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DN House: Hamilton Caster

Hamilton Caster

In business since 1907. Doing business with DN since 2021.

Hamilton Caster is a 4th-generation family-owned manufacturer that has built industrial casters, wheels and material handling equipment in Hamilton, Ohio since 1907. When they decided to ramp up wheel production in 2021, they knew it would take a flexible machine tool and a highly automated production cell.

“Our business has been growing, and we needed to dramatically improve wheel throughput," said Mark Lippert, President at Hamilton Caster. “To remain competitive and lower labor costs, we began exploring automated solutions that offered the highest level of flexibility.”

The SMX 2600S from DN Solutions answered the call.

The SMX cell machines up to 900 wheels per week

How Hamilton Caster found the right machine
These wheels were previously made in a labor-intensive process. Castings were hand-loaded into a twin-spindle lathe, unloaded by hand, and then onto a drill press where angled holes were added.

Hamilton Caster chose the SMX 2600S to improve wheel production

Hamilton started looking at live tooling turning centers, but after meeting with Mike Sess, Sales Engineer at Ellison Technologies’ Cincinnati, they quickly honed in on the SMX multi-tasking machine.

The SMX 2600S is a nine-axis multi-tasking machine with twin turning spindles, a powerful B-axis milling spindle and a machine design that is ideal for robotic automation.

“Ellison had an SMX in their showroom,” said Lester Jones, Vice President of Operations at Hamilton Caster. “They showed us how impressive it was, and gave us ideas about what we could do with the technology in the future.”

Jones continued, “We talked to multiple machine tool builders. We weren’t looking for the lowest price, but were looking for the best value. Mike and Ellison educated us, and we were pleased with the machine design and robustness of the SMX and the overall value and performance of the machine.”

Installing the cell and getting up to speed
Hamilton Caster hired an integrator to build an automated cell based on the SMX 2600S and a Yaskawa robot that would pick wheels out of a random crate, load and unload the machine, inspect the wheels and package them for shipment—and re-machine wheels when necessary.

Vision System on the SMX robotic cell

The SMX cell was installed in late 2021. “DN worked really well with Yaskawa and the integrators,” said Jones. Production demand is between 600 and 900 wheels per week, depending on the size. Batch sizes can be as large as 300 for the smaller 6” wheels, and as low as 80 for the larger 10” wheels.

How have things been going in the five years since the installation? “It’s been great,” said Jones. “We’ve never had any issues on the SMX. Even when there is a small problem, Ellison takes care of it right away.”

Bigger wheels get a boost, too
After the success of the SMX project, Jones and Hamilton knew that DN machines and Ellison’s support were a killer combo for machining smaller wheels. But Hamilton makes wheels up to 25” in diameter and wanted to upgrade their vertical turning lathes (VTLs) to boost productivity.

Hamilton looked at other machine tool builders, but they were already sold on DN robustness and capabilities. “We knew the quality was going to be there from DN,” said Jones. “And we knew the service was going to be there from Ellison.”

They purchased two large PUMA VTLs in 2023 to machine wheels up to 25” in diameter. Hamilton chose to purchase a left and a right version of the machines, which are capable of accommodating up to 870 kg (1,918 lbs) in part weight. Placed right next to each other, they are set up for easy work transfer between OP1 and OP2.

“The VTL setup is ideal for our heavier wheels,” said Jones. “They are safer and easier to work with, and the spindle bearings can handle much greater weight than our previous machines.”

Hamilton Casters also added two smaller PUMA VTLs in 2025, and they opted for the same left-right combination again. “This left-right setup really helps with our workflow,” said Jones. “I’m surprised more VTL manufacturers don’t offer this as an option.”

PUMA VTLs in a left-right configuration

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