The first CNC milling machine was developed in 1957, and the concept of modern CNC really hasn’t changed since. Yet, the worlds surrounding CNC – fabrication, engineering, product development, manufacturing, Et al. – have changed dramatically.

Matt Pyle is a student at Buffalo State University in New York. Though he has had some shop experience while getting his Associates Degree in mechanical engineering technology, he is mostly self-taught when it comes to machine operation. 

The Maker community has been coming into its own in the last five years. With the help of inexpensive hardware, software, and tools, more at-home engineers and inventors have the ability to access know-how that used to be relegated to major corporations.

Prototyping can be a challenge. We live in an era of fast-moving start-ups and Kickstarter revolutions, which leads to specialized machining and short turn-arounds. Chris Rauch keeps his “dual aspect engineering company” running steadily, thanks to both a lathe and mill from Tormach.

With their size and approachable design, Tormach machines have found their way into a number of classrooms at high schools and colleges around the nation. While the uses for a CNC mill or lathe in the classroom may seem obvious – teaching kids to machine parts – you may be surprised at how many teachers are doing much more than just teaching machining.

Luke Colby is a veteran of the space industry – he has both a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering, he founded the BU Rocket Team at Boston University, worked in the combustion lab as a Master’s student at Georgia Tech, previously worked for Scaled Composites (an aerospace company owned by Northrop Grumman), and now he’s the president and CEO of Triton Space Technologies.