Page 37 - Fall 2023 EDM Today

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SATELLITE PARTS
Here, you can vaguely see the witness marks of the fl ush-
ing holes. More signifi cant is the precision and fi nish, with
Of special interest is
a wall straightness of +/- .002” and a maximum corner
a most unusual wave
radius of .020”...in titanium. Impressive.
guide produced in
Although the “deep side” had been pre-machined before
the combination of
EDM’ing, Mike reports that it took “about 8 hours” to
Wire and Sinker.
Made from a light-
and to such a fi ne fi nish in titanium.
weight solid billet of
titanium (Ti-6Al-4V), EDM, a remarkable time for EDM’ing a cavity this large
it is approximately THEIR SECOND RELOCATION
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7” tall and is perhaps
5” x 3.5” across its largest cross-sections and with an
Requiring a second expansion, Quality EDM purchased
angular external shape.
their own 8,200 sq/ft building in 2000 at 8025 East
Crystal Drive, in Anaheim, CA and fi lled it up with over
The entire outside pe-
20 EDM’s. Everything was booming for Quality EDM until
riphery of this part has
9/11, which “Killed the aircraft and aerospace industry
been Wire cut. This pro-
for quite some time,” Mike related. “We were fortunate
cedure is not unusual as
that we were already heavily engaged in the medical and
WEDM “loves” titanium,
dental fi elds by then. We still needed more work and got
economically cutting
20% faster than steel.
ton and making parts for Toyota Racing Division (TRD).”
Not so in Sinker appli-
cations where it EDM’s some great contracts in the oil-tool industry for Hallibur-
Eventually their considerable aerospace work came back
slowly and causes high
and they were soon busier than they’d ever been, running
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electrode wear, requiring three shifts and were open 24 hours a day, a rarity in
multiple electrodes or
EDM job shops, so times were good.
electrode re-dressings.
“To further secure our position to support our certifi -
Of signifi cance of
cations, we installed a temperature-controlled inspec-
this particular part
tion room and a Zeiss CMM. This allows us to provide
are the two Sinker
detailed inspection reports on every job we execute,”
executions that have
refl ected Mike.
been performed on both
ends, with the deepest side measuring about 3” x 4” and
almost 5” deep, with a smooth satin fi nish.
Then came the “crash” of 2009. Gervais recalls the
The “shallow” burn is shown at left, atop the part and TIMES CHANGE
business mentality at the time, “Everyone was in a panic
it creates the same thin wall thickness of .025” that is
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over bank failures and both business and money got
generated throughout
very tight. All shops were underbidding jobs just to stay
the entire interior of
afl oat.” Pausing, he refl ects, “Yeah...those were a very
the part.
tough couple of years.”
This includes the EDM
When asked how they managed this, he replied,
operation performed
“We condensed the best talents of our three shifts
from the “deep side.”
and downsized into a single day shift. After that, we
(Imagine a hollow part
were able to keep everyone else by cutting back on
with a .025” wall thick-
ness, with precision
made us a much ‘leaner’ company.”
geometry, zig-zagging
throughout the angular everything else. In a way it was good for us because it
interior.) Each Z-axis
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CERTIFICATIONS HELPED
burn stops short of
each other and creates
Mike relates, “Although 2009 was diffi cult, not all was bad
a .025” thick interior
as we became AS9100 certifi ed in 2007 and this was very
wall, the outside of
good for the company and it brought in more aerospace
which can be seen
opportunities. Then in 2011 we got Nadcap certifi ed for
brightly through the
all EDM services. This was challenging for us at fi rst,
outside, Wire cut slots
but it made us a stronger company and we grew quite
in the tall side view.
a bit because many big companies require Nadcap, but
An even better view of
advantage over similar EDM shops.”
the “shallow” side is
shown at right (about
On Quality EDM’s status with Nadcap, Gervais says,
2.5” square, and al- very few EDM houses are Nadcap certifi ed, a decided
“We proudly have received “Merit” on our last six years of
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most about 1.5” deep).
Nadcap audits, which is a perfect score.” Nice, as having
a “Perfect Score” is hard to deny future contracts.
35
EDM Today, Fall 2023 Issue