A Takamaz J-Wave was recently placed on our shop floor to automate a secondary drilling process. The machine is a CNC controlled lathe that uses grippers to pickup a blank part and load it into a chuck while also unloading a completed part. This automation is a welcoming sight to our shop floor.

The parts being drilled are for the marine industry and have am estimated annual volume of 600,000 pieces. The part is first made on our Acme Gridley screw machines were we form the outer diameters to size and drill into one side of the part. After this operation they are placed in a bowl feeder which feeds parts on to a conveyer which presents the part to the grippers on the J-Wave. The J-wave loads the part, drills 2 more holes on the opposite end of the part and then the part is ejected.

We anticipate this being the first of many automated CNC solutions to assist with our production.

We originally purchased our Hwacheon Vesta 660 to do production CNC milling. It’s 24″ by 18″ table has enough travel to take on a bunch of different projects. Whether its milling features on to extrusions or milling a complete part out of a block of metal. It is a good entry level machine for us to get our feet wet in CNC milling.

Well, after several years of this machine collecting dust it is now part of production. It is not exactly what we anticipated but the machine is working well as a secondary machine. It is not being used to it’s potential but it is tapping a hole on a part that we turn and drill on our Acme. The thread is a large thread and we need the horsepower of the mill to accomplish it. We may also use this machine to thread mill a tapered thread on another part because our other secondary machines are having difficulty with the tapered thread.

Although it’s not underutilized, this machine is now an integral part of a production process. This will be a good filler job until we put a manufacturing engineer in place and get some true milling projects in the works. For this helps pays the bills.

Gent Machine offers a wealth of precision machining (whether it’s screw machining or CNC machining) experience. When seeking a job shop in Northeast Ohio, customers have several to choose from to meet their part requirements. Gent Machine exceeds the offerings of the average job shop. The organization recognizes that its target customer values the partner relationships Rich and Adam Gent honor with their customers. The relationships were built over decades, and in many cases, passed on from one generation to the next generation, encompassing 90 years of business. Customers benefit from the three areas that make Gent Machine stand out – a wealth of machining experience, a clean shop and machining with white glove service.

Customers have confidence in the wide variety of precision machining processes, highly trained
operators, and network of specialty process partners that Gent Machine has established. The
organization possesses a well-rounded selection of equipment and expertise to ensure that a part is
produced on the correct machine for optimal efficiency and quality. The shop has a full outlay of
Davenports, Acmes, Swiss CNCs, Hydromats, and a Hwacheon mill. Flexibility in equipment, and the
know how to select the right piece of equipment, ensures Gent’s customers are having their parts made
as efficiently and as economically as possible. Gent’s operators are highly trained. In-house training and
mentoring are used to train new machinists and to complement previous training to fill any skill gaps.
Solid relationships exist with secondary and finishing processes for plating, anodizing, passivation, black
oxide, heat treat, thread patch, and deburring. Gent has recently added in-house grinding capability to
its abilities. In addition, visual sorting machines provide the capacity to sort parts 100%. Two cameras
measure the internal and outer diameters for dimensional compliance. A highly trained quality
department ensure quality equipment is correctly calibrated and quality procedures are meticulously
followed.

An important asset of Gent is its maintenance crew. Machines can’t be up and running if there is no one
to fix a machine when it goes down. Gent is lucky to have three highly expert and experienced
maintenance personnel to keep its machines humming. In addition, Gent employs a seasoned tool man
that is able to make just about anything one can imagine. Precision machining experience matters to
Gent Machine.

A clean machine shop – oxymoron or a real possibility? At Gent Machine, cleanliness is reality. Clean
floors give one the feeling the whole shop is in order. Hand rails and door knobs are wiped down, and
the break room is kept clean and orderly. Tools are kept in order and all quality gages have a specific
spot where they are kept. Cleanliness matters to Gent Machine.

The last truly unique aspect of Gent Machine is precision machining with white glove service. Attention
to every detail from Swiss CNC machine set up, tool changes, inspection, customer service, front office
expertise that keeps machinists up to date with prints and tool orders, as well as just in time
communication with ownership provide new and long-established customers with a white glove
experience. Customer relationships matter to Gent Machine.

Don’t pick just any job shop. Pick one that first and foremost are experts in precision machining,
understand that the care they put into their business is exhibited through its cleanliness, and pulls out
the white gloves for its customers.