The Precision Machining Technology (PMT) program at Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) ranks among the nation’s top performers for preparing students to meet today’s increased demand for machinists, programmers and CNC machine operators.
At its Granite City, Illinois, campus, the community college offers an associate degree in precision machining technology along with a number of specialized career certificate programs including CNC machining, advanced CNC programming and a certificate in Mastercam CAD/CAM software from CNC Software LLC., Tolland, Conn.
“Not only do we strive to prepare our students with strong technical skills, we work to keep our curriculum relevant—with student employability being our highest priority,” says Mark Bosworth, industrial technology coordinator. “We are proud of our placement rate of over 98% for students completing the precision machining technology program.”
CNC on the Go
Helping with outreach and exposure for the machining program is SWIC’s CNC mobile lab, a 34-ft (10-m) trailer equipped with four Tormach CNC mills, two Tormach lathes and Mastercam CAD/CAM software. The lab brings a “What CNC machining is all about” mantra and technology to public venues, large-scale events, schools (grade, middle and high) and even offers its equipment to area high schools that are launching machining programs.
The mobile lab travels to more than 50 events each year, including three national races at the World Wide Technology Raceway (Madison, Illinois). It was on site at the inaugural NASCAR race in 2022 and was part of this year’s NASCAR race, along with NHRA hotrod and IndyCar Series races.
“The racing events have allowed us to capture the attention of over 50,000 spectators at each gathering, expanding the reach of our efforts even further,” Bosworth says. “But the impact of our mobile CNC lab extends beyond schools and races. We were honored to be invited to participate in the Illinois State Fair in Springfield for its STEM expo over the past few years.”
Mastercam programming and CNC machining were demonstrated as part of the expo, an event highlighting innovation and emerging career and educational opportunities in STEM fields.
In addition, the Illinois Skills USA contest has used the lab for its CNC contests in Peoria, further promoting SWIC’s presence in various educational and skill-building events. Thanks to these efforts, the CNC lab’s impact has not gone unnoticed. Requests come in from out-of-state schools wishing to experience the lab firsthand. Several colleges and organizations have contacted SWIC about creating similar mobile labs for their own regions.
SWIC’s precision machining technology program costs $15,000, which is said to be about half that of local private institutions.
Training for Career Success
The tech program and hands-on training take place in SWIC’s manufacturing training center, a 23,500-sq-ft (2,180-sq-m) facility equipped with various Haas machining equipment, including a five-axis Haas UMC-750SS.
Students start by learning basic machining operations along with the fundamentals of cutting metal using vertical mills, manual lathes, grinding machines and drill presses, according to David Berry, SWIC’s technical education division instructor. This is followed by CNC programming, where participants learn how to manually code the machines.
To prepare students for future careers in manufacturing, PMT instructors rely on Mastercam CAD/CAM software. The training center runs 36 seats of the software. Students spend nearly an entire semester learning how to set up and operate the CNC machines, learning to program the lathe and mill. Later, they are introduced to solid modeling using Dassault SolidWorks.
To earn a Mastercam certificate, students must complete three courses: precision machining, introduction to Mastercam and advanced Mastercam.
“The fact is, most students are eager to learn Mastercam because they know that there’s a better-than-good chance that they’ll be using that software when they get hired in manufacturing,” Berry notes. “We start the CAM side of Mastercam doing simple 2D and toolpath controls, moving onto 3D models and more complex work. Once they get some hands-on experience with the software, their interest turns into excitement about features and toolpaths—especially dynamic milling.”
To introduce this technology, Berry starts with a demonstration that compares the speed of a traditional cutting method to that of dynamic milling.
“At that point, students have been manually programming and cutting high-speed steel, so they’re used to spinning the tool up to 50 inches (1,270 mm) per minute. When I show them dynamic milling using a carbide tool, they see how the machine is capable of running 650 inches (16,510 mm) per minute. It’s always dramatic.”
Using dynamic milling, students learn how to optimize cutting operations and maximize the capabilities of the CNC machines. Years ago, according to Berry, when dynamic milling was new, the feature was introduced to students later in the program after fundamentals were covered. Now, because it has become the industry standard, it is introduced early in the program.
Other Mastercam features that get students’ attention are “Morph,” the surface-based toolpath that can automatically choose the best algorithm available to calculate the best way to morph between two surfaces, and “Pocketing.”
“I show students that, given more than a hundred different option combinations, you can have the machine run just the way you want, especially when there are a lot of requirements for tool motion and surface quality,” Berry says. “I like demonstrating Morph, especially if I want to just use brute force.”
Graduation
The final project that PMT students must complete to earn an associate degree requires them to use everything they have learned about CNC programming and milling. The 2-inch by 4-inch (50×100-mm) aluminum part is machined in three operations, including a lathe operation in which the part is faced, roughed and finished on the exterior. The interior is drilled with a core drill and rough bored with the same drill. The interior has a spherical floor and finishing requires a boring bar followed by internal grooving. Students use a thread-milling tool to machine the grooving and can opt to set up a second operation in a mill to thread mill the part or use live tooling on the lathe.
“While the part could be threaded with a threading boring bar, we want to expose the students to more non-standard processes,” Berry explains.
The final operation is performed on a five-axis mill. The first step includes 3D OptiRough from the top orientation to rough out the part. Next, students remove as much material from the semi spherical hole in the part using Dynamic Mill. The compound exterior surfaces are finished with five-axis Swarf milling and the fillet requires Morph or Parallel toolpaths. To finish the holes in the flat section, a 3+2 facing operation with helical boring is used. The Morph toolpath creates the internal semi-spherical hole; students must control the tilt of the tool to complete the undercut and avoid collision. The top rounded surfaces are cut with multiaxis Morph with tilt to improve surface quality by avoiding the center point of the ball mill.
Students use 3+2 toolpaths that include facing, Dynamic milling, 3D OptiRough, 3D-surfacing toolpaths and Swarf five-axis milling. The part is then deburred. Students must program this part and use machine verification to ensure that the part can be produced without tool collisions. Students learn how to make minor modifications to the post processor to assist in smoother machine motion.
Continuing Education
SWIC recently opened an advanced manufacturing center at the college’s main Belleville campus. With $7.5 million in grant funding, the center offers more advanced multiaxis certificates, focusing on simultaneous toolpaths.
Another recent achievement was the development of the “Master of CNC” contest, with eight high schools participating in the first year. The first round took place at the respective high schools with SWIC’s mobile lab, and the winners advanced to the SWIC campus to compete against other schools for the winning title.
“We are proud to have partnered with Mastercam, ProjectMFG and the Gene Haas Foundation to sponsor this competition, offering the overall winner a $4,000 prize and a $2,000 scholarship to attend SWIC,” Bosworth says.
Like many educators, Berry enjoys sharing success stories of recent graduates. One student was so good at CNC programming that, right after graduation, he was hired as an adjunct instructor in SWIC’s precision machining technology program. The former student also does contract work for local manufacturers, making parts for robotic arms and helping them automate manufacturing processes. Another PMT graduate now works for Boeing, making parts for everything from F/A-18 supersonic fighter planes to Air Force One.
Also benefiting from SWIC’s precision machining program location in Granite City—about 20 miles from St. Louis—are local manufacturers. According to Bosworth, St. Louis-area manufacturers of medical and dental products and military aviation companies regularly reach out to SWIC with employment opportunities for students with training in programming CNC machines.
“No question, there are jobs for students who complete the program, making pretty decent money, too,” he notes. “The truth is, most of our students are actually employed before they even finish school. Some start working as early as in their first semester.”
For more information about Southwestern Illinois College, phone 618-235-2700 or visit www.swic.edu. For more information about Mastercam, call 860-875-5006 or visit www.mastercam.com.
