Contract Manufacturing and Fabrication Reference Materials
Reference Articles 701 - 800 of 1331
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eBook - When to Use Investment Casting
Description: Investment casting is one of the oldest processes for forming complex shapes in metal. It's also often overlooked and disregarded when engineers are deciding how a particular part or design should be ...
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Heat Treatment of Investment Castings
Description: Investment cast parts may not have the strength, toughness or surface hardness required by applications, but these requirements can be met by heat treatment. ...
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Investment Casting or MIM for Small Parts Manufacturing?
Description: Investment casting and MIM are the most cost-efficient solutions to creating small parts. ...
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Investment Casting VS Lost Foam Casting: Similarities and Differences
Description: What are the similarities and differences between investment casting and lost foam casting? ...
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What to Understand About Gating System Design for Investment Casting
Description: Gating system design is a crucial factor in the investment casting process to ensure the proper delivery of metal throughout the ceramic mold. ...
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What Is Compound Die-Cutting?
From: JBC Technologies, Inc.Description: Precision die-cutting comes in many flavors and knowing a bit about the different methods is important. Compound die-cutting, for example. Let's learn how we can use this specialized manufacturing ...
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3D Printing vs. Rapid Injection Molding for Prototyping and Beyond
From: Empire GroupDescription: This article explains the pros and cons of 3D printing and rapid injection molding, with a focus on how novel capabilities have opened up new possibilities for manufacturers. ...
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What Makes a Good MIM Part?
Description: In the world of metal manufacturing, several processes stand out more than others in terms of acceptance and popularity. Machining, stamping, forging, and casting have long been the prominent forms of ...
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eBook - How Long Does Investment Casting Take?
Description: Lead times for investment cast parts depend largely on pattern production method and part complexity. Lead time for initial production pieces have the same dependency but once pattern production is ...
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Investment Casting vs Centrifugal Casting
Description: When talking about casting processes, two specific techniques may be mentioned: investment casting and centrifugal casting. While both involve pouring a metal into a ceramic mold or die, the methods ...
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Reliability. Don't Leave Home Without It... (Part 1)
From: Critical Link, LLCDescription: EE Times has a Special Project report out that addresses growing concerns over technology reliability and safety that is pretty sobering. The report, compiled and in good part written by George ...
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Typical Investment Casting Lead Times
Description: Customers who are looking for investment casting processes for their parts and components may find themselves with very restricted schedules. The component they need may be part of a larger assembly ...
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What are the Cost Drivers for Investment Casting?
Description: Costs may vary between customers based on their specific manufacturing needs, such as the number of parts that are required. Yet there are several key cost drivers that should be taken into ...
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What is Expendable Mold Casting & Does it Differ from Investment Casting?
Description: You may be wondering what expendable mold casting is and what it refers to in production processes. You may also wonder whether it differs from investment casting. Let's look at what this term ...
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What is the Investment Casting Process?
Description: There are many key steps involved with the actual investment casting process. Yet keep in mind that it really begins with the customer deciding on the dimensions and specifications of the part along ...
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How Metal 3D Printing Compliments Metal Injection Molding
Description: In today’s fast-paced world, time to market is critical when considering a new design or existing product enhancement. Here at Advanced Powder Products, APP, we harness the power of metal ...
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The 10 Most Common Questions About MIM - Asked and Answered
Description: Metal Injection Molding is inherently positioned to manufacture high-volume complex metal components net shape that fits in the palm of your hand. MIM is available for many common alloys as well as ...
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Display Design Testing Light Lab
From: BoydDescription: When it comes to display development, testing potential materials and technologies under different lighting conditions is a key step. External lighting plays a crucial role in how a part looks and ...
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Technical Printing: Qualification Procedures
From: BoydDescription: Technical printing projects go through several qualification procedures before moving to full production. We will discuss the qualification procedures that technical printing projects endure. ...
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What is Roll Coating?
From: BoydDescription: Whether for a protection or for visual enhancement, roll coating is one of the most efficient ways to apply a coating to metal parts. ...
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What is Technical Printing?
From: BoydDescription: For functional printing that requires tight tolerances and specifications, technical printing techniques are the perfect solution. ...
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PPG Supplies Rex Airlines with Coatings for Aircraft Livery Repaint
Description: PPG supplied Rex Airlines with various aerospace coatings for six Boeing 737-800 aircraft that will expand the airline into domestic service. ...
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Differences Between Closed Molding and Open Molding
From: Osborne Industries, Inc.Description: Plastics encompass a wide array of materials and molding processes used to create finished parts. Typical injection molding involves heating thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic polymers and ...
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Semi F19-0185 and Quality Assurance for the Semiconductor Industry: Electropolishing Makes the Grade
Description: Among the most demanding surface finish requirements of any industry, the specifications, standards and quality assurance processes that cover components used by the semiconductor industry impose ...
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Electropolishing Solves These 7 Common Metal Surface Problems
Description: Read our e-guide to learn more about electropolishing’s track record of high-quality results in tackling some of the most common metal surface problems manufacturers face. Manufacturers of ...
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Tips to Get the Best Results from Your Plating Processing Supplier: Production Application Information
From: Component Surfaces, Inc.Description: For parts being processed by a plating supplier for the first time or in an original RFQ, it can be very helpful to share how the parts will be assembled, or how they will be used in the ultimate ...
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Tips to Get the Best Results from Your Plating Processing Supplier: Submitting an RFQ for Plating Processing Services
From: Component Surfaces, Inc.Description: In the time since Component Surfaces began operations in 2004, we have seen where some customers have done things that contribute significantly to the success of the products we work on with them, so ...
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eBook - Precision Machining Business Opportunities in eMobility
Description: In the new eBook "Precision Machining Business Opportunities in eMobility," Impro breaks down the requirements for precision machining parts for electric and autonomous vehicles, the challenges they ...
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Understanding Tooling Costs When Creating Parts using Investment Casting
Description: Investment casting methods use wax patterns dipped in ceramic slurry to create molds that will form the metal parts for customers. To make the wax patterns, the manufacturer has to design and ...
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What is Stress Relief Annealing?
Description: Stress relieving is a heat treatment process that helps to remove the internal stresses caused to the metal when it is machined, cast, rolled, or forged. It typically involves placing the metal into a ...
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Chrome vs. Nickel vs. Zinc Plating for Metal Parts?
Description: A part can experience a range of stresses when used in an application. It can experience corrosion from other components, chemicals, solvents, or from the environment. A part may also wear out faster ...
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Deburring Methods: Applications and Process Types
Description: During precision machining operations, parts undergo an initial machining process. This process removes materials from a specific metal until the part is produced. The tools that are used may turn, ...
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eBook - Manufacturing Medical Device Components
Description: Impro has extensive casting and machining experience and brings this to bear on a wide range of medical device components. To find out how that knowledge can be applied to your medical device ...
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Robotics in Investment Casting: Uses and Benefits
Description: There is no question that robotics is used throughout manufacturing and logistics industries. When it comes to the supply chain, robotic arms perform repeatable tasks at high speeds while maintaining ...
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7 Mind-Bending Facts About Able Electropolishing
Description: At Able, decades of collaboration with clients who push the edges of what is possible in medicine, space exploration - even the structure of space and time - have left us with an astonishing record of ...
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Electropolishing is the Answer: Here are the Questions
Description: Over the years, Able's team has answered thousands of questions about electropolishing. From inquiries related to specific projects to queries about the use of electropolishing in general, many of ...
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Electropolishing Process gets the Results Precisely Right for Cardiovascular Implant Manufacturer
Description: When your clients are manufacturers creating intricate parts for life-saving medical implants, "customer service" comes with more than the usual requirements. Our customer service is built around ...
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Additive Manufacturing Allows Faster Time to Market to Win Against the Competition
From: Empire GroupDescription: By working with additive manufacturing, Particles Plus is able to enhance its product development, decrease its time to market and win against the competition. ...
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Custom Parts and Prototypes for a Fraction of the Cost of Traditional Machining
From: Empire GroupDescription: How partnering with Empire Group enabled Armory Source Design to target new opportunities and produce parts for 10x less than conventional methods. ...
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Improve Part Accuracy, Safety, and Cost Savings with Mars Metal
From: MarsMetalDescription: Mars Metal cuts lead with a computer numerical control (CNC) machine that interprets a client’s 3D CAD model and translates that data into the machine. This production process provides the ...
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3D Printing vs. Rapid Prototyping vs. Additive Manufacturing - What's the Difference?
From: Empire GroupDescription: Oftentimes, 3D printing, rapid prototyping, and additive manufacturing are referenced as interchangeable processes. Although the concepts are similar, the results are different. It’s like ...
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5 Ways Micro 3D Printing is a Manufacturing Game-changer
From: Empire GroupDescription: BEFORE THE ADVENT OF MICRO 3D PRINTING, THE WORLD OF MICRO MANUFACTURING LOOKED QUITE DIFFERENT THAN IT DOES TODAY. ...
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Medical Device Prototyping in Days with Rapid Injection Molding
From: Empire GroupDescription: ACCELERATE PRODUCTION TIMELINES WITH RAPID INJECTION MOLDING SOLUTIONS ...
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Investment Casting Design Guidebook
Description: Investment casting is a way of lowering overall production costs by eliminating most, and in some case all, machining. However, it does require that parts be designed with an understanding of the ...
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Precision Machining Design Guidebook
Description: The cost of your metal parts is determined by their design. These dictates both the material and the machining operations needed to bring them to a finished condition. Tolerances applied to key ...
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Sand Casting Design Guidebook
Description: Sand casting is a cost-effective method for producing metal parts ranging from engine blocks and cylinder heads to manifolds and valve bodies. It's a process that works as well for small quantities as ...
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Pre-recorded Webchat Sponsored by Eagle Stainless
Description: Some of the topics covered in this web chat include: Why specify surface finish? How to measure surface finish Mill finishes (Annealed & Pickled and Bright Annealed) Belt Polishing and Centerless ...
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Carbonitriding: What It Is and How It Hardens the Surface of Parts
Description: Parts undergoing precision machining and investment casting processes may experience a weakening to their outer surfaces due to the machining processes. Low alloy steel and carbon steel parts may not ...
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CNC Swiss Lathe Machining: Uses and Applications
Description: For precision machining applications, manufacturers use a range of CNC machines to make simple and complex parts. Typical machines that customers hear about include milling machines, grinding ...
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Difference in Horizontally-Parted and Vertically-Parted Green Sand Casting Process
Description: Manufacturers use a wide variety of techniques to cast large and small parts. Green sand casting involves the use of recyclable sand that does not require any chemical additives to bind the sand. ...
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Ferrous vs Nonferrous Metals for Investment Castings
Description: A major advantage to investment castings involves the types of metals used to produce parts. Any metal that can be melted can be cast using this process. Investment casting metals come in two ...
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What Does Axis Mean for CNC Precision Machines?
Description: Computer numerical control (CNC) machines are used in precision machining processes to create parts. They are a form of subtractive manufacturing where materials from the base metal are cut away until ...
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What is Metrology Testing and Why It Is Important for Machined Parts?
Description: Ensuring parts function as intended is paramount for all industries. If even one measurement is inaccurate, this issue may cause an application to fail. This failure could lead to increased wear and ...
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Why Speed, Feed, and Depth of Cut are Important Factors When Machining Components for Hydraulic Systems
Description: Hydraulic machines are used on industrial, commercial, and public applications to perform a range of tasks. They are found in heavy equipment, food processing, aircraft, and other equipment. To create ...
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Alluxa Develops Thin Films for COVID-19 Detection Devices
From: Alluxa, Inc.Description: Alluxa, Inc., the global leader in high-performance optical coatings and filters, has extended its industry-leading Ultra Series to include high-performance polymerase chain reaction (PCR) specific ...
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44 PCB Design Tips from Fellow Engineers
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: In our recent industry survey, we asked over 600 engineers and buyers to share tips and advice with their fellow engineers. ...
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A Christmas Wish List for At-Home Engineers
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: The world has changed. More engineers are working from home than ever before and many are tasked with solving problems they would have previously done in a lab. One such problem is how to rework a ...
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Add a Standing Desk to Your Office!
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: If you sit all day your health will suffer. One way to solve this problem is to purchase a standing desk or make your own ...
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Aerospace Wiring Tips
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: There are steps you can take to mitigate disasters before they happen. Keep asking yourself "what happens if this fails in the worst imaginable way?" and take steps to correct them. Disasters don't ...
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Automatic Optical Inspection
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: Repeatability is a concern. A visual inspector might miss it - a machine will not. ...
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Best Practices in PCB Documentation
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: Documentation is not a glorious part of the design process and can be easily marginalized. But with a small investment in time up front, the whole manufacturing and assembly process will be smoother ...
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Definitions of Common Parts
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: Definitions of Common Parts ...
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Getting to Know Vapor Phase Reflow: The Safety of PFPEs
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: A preview of our new eBook on "The Chemical and Physical Fundamentals of Vapor Phase Reflow Soldering" ...
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Inside the Minds of PCB Designers and Engineers
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: Important industry facts, statistics, and advice for other PCB designers. ...
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Just-in-Time Meet Just-in-Case: The Looming 2021 MLCC Shortage
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: If your project depends on hard-to-find passives, consider purchasing them before you even begin to layout your PCB design. You can consign them to Advanced Assembly when you place your order and ...
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The 4 Common Mistakes Designers Make when Designing for Test
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: To learn more about common DFT mistakes, we spoke to Joe Selvick and Duncan Lowder at FixturFab. ...
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Turn It Up Past 11
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: What is the problem with loudspeakers? ...
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Via Connections
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: Layers are not always aligned and drills wander. Unless you are requesting class 3 fabrication, which is expensive, your via can break 90° out of the annular ring, eliminating up to 1/4 of the ...
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What Makes Part Selection Difficult?
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: Some of the things engineers look for when choosing a part for a design. ...
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What's the Point of Arduino & Raspberry Pi?
From: Advanced Assembly, LLC.Description: Keep the Commercial-Off-The-Shelf designs in mind before you set off on your next Bespoke design. ...
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Types of Aluminum Used in Investment Casting
Description: Impro supplies a broad range of components for construction equipment manufacturers, including engine fuel system parts, hydraulic system parts and transmission system parts. Impro is a manufacturer ...
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Left-hand Turns: A Challenge for Self-driving Cars
From: Critical Link, LLCDescription: Left hand turns are hard, even for those of us who aren't in our 80's. The US DOT did a study of car crashes and found that there were nearly twenty times as many accidents on left-hand turns as on ...
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Medical Devices Info Sheet
From: Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co.Description: Bring your concept to life with custom flat and round wire steel spring solutions by Vulcan Spring. We will partner with your engineers, contract manufacturers, and designers to prototype, test, and ...
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Fused Quartz / Fused Silica
From: Insaco, Inc.Description: Fused quartz is typically produced by melting crystalline sand and then purifying. Several purity grades of this amorphous material are commercially available. Fused silica is produced after a ...
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Piston/Sleeve Assemblies
From: Insaco, Inc.Description: With piston/sleeve clearances down to .00004?, pumping is possible without use of flexible seals. Applications include cryogenic pumping and precision metering. Materials can be alumina, industrial ...
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Environmental, Health & Safety Policy
From: Component Surfaces, Inc.Description: It is Component Surfaces, Inc.'s policy to operate in a safe, responsible manner that respects the environment and the health of our employees, our customers and the communities where we operate. We ...
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Value-Added Converting: Embossing for Thin Metal Foil Heat Shields
From: JBC Technologies, Inc.Description: Why emboss thin metal heat shields? Embossing or stamping small, raised bumps into the surface of the foil has many benefits. Learn how embossing can benefit heat shield performance. ...
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A New Twist on Sensors
From: Critical Link, LLCDescription: A week or so back, I saw in the news that the U.S. Department of Defense is funding the FlexTech Alliance, a consortium of 162 academic institutions, researchers, and that will focus on "flexible ...
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Embedded Barbie
From: Critical Link, LLCDescription: My daughters are well beyond Barbie age, but a recent article in the NY Times ("Barbie Wants to Get to Know Your Child") still managed to catch my eye. Barbie, it seems, is getting smart - at least ...
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Value-Added Converting: Microperforating Thin Metal Foils for Sound Absorption
From: JBC Technologies, Inc.Description: Why microperforated thin metal foils for automotive shielding? Let's learn how thousands of tiny holes (i.e., microperforations) in the foil surface improve acoustic performance through sound ...
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Automotive Case Study
From: Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co.Description: An automotive interior manufacturer came to us with a need for a new spring. After having supplied a spring to their specifications, a clicking noise, due to interference with a vent blower, was ...
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Automotive Center Console Case Study
From: Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co.Description: After already requesting and approving a design, an automotive customer realized that the spring end detail created interference with an HVAC blower vent resulting in noise and uneven air flow. The ...
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Medical Device Case Study
From: Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co.Description: A critical product designed by a medical device company incorporated a complete spring assembly. Certain components disrupted the supply chain, causing significant delays in production. The company ...
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Onshoring Case Study
From: Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co.Description: The events of 2020 have led to some sleepless nights for many of us. For those in the manufacturing sector, risks associated with offshore component sourcing have been a concern, which has led to ...
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Pusher System Case Study
From: Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co.Description: A renowned display tray manufacturer came to Vulcan with the challenge of pushing a unique array of products that are not typically conducive to pusher systems. The company needed to incorporate a ...
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Orifice Failure Modes in Watejet Application
Description: A faulty manufacturing process causes oval-shaped or not-round orifice. This type of error will then negatively affect jet stream coherency and render it unusable. When this failure happens, you will ...
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3D Printing Technologies (Part 1)
Description: While additive manufacturing-more commonly known as 3D printing-has been around for nearly 40 years, it still feels to many as if the technology is in its infancy. 3D printing technology has evolved ...
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All About Investment Casting for Aerospace Applications
Description: Investment casting enables manufacturers to produce precision-engineered parts while minimizing material and energy waste. The word "investment" refers to the way that wax patterns are invested by a ...
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All You Need to Know About Impro's One-Stop Solutions
Description: At Impro, we offer one-stop solutions to a diverse set of industries. In addition to our investment casting, sand casting, and precision machining capabilities, we also offer a broad selection of ...
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Building Superior Hydraulic Systems with Precision Machining
Description: Hydraulic systems use fluids to drive tools-particularly those that perform continuous, repetitive tasks-as well as to move, position, and lift heavy objects, such as machine assemblies and raw ...
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Common Misconceptions About Investment Casting
Description: At Impro, we are a premier manufacturer of high-quality engineered metal parts and components suitable for use in critical and demanding applications, such as those found in the aerospace, automotive, ...
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Different Types of Investment Casting Materials
Description: There is a large selection of alloys to choose from during the material selection process for investment casing. These include: ...
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Frequently Asked Questions About Sand Casting
Description: 1. What is sand casting? 2. How does sand casting work? 3. What are the advantages of sand casting? 4. What kinds of materials are used in sand casting? 5. What types of products can be made by sand ...
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Inside Casting & Machining Products (Part 1)
Description: Investment casting is one of the oldest manufacturing processes that is still in use today--in fact, investment casting has been widely used to form metal parts for thousands of years. This versatile ...
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Investment Casting vs. Die Casting: What Are the Differences?
Description: Investment cast components are highly detailed, precise, and accurate. Once freed from the ceramic mold, they exhibit smooth finishes that generally require little to no finishing. Although a new wax ...
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Precision Machining Series, Part 1: What It Is, How It Works, and Compatible Materials
Description: Most precision machining workflows require some level of computer numerical control (CNC) programming. This programming allows the machines to convert specialized designs into exact shapes through ...
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The Value of Investment Casting (Part 1)
Description: Investment Casting can yield any required shape using almost any metal alloy; design functionality can be maximized due to the amount of materials to choose from. Various features can also be ...
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What are Cores in the Sand Casting Process?
Description: A core is an insert that will be placed into the mold. The sand is poured over the pattern while being compacted and pressed. The core's purpose is to direct where the molten metal will go to fill the ...
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What to Know About 3D Printed Investment Casting Patterns
Description: A 3D printer can be used by many industries to create products made from materials such as plastic. However, these machines can 3D print out parts in resin, metal and even food for certain industries. ...
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What to Understand About Precision Machining Techniques for Aircraft Parts
Description: The manufacturing of aircraft parts is a highly complex process. These mission-critical components have extremely specific requirements to ensure the safe operation of systems within the entire plane. ...