Over 280 People Attend OptiPro's Technology Open House and Steakout!

Attendees congregate in OptiPro's new building addition at the Technology Open House and Steakout.

This year's Technology Open House and Steakout was the most successful one ever as over 280 people attended during the course of the two-day event! Much of the buzz centered around OptiPro's newly-expanded facility. The 7,500 square-foot addition allowed more machines to be showcased. Traffic was able to flow much more smoothly than past years due to the increased floor space.

OptiPro's Machining Technology Center (MTC) featured a broad range of CNC metalworking equipment, including the Citizen L20X Swiss Turning Center, Miyano BNA-42DHY Super Turning Center, Spinner U5-620 5-Axis Machine, Spinner VC-750 5-Axis Machine, Akari HMC HS-450i, Flow Mach3 2513b Waterjet, AccuteX EDM SP-300i, plus many others! Each machine was under power and most were cutting complex, intricate parts to display its advanced capabilities.

Throughout the two-day open house, technical presentations were delivered by representatives of Citizen, Flow, Iscar, and Verisurf. Mastercam presentations were also given by Vince Cannarozzo and Chris Parish of OptiPro. These presentations were designed to help companies expand their manufacturing capabilities and educate companies on new ways to increase efficiency and profitability.

In addition, Vince and Chris demoed Mastercam's latest version, X6, to attendees looking to learn more about the new features of their software. Companies not currently utilizing Mastercam also viewed demonstrations to determine whether a change to the world's most popular CAD/CAM software should be made. The Master3DGage, Verisurf's portable CMM, was also exhibited to attendees interested in significantly increasing production and improving part quality.

Each attendee enjoyed a steak lunch or dinner, beer, wine, soda, and appetizers while networking with individuals from manufacturing companies across NY State. OptiPro would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend our open house. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

To view pictures from the 2011 Technology Open House and Steakout, check out OptiPro's Facebook page.

Erie Community College Takes First, Second, and Third Place in Mastercam Wildest Parts Competition!

For the third straight year, a student of Erie Community College (ECC) has finished in first place in the Mastercam Wildest Parts Competition!

Steven DiNieri's "Gear Clock" took home first place at this year's Mastercam Wildest Parts Competition.

ECC students also took home second and third place in this year's competition. Introduced two decades ago, the annual contest challenges students to push their limits to design something new and different while giving them a chance to show off their work and win cool prizes. The challenge is simple: create a bold, original item using Mastercam.

This year, first place was awarded to Steven DiNieri of ECC for his design "Gear Clock". It is the first metal clock that has been submitted by a student in the competition's history. The multitude of well-made working parts showcased DiNieri's design and machining skills and showed the huge amount of time he invested in the project. DiNieri's write-up on creating the part is among the best the judges have ever received.

Aaron Otoka of ECC took home second place for his project, "Boomerang Yo-Yo".

From Otoka's great project write-up, it is clear how much thought he put into planning his superior yo-yo.

His yo-yo design included both a clutch that will kick in when a 'sleeping' yo-yo loses RPMs and ball bearings.

Aaron Otoka's Boomerang Yo-Yo took home second place at this year's competition.

With the addition of the ball bearings, Otoka's yo-yo was able to 'sleep' for over 60% longer than the commercial yo-yo with a clutch that he tested it against. Otoka also designed and created a storage box that integrated wrenches for the yo-yo. All of his pieces featured a gleaming polish that impressed all the judges.

Mary-Anne Steves finished off a clean sweep of winners from ECC with her design, "Mastercam Edge-Lit Sign".

This acrylic, metal, and LED sign featured very high quality workmanship. 

Steves created her design on two separate pieces of acrylic to allow for two colors of lighting.

The LEDs and pieces of acrylic all fit into a well-made metal base that Steves also designed and machined.

Mary-Anne Steves's Mastercam Edge-Lit Sign won third place.

The students participate in ECC's IT202 Advanced CNC class, instructed by Nate Witkowski. They also utilized a lot of time during ECC's student machining club - "Creative Industrial Concepts". Check out the club's Facebook page to view several pictures and videos of each students' design or to learn more about the CNC machining capabilities that ECC has available. For more information regarding the IT202 Advanced CNC class or the Creative Industrial Concepts club, feel free to contact Nate Witkowski at 716-270-5895 or send emails to witkowskin@ecc.edu.