Contract Manufacturing and Fabrication Reference Materials

Description: Precision machining involves various machine tools to remove metal to achieve desired results. This blog discusses grinding machines used in the process. ...

Description: Titanium is strong, light, and resists creep and corrosion. Our blog discusses the common types of titanium alloys for parts made using investment casting. ...

Description: Impro has provided in this blog post an overview of the key terms used in the sand casting process to assist in discussions of your needs for sand castings. ...

Description: Quaise Energy is using technology that produces fusion power to bore deep down into the earth to tap the vast store of geothermal energy that lies below. ...

Description: Overdoing it on salt can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. So researchers at Japan's Meiji University and Kirin, a major food and beverage company, have tackled this problem ...

Description: access to safe water isn't universal, and while estimates vary, there are likely well over a billion people who lack clean water. ...

Description: Eagle Stainless Tubing & Fabrication utilizes the latest technology to create unparalleled, state-of-the-art solutions for our customers. You'll be amazed at what we can create together! Eagle ...

Description: This blog details the beneficial characteristics and potential downsides of sand casting. You will learn when to use this process for automotive applications. ...

Description: Heat treatment is a controlled process of heating and cooling precision machined parts to alter their physical properties. Read our blog to learn more... ...

Description: This blog post discusses the various types and compositions of Inconel and explains the benefits of making Inconel parts by the investment casting process. ...

Description: Want to know how to maximize yield from sand casting? Our eBook, "Common Sand Casting Defects and Their Remedies", explains what can go wrong and how to avoid producing defective parts. ...

Description: In a CNC precision machining shop traceability can be implemented in many ways. This blog takes a closer look at the options and practices often used. ...

Description: A rack of discards sits in the middle of the room. Shelves of streaked parts, awaiting their disposal. “What happened”, we ask? “Oh, the plugs must have leaked as they were ...

Description: In Part I we discussed how masking can fail as the part surpasses it's life cycle. In Part II we will discuss what happens when the mask is not the correct one for the process being used. Often when ...

Description: A new vehicle cab rolls down an e-coat line with 65 threaded holes which needed to be masked. A call is placed by a purchasing agent to a supplier that sells masking plugs. The size of the holes is ...

Description: Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, one of the world’s leading electric guitar manufacturers, needed to decrease the cycle time on their guitar body undercoat line in their Corona, CA ...

Description: Custom component manufacturers use FAI, PPAPs and pilot run to verify the processes are robust and under control. This blog takes a closer look at each of them. ...

Description: Waterjet, abrasive jet cutting, water jet; however, you know it, we now have it. Waterjet cutting means we can offer even more fast-turnaround prototyping and converting services. Our CNC-controlled ...

Description: Our new blog "Cutting Tools for Precision Machining" explains how these tools influence precision and discusses options for ensuring accuracy and repeatability. ...

Description: Sand casting lead time is often an issue in procurement, production scheduling and project management. Our eBook, "Lead Times for Sand Castings", will help you decide how much lead time to include in ...

Description: At one point or another during our driving lives, most of us have had the dreaded experience of noticing that we're pretty much running on empty, and we make it into the gas station on fumes. Gas ...

Description: The other day, I was browsing Embedded.com and came across Trends in embedded development: a Mouser perspective by Mark Patrick, who's a UK-based technical marketing manager for Mouser, a major ...

Description: The superalloys needed for components going into high temperature and corrosive atmosphere environments are expensive and difficult to machine. This can put engineers off specifying them despite their ...

Description: Spurred on by the explosion of interest in the Internet of Things, there's been an explosion of interest in embedded systems. Because of this, Embedded.com is running excerpts from Embedded Computing ...

Description: Embedded.com is running excerpts from Embedded Computing for High Performance, the highly informative (and, yes, educational) book by João Cardoso, José Gabriel Coutinho, and Pedro ...

Description: Not all problems are created equal. Some problems are easy to solve, and some are impossible. Figure out which category your problems fall in, prioritize them, and tackle them in a logical order. ...

Description: To achieve sand casting efficiency and flexibility, foundries rely on a variety of equipment from core making and molding to pouring and heat treatment. ...

Description: The quality and cost of precision cylindrical parts depend on whether they go through centerless or cylindrical grinding. Our blog explains the differences. ...

Description: Our blog discusses the challenges of deep hole drilling and best practices that a machine shop must follow to be successful. ...

Description: Cutting fluids play a big part in dimensional accuracy, surface finish, and even the cost of a precision machining part. Learn more by reading our blog post. ...

Description: Lead times vary based on customer's specifications and requirements. This blog elaborates on factors that impact lead times of precision machining parts. ...

Description: This blog explains three important credentials that help ensure manufacturing vendors will keep your IP secure. ...

Description: Permanent Mold Casting, also commonly referred to as PMC for short, offers little scrap, solid surface quality, excellent mechanical properties and more - making it ideal for specific types of ...

Description: Sand casting is a process well-suited to the medical industry. It produces strong, precise, smooth, intricate items quickly and affordably. ...

Description: Optical design is the process of studying application requirements and designing optical systems to meet specific needs of optical instruments. The entire system may include optics, light source, ...

Description: I'm always on the lookout for novel and interesting gadgets, so I was happy when a friend in Boston pointed the Wave from Embr Labs my way. ...

Description: I'm a dog person. I was going to say that I'm also a robot person, but that would sound like I'm saying I'm a robot. So not true! But I have been interested in robotics for a long time, dating back to ...

Description: When you've been blogging as long as we have - and we're coming up on nine years now - you tend to develop a few traditions. One of ours is doing holiday tech toy shopping for kids and grownups. ...

Description: Investment casting is a process that uses a disposable wax mold to create a permanent ceramic mold which is used to shape an object. After the ceramic mold has hardened, it is heated, causing the wax ...

Description: Picture this, you’re at your home office desk near a window. It’s early in the morning, a few minutes before your workday will begin. You hit a small switch on the wall allowing the blinds ...

Description: Casting component production process ranges from tooling design and manufacturing to casting, secondary machining, heat treatment, surface treatment, testing, and assembly. These capabilities enable ...

Description: Vulcan Spring is proud to showcase their variable force springs designed for vertical upfeed displays. Upfeeds are a fairly new concept in the Point-Of-Purchase display industry. Over the past several ...

Description: The PIM process produces net-shape or near netshape parts at a reduced manufacturing cost; however, significant process and product qualification is required to ensure that the final product is ...

Description: An overview of the wide range of milestones that Impro was able to accomplish in 2021, and a look forward to the exciting things that are planned for 2022. ...

Description: Do you know how to avoid defects in investment casting? Defects in complex parts cast in high-value alloys can be costly and could lead to in-service failure. Our eBook, "Avoiding Defects in ...

Description: Of the great pleasures of being part of the wonderful world of technology is seeing the many brilliant uses that people make of it. When I look at the types of applications our clients are working on, ...

Description: We don't often do crime-related posts, but this story is an important one, and underscores how vital supply chain management is to us and our customers. ...

Description: Checking out the metal parts casting processes, there are several different types of techniques that may be used. Two particular ones are sand casting vs. centrifugal casting. Each process has its ...

Description: Sand casting and die casting are two manufacturing techniques widely used to make automotive parts. They are the enablers of innovation across the industry. But while sand casting and die casting ...

Description: Sand casting is an economical way to produce parts in a variety of metals. Shell mold casting can be an alternative process to consider given specific part design needs. This blog post introduces the ...

Description: If prototypes help bridge the gap between product ideation and physical production, digital product models extend this bridge to business development scenarios where physical prototypes aren't ...

Description: Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a car guy and an electronics guy. So I've developed a keen interest in autonomous vehicles, and have posted on them a number of times over the past few years. I ...

Description: There was a recent article in the EE Times on some research funding that's been awarded to a team Belgian researchers who are developing "a new chip to study the mechanisms of Parkinson's disease." ...

Description: As a new year begins, I'm always interested in seeing what the prognosticators are prognosticating will happen over the next twelve months. So I was more than happy to wander around seeing what ...

Description: Accurately assembling PCBs is not an easy task; it takes experience, technology, and, above all, dedicated people to ensure your projects are done right. ...

Description: EE Times recently had a provocative article by Carnegie Mellon associate professor Philip Koopman, whose specialty is AV safety. While Koopman definitely sees the potential benefits of AVs, he argues ...

Description: In order to stop my head from spinning, I decided to focus on the roundup in USA Today, which took a look at Amazon's hottest tech gifts. ...

Description: Embedded Vision is a hot topic in many industrial spaces. The integration of data processing on board a camera without the need for a back-end PC, server, or other costly system has system developers ...

Description: The design stage of a product's life cycle is arguably one of the most crucial decision-making periods, as 70 to 80 percent of the overall manufacturing cost can be projected at this stage. Engineers ...

Description: Laminates form the foundation of printed circuit boards. Even the best designed boards can be ruined by the wrong laminate. In this article, learn the different variables to consider when selecting ...

Description: Machine vision systems have traditionally consisted of stand-alone cameras tethered to PC-based boards or frame grabbers using highspeed interfaces such as Camera Link, CoaXPress and Gigabit Ethernet. ...

Description: To the untrained eye, there is not much variation in how different finishes look or perform on a circuit board, but, with time and experience, subtle and not-so-subtle differences emerge. ...

Description: When considering the long term reliability of a PCB, you must take into account the vias that you have on your board. While an invaluable and essential part of board design, vias introduce weaknesses ...

Description: Even though my kids are grown, and there are as yet no little tech grandkids running around, as the holiday season approaches each year, the kid in me still likes to take a look at what's hot when it ...

Description: It's that time of year when many of us take a look back on what's happened in our lives, in society, and - in my case - in technology during the past twelve months. I was taking just such a look when ...

Description: Defining or determining the most efficient processing methodology for precision metal components, within the 5-300-gram mass weight range, requires a thorough examination of the most prevalent and ...

Description: Increasingly, the medical device industry is turning to metal injection molding to manufacture small complex components. The past 18 months have revealed just how important the technology has become. ...

Description: APP has developed a 3-D metal powder printing technology and is able to produce low cost metal components that meet the metallurgical properties of MPIF Standard 35 for metal injection molding. We can ...

Description: Sand casting has remained relatively unchanged for centuries, but it's still popular today. Green sand and dry sand are two basic types of modern process sand. ...

Description: Compacted graphite iron (CGI), also known overseas as vermicular graphite iron, is a metal commonly used when cast iron is too heavy and not strong enough. CGI is approximately 75 percent stronger and ...

Description: Carbon steel is not easy to sand cast due to its high melting point. Ductile cast iron is an alternative. Its lower melting point provides a way of achieving similar metallurgical properties to those ...

Description: Both sand casting and forging are techniques used to create engineered metal parts. However, the similarity pretty much ends there. The two methods are very different. The method that's best for you ...

Description: Sand casting is a cost-effective manufacturing option for customers who seek parts using a wide variety of metals. This versatility allows customers to obtain simple and complex parts in a range of ...

Description: Medical device manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to innovate to provide life-saving solutions to compete in a global marketplace. As pressures constantly drive the need for innovation, the ...

Description: The automotive supply chain is as broad as it is demanding, especially for tier two and tier three component providers. The constituents that go into truck and automobile construction range from ...

Description: What is the sand casting? What are sand casting advantages and disadvantages? ...

Description: Sand casting versatility in material selection and size limit brings great benefits to design engineers, making it a common technique to create quality parts with desired functions and features. ...

Description: Automotive precision machining technology is a way of using computers and automation to make auto parts. The major benefit is it can be precisely designed on a computer ...

Description: Accelerating your product development process can drive faster time to market, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Faster product development means more time to iterate, more refined products, and ...

Description: The technical notes describes what a beam splitter is and what beam splitter coatings are and how they work along with how they are applied ...

Description: Accelerating your product development process can drive faster time to market, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Faster product development means more time to iterate, more refined products, and ...

Description: A European customer recently installed a new system onboard an aircraft. Following airborne trials, the end customer requested ergonomic changes to the fixed control grip. ...

Description: Vacuum investment casting yields high-quality parts with fine details and surface finish. It is suited for high-value metals like superalloys and titanium. ...

Description: This eBook explains how investment casting compares to other forming methods, discusses aspects of product or part design that make for good applications. ...

Description: Quick-turn PCB prototypes are a timely solution for companies who require PCB models before the final manufacturing process. With the ability to produce a prototype within a specific timeframe, this ...

Description: For established companies and up-and-coming entrepreneurs alike, outsourcing your PCB assembly is always a good idea. From navigating the complexities of circuit board manufacturing to keeping up with ...

Description: Placing a PCB order is an important task that needs to be done with thought and care. If not handled correctly, significant consequences may follow, including improperly functioning products, ...

Description: Google is always up to something interesting, and one of the interesting things they've been up to is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate the chip design process. ...

Description: A spinout of Harvard's Wyss Institute, Emulate develops clear plastic chips that can simulate human organs. They're used to test out drugs without having to use animal guinea pigs. ...

Description: Impro offers a variety of quality assurance services making sure that our manufactured parts and products meet or exceed customers' expectations. ...

Description: Precision machining process is using cutting, turning, milling, grinding, sawing, and boring tools to remove specific amounts of materials from a base material piece. ...

Description: The heart and soul of a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) is, not surprisingly, its battery. Unfortunately, it's the weight of these bulky portable power plants - often topping 1,500 pounds - that ...

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 ...

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. ...

Description: Investment casting and MIM are the most cost-efficient solutions to creating small parts. ...

Description: What are the similarities and differences between investment casting and lost foam 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. ...

Description: Die cutting isn't a one size fits all process. Depending on the quantity and type of material your project requires, your precision die-cutting professional might recommend one of several die cutting ...

Description: As we knew, beryllia ceramics are the smart choice for protecting advanced electronics and communications technology, then let’s discuss why beryllia ceramic parts can use for microwave ...

Description: 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. ...