Technical education teachers working with CNC technology can generally agree the purpose of their lessons is to help the next generation grasp technical concepts and to help them prepare for future experiences by relaying information. That being said, it’s easy to focus on one way of doing things without putting it in context of the CNC industry.

Mistakes Happen: Turning Student Crashes into Teachable Moments with Your CNC Mill

College freshman are immersed in new experiences at the start of the fall semester – their first time away from home, shopping on a budget, and, many times, their first time coming face to face with a CNC machine. We’ve all seen them.

 Cutting threads is an important element of machining. Even if you aren’t into making your own, custom-sized threads, it still helps to know how to create them. We’ve seen customers get pretty creative with their machines and cutting methods, but with a Tormach mill, there are three main ways to cut threads.

Letting students take control of the CNC machine for the first time each semester can be terrifying enough if they were paying attention to your wise words of caution, but we all know some of them weren’t taking studious notes. An easy way to save your machine and nerves is to give your students forgiving workpieces, like machinist wax, wood, or plastic, but that’s not always the best solution.

A good vise is a fundamental tool for precision machining. In addition to choosing the right size vise for your machine, identifying the right types of vise for workholding is critical to making sure your workpiece is secured while its being milled. There are a three types of vises that you’ll commonly encounter in CNC milling – the machinist vise, the CNC vise, and the toolmaker vise.