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Smalley donates abrasive waterjet machining center to local college

Smalley Steel Ring Company, a global leader in the design and manufacture of retaining rings and wave springs, has donated an OMAX 2652 to the College of Lake County (CLC) in Grayslake, IL.

The abrasive waterjet machining center is the college's first and broadens the CNC/Machine Tool Trades Department's ability to offer the waterjet technology skills sought by many employers recruiting the CLC graduates, including Smalley.

Waterjet machining is one of the fastest-growing machining processes in manufacturing today. Its ease of use and ability to cut almost anything while maintaining high precision make it suitable for a large array of operators from short-run job shops and R&D facilities to large corporations engaging in full-scale production.

The OMAX 2652 JetMachining Center, which was installed at CLC in mid April, is a mid-size cantilever-style waterjet machine, with a table size of 5' 9" x 2' 6" and capable of tolerances up to +/-0.001" (+/-0.025 mm). With a completely sealed and protected ball-screw drive system, this robust and reliable machine is perfect for cutting projects with smaller dimensions but needing high precision. It comes standard with an OMAX MAXJET 5i Nozzle.

College of Lake County is a comprehensive community college offering a wide range of academic program choices to meet students' educational needs, including an associate degree in Applied Science and two certificate options in CNC Programming. Jeff Hines, department chairman overseeing CNC Programming at CLC, plans to integrate the machine into several courses including fabrication, wire EDM, and welding beginning fall 2015.

Tim Doran, owner at Tristate Machinery, Inc., the OMAX distributor for Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, is a member of the career advisory committee for manufacturing at the College of Lake County and helped bring his customer, Smalley, and the college together. Career advisory committees, which include representatives of small business, large corporations, labor unions, faculty, secondary education instructors, recent graduates of the programs, and even high-performing current students, help ensure that curriculum meets workforce needs by providing valuable feedback to instructors.

"Jeff Hines and the advisory committee have such a unique vision for how to bring together the best tools and technology that will truly help students develop the skills today's manufacturers want and need," Doran said. "With the addition of this machine, CLC is one of the only schools with a waterjet machining center in its classroom setting, which gives these students a huge advantage."

Smalley also donated several accessories with the machine including a Variable Speed Solids Removal System and a Tilt-A-Jet accessory. Through the machine's Intelli-MAX control software, the Tilt-A-Jet automatically calculates and adjusts the angle of the nozzle to accurately remove the natural taper from the finished part by transferring it to the scrap part of the material -- all while maintaining extremely high cutting speeds.

Smalley, which also donates to CLC for a scholarship, uses OMAX abrasive waterjet technology to manufacture equipment used in the production of its products, including retaining rings and wave springs. With a No Tooling Cost manufacturing process, Smalley can also create prototypes and small to large runs of custom parts as an affordable alternative if the ring a customer needs is not available. The OMAX 2652 was the company's first waterjet. Smalley replaced the machine with a new OMAX 55100 JetMachining Center, giving the company two of the same models on its shop floor.

Source: Smalley

Published May 2015

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