Students build hands-on skills (and gyroscopes) in machining course
ATPR instructor Mulugeta Tesfu and students use a lathe. 2025 PAT EPFL CC BY SA2025 PAT EPFL C BY SA
A new intensive machining course gives microengineering students the opportunity to develop practical skills using the equipment and expertise of EPFL’s Technical Workshops Platform.
The Technical Workshops Platform (PAT) in EPFL’s School of Engineering (STI) is composed of five workshops and one design unit distributed across the campus. It supports both education and research by advising on the design and manufacturing of prototypes of all kinds, from sophisticated mechanical parts to printed circuits boards. In addition to offering essential equipment and materials for labs and classrooms, the PAT provides a unique platform for students to gain experience with real-world machining techniques.
In past years, microengineering bachelor students participated in machining internships held at the Ecole technique - Ecole des métiers de Lausanne (ETML). This year, for the first time, the PAT organized EPFL’s own three day machining practical, held between April and September. The new campus program, hosted across three PAT workshops (ATME, ATMX, ATPR) and the SPOT mechanical workshop of the Discovery Learning Lab, is led by STI Technical Platform Head Bertrand Lacour.
No matter which branch of engineering they choose, I believe all students should develop a common foundation of practical skills. Understanding the constraints faced in other engineering disciplines allows for more effective collaboration and leads to the design of better, more integrated products.
“This was a great opportunity for students to get hands-on experience with basic machining skills that I believe are useful for all engineers, as well as to become familiar with the discipline and safety protocols required in a technical workshop,” Lacour says. "It was also great to have our PAT polymechanics teach students about their craft for the first time. The program gives greater visibility to their skills and contributions, which usually remain behind the scenes of research at EPFL.”
Drilling, milling, and turning
The first edition of the intensive machining program welcomed 192 microengineering bachelor students, who benefited from the expertise and supervision of 16 PAT polymechanics.
Students worked in pairs to learn the manual operation of milling machines, drill presses, and lathes, spending one full day on each type of machine. To complete the course, students had to craft individual parts out of brass, aluminum, and stainless steel using all three machines, and to assemble them into working gyroscopic top spinners complete with bearings, screws, and waves springs. This gave them the opportunity to apply the skills they had learned to an educational device with moving parts, similar to those used to demonstrate physics concepts such as moment of inertia and angular momentum.
Lacour says the feedback he received from students on the program’s inaugural run was overwhelmingly positive, and he is already planning the next editions.
“No matter which branch of engineering they choose, I believe all students should develop a common foundation of practical skills. Understanding the constraints faced in other engineering disciplines allows for more effective collaboration and leads to the design of better, more integrated products."
