Sterling Machine donates equipment to Lynn Tech

LYNN – Tim Roach was smiling Friday as he stood among the rows of heavy machinery in his shop classroom.As head instructor of the machine tool technology program at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, Roach has a deep appreciation for heavy-duty equipment like the cylindrical grinder that was coming through the door on a fork truck.The shop’s latest piece of industrial hardware didn’t cost the school a dime. It was donated by Bob Struzziero, owner of Sterling Machine Co. on Farrar Street, to the E-Team Machinists’ Training Program, which in turn gave it to the trade school.”We figured the kids could use it,” said Tony Dunn, the E-Team machinist program’s training director.According to Dunn, several former Lynn Tech students are employed by Sterling Machine Co. – hence the connection leading to the donation. “Bob even arranged to have it delivered at no cost,” said Dunn.J. A. Miara Riggers, a professional moving company in Wilmington, often delivers heavy equipment for Sterling Machine Co. When the rigging company owner heard about the donation, he volunteered a crew and flatbed truck. “I offered to pay but they asked if they could just do something for the kids,” Struzziero said.The cylindrical grinder, built in the 1980s, is capable of micro-fine calibration and cutting to one ten-thousandth of an inch, which is far smaller than a human hair.”It’s a good addition to what we already have here,” said Roach, scanning the cavernous room filled with lathes, saws, drills and a few computer-guided models capable of transforming stock bars of metal into gleaming cannon barrels for display use.”The machinist field is still an occupation very much in demand. Take a look at anything you have and there’s a good chance a machinist had a hand in it.”Roach cited common ball-tip pens as an example, as well as pencils, which require machine-made saws to cut the wood.”Most kids want to go into auto body shop or auto mechanics. That’s because they’re young and want their cars to look nice and go fast. They’re not looking ahead to the time when they will need a good-paying job. But the ones who come here will have a better chance because if you are a machinist you are a skilled worker,” he said.Roach has 28 machine tool students, about six of them girls. Some of his senior class students have been completing co-op study at Goodrich Machine Co. and other venues.”This is great. It’ll help some of these kids get jobs,” said Jim Ridley, director of Lynn Tech.