TMA CNC Training at the Fred W. Buhrke Training Center

Hands-on CNC training continues to grow and expand at the Fred W. Buhrke Training Center in Arlington Heights with new classes starting approximately every eight weeks. The program will graduate its first class this month and will hold a special graduation ceremony and dinner at TMA with students, employers, and instructors. Many TMA member companies have contributed to the success of this exciting new program, the first of its kind at TMA.

TMA would like to especially recognize Haas Factory Outlet, a division of HFO Chicago, LLC. After TMA purchased a brand-new ST-10 horizontal Turning Center, HAAS generously entrusted a VF-2YT Vertical machining center to TMA for use at the Fred W. Buhrke Training Center. This new machine is an integral part of the curriculum and will ultimately allow TMA to teach 5-Axis machining to students. TMA is proud to announce that they are now an officially recognized as HAAS Technical Education Center or HTEC.

Haas states, “Over the past several years the U.S. has enjoyed a resurgence in manufacturing. However our labor pool of skilled machinists and engineers has been in decline. It is vital we work together as an industry to develop training programs which identify and nurture the next generation of manufacturing talent. We are proud and delighted for the opportunity to partner with TMA at the Fred W. Buhrke Training Center.”

Haas Factory Outlet is a distributor for Haas Automation, the largest machine tool builder in the United States. Haas Automation manufactures a full line of CNC vertical and horizontal machining centers, CNC lathes, rotary tables, mini mills, super mini mills and 5C indexers.

The TMA and Haas Factory Outlet partnership will continue to advance manufacturing education and training in the Chicagoland area. Students graduating from this program learn how to combine theory and hands-on training in set-up, operations and programming of a CNC lathe and mill.

The first-level course focuses on the coordinate system,
program planning and structure, spindle speeds and feed rates, linear and circular interpolation, canned cycles, tool nose and cutter compensation and threading and subprograms.

According to TMA CNC instructor Jack Krikorian, “The key ingredient of this training program is that the students are able to do hands-on training on the CNC equipment.”

Much emphasis is placed upon developing good process planning and problem solving skills. After successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate skills in programming and how to safely set-up, operate and manufacture small parts using a CNC lathe and mill.

Ted Sattler, a student in the first TMA CNC graduating class, added, “It’s one thing to have the theory in the classroom, it’s another thing to walk up to a machine, with confidence, and press start, knowing that your part is going to be perfect.”

TMA Education Director Patrick Osborne noted, “The successful launch of the TMA program was due in large part to Haas. The first-level class has been very successful. The Level 2 course, which encompasses 90% machining, is currently in development and will launch within the next few months. The capstone project of this program will utilize the Haas VF-2YT with an advanced course in 5-Axis machining.”

For more information on the Fred W. Buhrke Training Center, check out the new video on the TMA website at: www.tmanet.com.

TMA is also planning to host an open house at the Fred W. Buhrke Training Center in the next few months. Be on the lookout for the exact date and how to attend.