The last few months of 2011 have been rocky for people living on the East Coast. The recent acts of nature that have plagued Connecticut have tested our ability to get work done in spite of power outages. During Hurricane Irene, we lost power for 4 days and with the October nor’easter, we were 2 days without power. Our disaster recovery plans were tested for sure.
We hope that our customers have enough parts in stock so that they don’t need the parts in a short time frame. That brings me to another thought- JIT manufacturing works well when everything goes according to plan. While JIT saves money for the OEM who is not warehousing product, it does force, somewhere along the line, a manufacturer to warehouse product just in case there is a hiccup to the system, like a power outage or an unexpected increase in demand.
So far, we’ve been lucky. We’ve been able to weather our storms and keep our customers happy. Let’s hope that 2012 brings more predictable weather AND more demand for components from our customers.
Here are a couple pictures of some vapor polished acrylic manifolds we did for one of our customers. This shows how vapor polishing can improve the finish of deep, small diameter holes and threads.
Here are a few quick shots of a part that does a good job of showing East Coast’s capabilities. This part was turned, milled and vapor polished. It also has several different sized threads and a sealing port with and o-ring groove. It is also a good example of how Ultem nicely vapor polishes.
Here is set of photos showing the progression of vapor polishing a plastic part. The first shot is of the part before polishing. The second is during vapor polishing. We only polished half of it to show the difference in finish that vaporing can offer. The final photo is of the part fully vapored. Many potential customers ask about having us vapor parts that they machined. Normally, we do the machining in house but we also offer vaporing as a service. The thing about vapor polishing though, is that any surface imperfections can be magnified. For example, if you give us a piece of machined acrylic, ultem, or polycarbonate that has heavy feed lines or chatter, the vaporing will bring out the poor finish. The truth is, poor finish in = shiny poor finish out. If your machining is fundamentally good and your surface finish is smooth, vapor polishing can brilliantly polish your plastic parts. Engineers and Machinists should also know that overly aggressive machining can impart stress in the finished parts. This can be problematic during the vapor polishing process because the parts may end up with crazing visible inside the material or on the surface. Ultimately, we like to do our machining in-house so we can be sure the parts our customers receive will be as good as possible. However, If your in-house machining work is strong, you will be very satisfied with East Coast Precision Manufacturing’s vapor polishing service. Can’t wait to hear from you!
At East Coast Precision Manufacturing, we not only provide our customers with machined plastic but also other composites. This is an example of G10 machining. Some engineers may recognize it as FR-4 but we often refer to it as “fiberglass” here at the shop. It is a laminated composite held together by an epoxy binder. It is mainly used in circuit board applications but is also structurally superior to many other materials and finds its way into applications that can take advantage of that. For some, it is difficult to machine. It is very abrasive to tooling, easy to burn, and may de-laminate if the machinist is not experienced in cutting it. Here at East Coast, we do an excellent job of cutting it due to our time proven methods. Send us an RFQ, we’d love to work with you.
Here are some photos of a plastic part machined out of clear polysulfone. Engineers choose polysulfone for their applications because it has a very high service temperature. This allows it to be used in assemblies where high temperatures are encountered regularly, such as autoclaves. Polysulfone can also be used as a membrane in filtration systems.
I recently read a good post about nominal screw diameters and hole clearances over at Toolmonger, a blog I personally read. Give it a look if you’re interested. They regularly feature interesting tools, projects, and ideas that engineers would enjoy reading. From Scissors to Shop Class History to Gauge Blocks, they have some great stuff!
This part is an example of our milling department’s capabilities. It is machined out of a sheet of polycarbonateand vapor polished to a perfectly clear finish. Engineers designing parts that require visually or optically clear finishes should know that polycarbonate is an excellent material choice. Acrylic works well too but polycarbonate polishes to a clearer finish almost every time.
This part is used in a light housing and is implemented as a lens. The inside of the lens has been cosmetically machined to help with light diffusion.
Teflon work has been a core component of East Coast Precision’s lathe department. Teflon is often used as an insulator in radio connections or as a gasketing material due to its inert qualities.
This is an example of some micromachined Teflon parts we made a few weeks ago. This part was cleanly machined with no burrs in just one operation. We were able to turn, drill, bore, mill a flat, and mill a notch in the part with a single setup.
Take a look at some more of our work in polycarbonate. This part was turned on a cnc lathe out of polycarbonate, sometimes referred to as lexan. It features a vapor polished finish and concentric grooves on the face. This part is a button that is backlit by a light. It is believed that the concentric grooves will help diffuse the light.
During the initial quoting and machining phase, we worked closely with the customer while they finalized their design. Sometimes that means making a few, sending them out, and waiting to hear back from them. This close relationship is one that not many other shops can offer. The size of East Coast Precision allows us to be nimble when working with our customers.
Our goal is for each customer to feel as if East Coast Precision is an extension of their business and for them to know their parts are as important to us as they are to them.
