December Delights in Manufacturing

Well December has definitely arrived and you can definitely feel it. This morning was the first time I drove into work with snow on the ground and it was certainly an unwelcomed change. These past few weeks have been in the mid-40's so it's been nice. Now it was 17° F this morning and I think my car was crying on the way in... But welcome to Minnesota, huh?

Along with December 2009 (can you even believe it's that time of year again??) have come many new projects. Though confidential, we've been hard at work on parts for the defense and military industry. Which gives us a little extra skip in our step this holiday season to know that we're helping to protect the troops as well.

We've also taken a large step into a new kind of industry. Lately, we've been helping case manufacturers cut thick foam for padding in their cases like the photo seen here. This photo is of a Newport F-BK2 optical fiber cleaving tool. We don't make these ones, but it's the best photo that I could find as I haven't had a chance to get any of the ones we've made. The projects are a great fit for water-only waterjet cutting as it requires no abrasive and is very cost-effective. Leadtimes are also very short on our water-only waterjet table right now so if you're looking to custom pad cases of your own, Fedtech may be a good fit for you to look into! (www.fedtech.com/quote.php)

Another industry that has been popular for Fedtech is gasket cutting. We've had a lot of requests for copper gaskets, aluminum gaskets, rubber gaskets, and more. These are also a great fit for us, because waterjet is able to cut all these materials and more. Not only this, but it can cut tight tolerances and produce precise products (now say that ten times fast!)

Well now it's time for the questions of the week...

Question 1: Can hard, high density teflon be cut with waterjet?
Answer: Yes it can! We can use water-only waterjet for these types of projects.

Question 2: Can you laser cut tungsten?
Answer: We do not laser cut tungsten, not a good idea. Waterjet is a better choice for us to use on this material.

Question 3: How can I cut stainless steel circles?
Answer: Depending on the thickness of the stainless steel, you could use either laser or waterjet. If you want to cut steel thicker than 5/8" thick, you'll want to use waterjet for this project.

Question 4: What are some plastics that can be waterjet cut?
Answer: Oh goodness, well... it's going to be a lengthy list as waterjet cuts through nearly all plastics. This includes ABS, Acetron, Acetal, Acrylic, Celazole, Delrin, Ertalon, Ertalyte, Fluorosint, HDPE, Ketron, Nylon, Nylotron, PEEK, Polycarbonate, Proteus, Plexiglass, Polyethylene, PTFE, PVC, Sanalite, Semitron, Symalit, Techtron, Teflon, Thermoplastics, Tivar, Torlon, UHMW, Vespel, and more... *breathe*

Question 5: Which uses more energy; waterjet cutting or laser cutting?
Answer: That is a phenomenal questions. Since many of us are concerned with being green, and environmentally friendly, energy usage is a hot topic in nearly any industry. Now in the case of waterjet vs. laser cutting, it's obviously going to depend on the size of the project. However I don't have the ability to say which takes up more energy at the time.

That's the last of the questions for this week! Come back and visit again soon!

Warm holidays and weather,

Sarah

Manufacturing at "Fabtech 2009"

As you may be aware, the 2009 Fabtech International & AWS Welding Show is going on today... and tomorrow, and yesterday, and wednesday even. It's out in Chicago, IL and is just PACKED with information on different companies in the industry. I, for one, am very disappointed that I couldn't be attending this year but hopefully next time. We had a little bit of late notice to get out to chicago today so I'm bummed, but it's okay. I've been talking to a lot of the companies there and it sounds like the crowd is just having a ball.

I wanted to do a little tidbit about some of the companies exhibiting at the Fabtech show this year, because it's so interesting to see all the different vendors and different applications for all these new and innovative products.

I'll start with Igus, specializing in bearings, cable carriers, cables and more - they're at booth #7046 and have some of their newest products out there to showcase. Check out their press release for more information about their company here.

Next, I have to mention Lincoln Electric (booth #34132). A great brand here from Cleveland, Ohio... they are the world's leading manufacturer for welding products, equipment, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment. With a strong presence at the Fabtech show this year, they've told me that they're seeing some good traffic this morning but expect that it's going to get much busier as the day goes on. Check out a picture that they posted on Twitpic of the m&m's car. Their Virtex 360 can be found at booth #36043 and chirp that they have the best virtual reality welders at the show... but you can be the judge of that.

And how about Miller Welders. They've had a great set up so far and even launched some videos and pictures of the show which I took the liberty to comment on. You'll have to check that out. Of course, I should mention that they're at booth #34071.

Mayfran is at booth #16084 this week with their new shuffle drive system (see twitpic here). They focus on providing engineering solutions for metalworking, waste processing, recycling, and others for numerous industries. Definitely worth checking out if you fall into the machining or job shop category... as being eco-friendly is just as important as being customer-friendly these days.

New to me, is the company Hypertherm, who is putting on a lecture today featuring one of their own, Jim Colt. He's focusing on the difference between plasma, waterjet and laser cutting. I would love to sit in on this one! If you're at the show, catch this seminar at 10:30 this morning, level 4, Room S-403.

What would the show be without Trumpf and their laser products? They've even brought in their TruLaser 1030 to the Fabtech show this year, to feature it's manual pullout which has the crowd talking. Check out booth #6001 or #6013 for their displays.

A native to the land, Hill Engineering is coming into the show from Carol Stream, Illinois. Specializing in roll forming, stamping die, tooling solutions, rotary punching, etc... they will be there at booth #7022. See their latest article in Metal Forming Magazine for some more information on their company.

Perhaps we'll hear more from the show as the day goes on, and more will be added to this list. If you're on twitter and want some play-by-play feedback... look for @FabtechExpo for the latest action. You can follow me on twitter while you're at it, by following @Fedtechinc and I'll be keeping up on the show as the day progresses as well.

As always, it's been a pleasure! If you make it to the show, keep me updated on how it goes! Hope this post helped nonetheless. Take care!

Sarah

Fridays at Fedtech

Questions of the week:

Can you custom manufacture gaskets for companies in Minnesota?
Yes we can! We simply need the prints from you, you can email them to sarahw@fedtech.com and they'll get handled right away.

Is Fedtech in Fridley or Anoka?
Actually neither. Fedtech is in Mounds View, MN - very close to New Brighton.

Is it possible to cut slate with a laser cutter?
It may be possible, though not recommended. Slate or tile is a good application for waterjet cutting though.

What tolerance does waterjet hold?
It really depends on the machinery, but our waterjets hold a tolerance of about ±.003".

Manufacturing and Social Media

So for Fedtech here, we've set up numerous social media networks to stay in touch with current customers, and also to stay open to questions or concerns from potential customers. My strategy is to basically add as much information to each network as possible while still encouraging lines of communication between customers and ourselves. Which I hope is what I've established.

The one thing that is perplexing to me is how Twitter does not seem to drive much traffic or much interest on our company. I know that there are millions of people out there representing millions of companies, but still there is not much interest in the manufacturing industry. Why is this? I have yet to figure this one out. So you're telling me with all the industries represented, all the manufacturing companies that are following us, and we're following them- it's just a big empty portal to nowhere.

I'm baffled.

And for this, it has raised questions in my mind that I hope I can get some answers to.

1. What drives you to 'retweet' other's tweets?

2. What sways your decision to click a link?

3. What types of things do you like to see on twitter?

     - Is it twitpics?
     - Is it videos?


4. What do you use twitter for?


I'm looking for contributions, so chime in if you'd like!

Always,
Sarah

Waterjet Cutting

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Waterjet Cutting

View more presentations from Sarah Whiting.

Manufacturing for Smarties

Today is going to be short and sweet. Straight to the questions, with no dilly-dallying!

First question, please!

Where can I find a Bystronic laser slat cleaner?
Depending on how much time and money you want to put into your slat cleaner, you have a few different options. First one (and the cheapest option) is to purchase one from http://www.lasergrating.com/ for $89.95 this tool is built for one person to manually remove the slag. See the video on youtube to see how it's done.

Another option is to purchase Bystronic's automatic copper grid cleaner. This is also a one-person product and can be found on their website (http://www.bystronicservice.com/files/Gratecleaner/GrateCleaner.zip)

Can you waterjet FR4?
Yes. FR-4 stands for 'flame retardant 4' and is used on certain circuit boards. This composite material is actually best for waterjet, and not laser.

Is Fedtech a large contract waterjet cutter?
Yes.

Where is that link to the movie theater decor that you guys made?
You can see that case study here on Fedtech's website. We made the ticket windows from brass and fabricated the angel as well. They turned out great!

Where can I waterjet cut G10?
G-10 is related to FR-4, in that FR-4 is the flame retardant version of G-10. And to answer your question, Fedtech can definitely waterjet cut G-10.

Well that's all the questions that I can answer for today. Thanks for stopping by!!

Sarah

Waterjet, Laser, Machining - Oh my!

So I promised I would be back this week to answer the questions and here I am! I usually write on Fridays but I decided to switch it up a bit and make things interesting. Plus I have to take care of my nephew tomorrow so I'll be out of office in the afternoon, that might have a little to do with it too!

Before I start. I want to set the scenery of what things are like around Fedtech today (we're just outside the twin cities, in Minnesota)...

It is 39*F outside, a little chilly wind coming through... and I've even taken the liberty of capturing a photo of outside to really bring the ambiance home...

Good old Minnesota fall weather never lets us down. Thankfully we've got a break from all the rain we've been having this past week so we're not complaining today!

Alright! On to the questions!

Q: What is the difference between water jet cutting cost vs. laser cutting costs?

A: Depending on what you are attempting to cut, your needs will require different cutting methods. However laser cutting is the cheaper process for manufacturing. But the requirements for your project may not allow for laser cutting, as with plastics, composites, rubber, or more. Generally laser cutting is used for thin stainless steel, carbon steel, or thin aluminum. (See the thickness and material table here to compare the two methods)

Q: Do you do armor coating?

A: We do armor plating and ballistic material cutting here in-house, and we have a close vendor who does our armor coating for all of our projects. By doing this we make it a one-stop shop for our customers, and one less thing for customers to worry about.

Q: Where can I find a glossary of manufacturing terms?

A: Great question! There is a whole page of industry key terms or glossary, if you will, on Fedtech's website at this link here. The terms range from everything manufacturing (focusing on waterjet and laser cutting) and if you can't find what you're looking for there, visit the FAQ's page and see if that helps. If nothing else, you can always ask me!

Q: How large is your equipment, net size, for waterjet cutting in the aerospace industry?

A: We have numerous large waterjet cutting envelopes. Our largest is 156" x 360", but you can see our whole facility list on our website. Our laser cutting beds are also large, so our capabilities for aerospace manufacturing are great.

Q: Where can I see some amazing laser cut projects?

A: We write stories about a ton of awesome laser and waterjet cut projects on our case studies page (complete with photos). It's my favorite part of the website and it gets updated the most as well.

Q: Are you a armored vehicle manufacturer?

A: We don't manufacture the vehicles themselves, we simply waterjet and laser cut the parts that are used for armor vehicles. We also have the capability in our facility to form large armor plate parts, and our vendor that I talked about before does all of our coating/painting so it all comes from our facility as a finished product part - straight to the final manufacturer.

Q: Can you cut glass on a water jet?

A: Yes we can.

Q: Can you laser cut glass?

A: We do not laser cut glass, this (as mentioned right above) is typically cut on our waterjet.

Q: How thick A36 material can be cut with waterjet?

A: We're able to waterjet cut carbon steel (and most other materials) up to 12" in thickness.

Hopefully that helps for this week! Come back soon for updated content, and of course check out www.fedtech.com for more info on our production and capabilities! Thanks for stopping by :)

Sarah

Custom this, Custom that...

Well the joys of being able to manufacture custom parts never fade away. I talked about the trumpet art sculpture in the last entry, and I might have talked about the custom retail display pieces we did (if not, here's the link) Oh, and of course the custom tile work, for the school in St. Paul... we waterjet cut tile from three different colors to create their school mascot (here's the link for that one too).

But what I can't figure out, is how these awesome projects find us. I mean, yes, I've been trying to improve our website, and update our case studies and project lists, but is there something more? I don't know... Is there something I'm missing that you guys want to see? If so, you should let me know and I'll be sure to get right on it!

Also, today I'm going to get all of our Fedtech gear up on the website, and available for whoever wants a piece or two... it's all pretty cheap prices too, so be sure to check it out. Should be up around lunch time, I would hope...

Let's see, what else here... Oh, as I mentioned last time about the John Deere award, it's now all over google, so be sure to check out all the places it's showing up! Yesterday I googled, "Fedtech John Deere Partner" and lots of results came up in places I didn't even expect! So it was pretty fun :)

I'll be back later this week with the "Ask Fedtech" portion of the blog, so don't fret! And be sure to send in your questions by Wednesday for a shot at being answered! (sarahw@fedtech.com) I'll be waiting!

Enjoy the day and make it count,

Sarah