Who knew a chance meeting on a shuttle bus ride would result in winning a new three-axis machining center? Amanda Drinkwater, Angel Mercado of Kennametal, and Tim Drinkwater in the Kennametal booth at IMTS, receiving the Kennametal drawing prize, a DN Solutions SVM 4100 machining center.“Only at IMTS would this kind of connection happen,” says Tim Drinkwater, owner and president of Accurate Machine Products in Janesville, Wis. During IMTS 2024, Drinkwater happened to ride the shuttle bus back to his hotel with people from Kennametal (IMTS booth #432217), who encouraged him to visit their booth and enter a drawing to win a DN Solutions (IMTS booth #338919) SVM 4100 machining center. He entered the drawing, had a good conversation with the Kennametal team, but thought nothing more of it. On the Friday of IMTS, Drinkwater’s wife and business partner, Amanda Drinkwater, joined him for their “date day” at IMTS. While waiting in line at Connie’s pizza on Level 2 of the North Building, he got a message via LinkedIn that Kennametal had drawn his name and wanted to know if he would accept the prize. “I thought we were being scammed, but my wife did some quick research to confirm that the person contacting me worked for Kennametal, so of course I said we’d accept,” says Drinkwater. They had to hustle over to the Tooling and Workholding Sector in the West Building because Kennametal was making the announcement in 30 minutes, and it would take 15 minutes to walk there. “We got there in time to hear Eddie Saunders, a technical reporter from MTD CNC, do a sports announcer shout-out to us,” says Drinkwater. “The whole experience has been fabulous, and DN Solutions has been a great upgrade to our shop.” DN Solutions SVM 4100 machining center on the shop floor at Accurate Machine Products. To further leverage the DN Solutions SVM 4100, Drinkwater installed a Tsudakoma five-axis tilting rotary table from Koma Precision (IMTS booth #339148), allowing them to use the machining center for five-axis work. “We use Autodesk Fusion, and with the way DN Solutions and Autodesk (IMTS booth #133310) have partnered, we had a full simulation model in Fusion right out of the box,” adds Drinkwater. “We literally had to do nothing other than download it, install it, and we had full simulation inside Fusion with the SVM 4100 enclosure and everything.” Enhancing Capabilities Accurate Machine Products is a precision CNC machine shop with six employees. Along with manufacturing a variety of different parts, the company’s specialty is ceiling mounts for televisions and security cameras, as well as critical parts for photography equipment that require top-notch aesthetics and smoothness. As a result of IMTS 2024, the shop has been using Kennametal Beyond Evolution face grooving tools with great success in stainless steel finishing. The shop has consistently been getting over 700 surface feet and exceptional surface finishes. Also, they recently switched inserts on a production turning machine to a KCU25B grade with a multi-layer coating, and early results are showing improved tool life. Dodeka facemills have also shown great tool life and consistency. “My experience with Kennametal has gone beyond winning their amazing giveaway,” says Drinkwater. “The experience with their sales team and the wealth of information on their website has been exceptional. I’ve missed out over the years by not exploring all their recent offerings. I haven’t been disappointed in any of their recommendations. They are a true partner in my business.” Vacation Destination Drinkwater has been in manufacturing for more than 25 years, and attending IMTS is like a vacation for him. “It’s like going to Disneyland for a machinist,” he says. “I know it takes a lot to make the show happen, and people invest a lot of money. I don’t want to downplay the effort, but IMTS is a playland.” Drinkwater and his wife, Amanda, will continue to attend IMTS to discover what they don’t know. They shut down the shop for a day as part of a team-building experience. “I want our team to be completely immersed in metalcutting,” he says. He gives his people an assignment to return to the shop with a report on “two cool things” they’ve seen. For example, at the igus display (IMTS booth #236131), the metal-cutting person ran across a ball joint to help a customer with an aquatic application. Stainless steel options were too expensive, but he discovered a workable plastic option. The find was a pleasant surprise, as Drinkwater had stopped by the booth to meet a contact he had made on LinkedIn. “I just wanted to turn a virtual connection into a handshake. You never know what little thing you’re going to see that you never would even know about if you haven’t been to IMTS,” says Drinkwater. Find Tooling and Workholding systems and Metal Removal solutions at IMTS 2026, September 14-19, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill. Register at IMTS.com/Register. P.S. If you see Tim and Amanda Drinkwater at IMTS 2026, wish them a happy 20th anniversary.
IMTS 2024 turned a chance encounter with Kennametal into greater productivity when Tim Drinkwater won a DN Solutions machining center, upping his capabilities and proving IMTS sparks real growth.
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