Established in 1938, Engis Corporation is, indeed, more than a diamond company. Through a global network, Engis manufactures and markets superabrasive finishing systems for operations that demand precision surface polishing and close tolerance requirements. Engis provides products, services and technological advances in several key areas:

• Diamond Flat Lapping/Polishing
• Diamond and CBN-plated Tools
• Bore Finishing Tools & Machines
• Tool Room Products & Accessories
• Research, Development & Technical Support

For years, Engis’ skilled machinists produced components on manual lathes. In September 2002, they took delivery of a Fryer Easy Turn-14 Combination lathe. Their goal was to automate their machining process but still have the versatility of a manual lathe when they needed it.

Engis designs, engineers, machines, plates, inspections and ships all of its Electrogrip diamond and CBN-plated tools at the company's corporate headquarters in Wheeling, IL.

The main parts produced are small tapered shafts that are the foundation for their precision bore finishing tools. There are complex threads, tapers and tight tolerances that must be maintained. The first hurdle was training their operators, some of whom had limited CNC experience. The Fryer Easy Turn-14 quickly put operators’ minds at ease when they saw how easy it was to program the Touch 2000 control. Once the program is written, all they need to do is load program, check for proper tools and start running parts automatically. Parts previously produced on a Hardinge HSL are manufactured more efficiently on the Easy Turn-14 even on 2-3 piece runs. This has enabled Engis to begin manufacturing parts in-house that were previously sent out reducing the overall cost of their manufacturing process.

Machine Shop Supervisor Bill Clark and Manufacturing Manager Mark Irvin knew right away that this would be the perfect fit for their department and the skill level of their operators. "This is probably the best machine we have purchased in the last few years," said Bill Clark. "We have seen both our part quantity and quality increase while giving our operators a great tool to learn CNC programming. We also felt strongly about buying a 'Made in the USA' machine and the Fryer Easy Turn 14 is exactly what we were looking for."

Operator Withold Paslanski found the machine very easy to program. He has done some programming on another CNC lathe in the shop and it would sometimes take him up to 2 hours to write a program to do similar parts in G code on that machine. The Easy Turn-14 enables him to program parts in 10 minutes or less on the Touch 2000 conversational control.