two Model 8L lathes. All are made by Tormach. Lathes turn the material that is being shaped and are primarily used for making rods or bolts. With mills, the raw material is fastened into place and the drill bits or end mills spin.

The college tapped the Mechanical Engineering Labs Excellence Fund to purchase the CNC machines. That fund was created in 2022 and has received gifts from multiple donors. 

Yucheng Liu, head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, said, “Anyone can make a gift to the fund to support additional lab equipment upgrades. The possibilities these new machines offer show the impact that can occur when providing for our students with top-notch resources.”

For more information on giving opportunities, contact Tom Becker with the SDSU Foundation at Tom.Becker@sdstatefoundation.org