Hartford Union High School, WI, has made a significant investment in the future of its manufacturing students by upgrading a dozen existing CNC machines to Milltronics' latest control technology.
The upgrades modernize the CNC controls to the Milltronics Model 8200-B. The 8200-B offers networking capability, USB ports, DXF import, Intel Pentium 32-bit chip running at 1.8 GHz with 1 GB data storage and 2 GB system memory, plus 12" color LCD screens to verify parts before cutting. The 8200-B can be programmed with either conversational "question and answer" programming or industrial standard machine code, such as that produced by computer aided manufacturing (CAM) systems.
"We start the students with manual machines so they learn the basics first," said Brad Dzikowski, one of Hartford's manufacturing instructors. "But we also teach more advanced classes that are full CNC that include the use of CAM systems. One of the projects starts by defining the surfaces of a part with CAD, then creating a CAM program tool path all the way through setting up and machining the parts. Having the updated controls with networking, the faster processor and more memory makes that easier and efficient."
Hartford bought its first Milltronics CNC machine in 2001. "The machines have a lot of life left in them," Dzikowski said. "Upgrading them made the most sense financially and environmentally. Plus, the support from Milltronics and Concept Machine Tool - the local dealer - has been great."
"We are proud of our students and what they have accomplished," said Corey McCauley, the program's other manufacturing instructor. "We participate in the SkillsUSA competition every year and have been No. 1 in the state of Wisconsin a couple of times and usually finish in the Top 5 or 6 nationally."
SkillsUSA is a national partnership of students, teachers and industry that works together to help ensure that the USA has a qualified workforce.
"Many of our students work for some of the local companies that helped create the program at Hartford and some go on to technical colleges or universities and major in engineering or manufacturing," McCauley said.
For more information contact:
Concept Machine Tool
407 Austin Circle
Delafield, WI 53018
262-646-4488
www.conceptmachine.com
Milltronics USA, Inc.
1400 Mill Lane
Waconia, MN 55387
952-442-1410
www.milltronics.com
Hartford Union High School District
805 Cedar St.
Hartford, WI 53027
262-670-3200
www.huhs.org