Mechanical Engineering Lathe

Who are we?

At the Mechanical Engineering Department at San Jose State University, we strive to provide unique hands-on experiences to our students. We believe that mechanical engineers need to gain their expertise in the filed through experimentation and project work. The Mechanical Engineering Department hosts a machine shop that has the equipment needed for our students to complete basic machining and joining. This shop features multiple lathes, milling machines, power drills, welding machines, and other miscellaneous tools. This shop is a popular destination for our students during their projects and research work. In addition to the coursework, the shop also supports student competition teams including our very successful Formula SAE race team, Mini Baja, Spartan Hyperloop, ASME (American Society for Mechanical Engineers) student club’s human-powered vehicle challenge, and the Robotics club’s mars rover challenge, to name a few. The machine shop has been the department’s most valuable laboratory space.

Why are we raising the money?

We are raising money to replace an aging lathe in the machine shop with a brand-new machine. The lathe is the most popular machine in the shop and students frequently use it to turn machine parts and finish them. Currently, we have three manual lathes in the shop and all of them work throughout the day during the regular semesters. If one of them breaks down, it can delay various student projects and club activities for a significant amount. One of our lathes is over 40 years old. While it still performs its functions, it has been showing signs of its old age and has been breaking down regularly. By replacing the antiquated machine with a brand-new model, we can ensure that the student projects continue moving forward without any interruptions. We are raising money to purchase a new lathe as state and university funds are not sufficient to do so.

How can you help? 

With your kind donations, we can purchase a brand-new lathe and replace the aging one. This makes a difference for our students as they can continue working on their hands-on projects without worrying about the lathe breaking down when they are ready to build their prototype. Our Formula SAE racing team has been very successful in the national level competition and was the top California team in both the combustion and eclectic categories in 2022. Our Spartan Hyperloop team has been the second place Winners of the SpaceX Hyperloop Levitation competition in 2019. Our ASME student teams have won numerous competitions in the past. Despite the winning or losing in these competitions, they bring amazing hands-on learning opportunities for our students. Your donations can make a difference by ensuring that our students have access to the tools they need for achieving their tasks.