The Machine Tool Technology Program at the Aiken County Career & Technology Center is a two-year program in which students learn to machine parts by operating lathes, milling machines, drill presses, surface grinders and CNC controllers. They also learn related skills in math, use of precision measuring tools, blueprint reading and mechanical inspection methods.
Students have the opportunity to earn the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) certification, and receive training for entry-level jobs as manual machinist and CNC machinist. Machinists are highly skilled operators of machine tools who fabricate parts from a wide variety of materials. Working from blueprints, sketches, or their own designs, a machinist can produce precision parts with extremely close tolerances.
Machine Tool graduates find employment with small machine shop operators as well as large manufacturing firms throughout the country. In addition, students gain valuable Technical Advanced Placement (TAP) credit toward machine tool certification and degree programs in the South Carolina Technical College System.
The program’s instructor, Quentin Cooks, is a graduate of North Augusta High School, who earned an Associate in Industrial Technology Degree, National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) certification and has over 23 years’ experience as a certified machinist, tool and die maker, and a prototype technician.