University of Akron Mechanical Engineering Students Visit

We recently had the pleasure of hosting a visit from a class of mechanical engineering students from The University of Akron. We work closely with a local engineer, Jim Parish, who is a guest professor at the university, and he suggested to Dr. Gopal Nadkarni that his class visit our shop so the students could experience what it’s like working in a metal shop and what the metal manufacturing process looks like. Our shop is one of a few they visited in the area.

Just a few of the other places they have visited so far include a tool and die shop and a heat treating shop. The students will likely go on to be engineers in different industries, but these visits are a great way for them to explore different processes and professions and expand their knowledge base. Many of the students were already familiar with metal stamping and 3D printing, Change to: but they were especially interested in metal spinning, as this isn’t a common process that many shops do anymore.

Learning the Advantages of Metal Spinning

Because we don’t do any 3D printing and just some metal stamping, we went over the advantages to metal spinning as opposed to those other more common processes, as well as what method makes the most sense for different types of projects.

If quantities are 50,000 or more, stamping might make the most sense for that project. If you’re only making one to five pieces, 3D printing is probably the best way to go, depending on what the part looks like—the flatter the better. But if you’re looking to make 100-1000 parts, metal spinning probably makes the most sense. Tooling costs are still a factor with spinning, but not as much as the costs for stamping.

Encouraging Local Innovation

Overall the visit was enjoyable for everyone and the students were very interested in our company and what we do. We showed them some sample parts and took them around the shop. They were great listeners and asked a lot of important questions. We’re pleased to hear that Dr. Gopal is all about local innovation and is encouraging his students to stay in the Akron area. Some of them currently have internships with local companies and plan to stay with them after they graduate.

Learn More About Tallmadge Spinning & Metal

If you want to learn more about what we do, we’d be happy to discuss our processes and what we can do for your project. Give us a call or request a quote online today!