Equipment

Equipment

Composite Manufacturing:

Some of our equipment includes a 30 sq. ft. walk in curing over and a 6 sq. ft. lab curing oven. Curing ovens are used to cure (cook) prepreg composite material after they are assembled. Taking the part from a soft pliable part that will not hold a shape and has no structural integrity, and makes it hard with non pliable with extreme structural integrity.

Curing Oven

Injection Molding:

The Plastics department has a BabyPlast injection molding machine with a Mortto dryer.  This is the first step in running a small production injection molding machine. We also have a Nissei 50-ton and a Boy 22-ton machine.  These two machines are typically found in injection molding companies and provide the students hands-on experience on analog and digital machines. 

BabyPlast injection molding machine

We also have Tempek and a Conair chillers.  Chillers are used to cool the molds that are in the injection molding machines.  As the parts are molded, the heat from the molten plastics heats up the mold.  The chiller cools off the molds through the water lines in the molds. 

Tempek chiller

Thermoforming:

The Plastics department has a Formech Vacuum forming machine used for education and product design.  

Formech forming machine

Formech result

Extruding:

We are patiently waiting the arrival of our new Filabot Airpath.  The Filabot Airpath is a device that uses forced convection to cool filament as it is being extruded. The Filabot Spooler can also be used for the common ABS and PLA materials to help get greater tolerance and easier extrusion setup. The air path is a must for researchers and development labs who are working with higher temperature polymers where the filament needs to be cooled before it is passed through the Filabot Spooler. This system has a speed read out so that consistent speeds can be set. 

Filabot airpath machine

Rotational Molding:

We have multiple rotational machines.  We have the Power lab #812 which allows for hot rotational molding.  We also have the BJB CPE 615 Rotational casting machine to be used for two-part plastics such as urethane. 

BJB Rotational casting machine

Compression Molding:

We have a Compression Molding Press from Carver Inc.  The press is equipped with heating/cooling platens and a programmable digital controller which has a heating/cooling loop for each platen and built-in program for the required cooling rate. 

Carver Molding Press

3D Printing:

We have multiple Airwolf 3D printers.  The machines take 3D information from a CAD system and print the item in a 3 dimensional format. 

Airwolf 3D printer

Testing Equipment:

We have a Stuart melting point apparatus.  The temperature is selected, measured and displayed digitally making it accurate and negating the need for a thermometer.

Stuart meling point apparatus

Large Fabrication Equipment:

We have a Grizzly Industrial 18" variable-speed vertical metal bandsaw to use on our non-composite materials. 

 Grizzly 18" bandsaw

We also have a few Jet combination sanders. 

Jet combination sanders

Specimen Testing Equipment:

Coming soon.

 

Riveting/bonding Equipment:

Coming soon.