With So Many Parties on Board, Self-Driving Is Closer Than You Think In our last blog, we talked about some of the major players in autonomous vehicles and how rapidly the technology is evolving. Little did we know that, just days after our post, there would be a big upset involving one very promine

How One Machinist Started Big and Went Micro When I got my start as a machinist 25 years ago, it was a very different world than what we see in CNC metal cutting services today, where the parts (and the tools) are getting ever smaller and the requirements, ever more demanding. Even 10 years ago, if

Some Considerations for Custom Metal Polishing Long before 3D printing arrived on the scene, Metal Cutting Corporation established ourselves as experts in the production of small metal parts by not only providing the precision cutting, grinding, lapping, and machining that customers need, but al

What Is Lights Out Machining — and How Realistic Is It? Lights out machining is a method of automating manufacturing to minimize or eliminate the amount of human interaction needed. This idea of replacing humans with a gadget or process that will do the same job faster, better, or cheaper i

Nitric Acid vs. Citric Acid for Metal Passivation In our industry, the term metal finishing is used in regard to many different processes, but in general it pertains to when, for various reasons, parts need to be made smoother, shinier, duller, or within exact parameters for those characteristics. F

Mechanizing the Deburring of Small Parts for High Volumes Without a doubt, the key to deburring small metal parts is to not form a burr in the first place — which, not coincidentally, is one of the underpinnings of Metal Cutting’s business. Our proprietary method allows us to cut thick-walled and

The Roadmap To Successful Quality Management Throughout our industry, ISO 9000 is a common tool used by companies in developing, deploying, and documenting their internal quality control standards. Yet surprisingly, there are some misconceptions about what the ISO quality standard

Using Copper Tungsten in Resistance Spot Welding for BEVs Last week, we talked about the use of copper tungsten in the die sinker EDM process utilized to cut parts for a challenging aerospace application. Remarkably, the same copper tungsten can be used for resistance welding, such as the spot weldi

The Light Bulb Goes Off — New Ideas for Using Tungsten Wire Are Born! Unlike the incandescent light bulb, tungsten wire is not going away any time soon. In fact, like modern lighting, tungsten wire continues to evolve as a material whose uses are growing — for example, in medical technology (medt

Where the Heat Is On, Tungsten Wire Still Excels Many of the legacy applications for tungsten wire remain strong and necessary. There are a variety of products in general industry, ranging from filaments to furnaces, in which tungsten wire is used and remains without substitute. Given tungsten’

The Benefits of Tungsten Probes for Testing Applications Probing is a broad industry with many types of applications, but two that have proven to be ideal for tungsten wire are: Wafer probes used for semiconductor wafer testing Neural probes for testing activity in the brain What

Why Combine Two Elements with the Exact Same Density? Admittedly, our subtitle is a bit misleading. It is true that by a quirk of nature, gold and tungsten have identical densities. However, the two also have radically different mechanical properties, including their respective melting temperatur

How Does Resistance Spot Welding Compare with Laser Welding and Other Welding Methods? Resistance spot welding may be an older method, but it is still one of the best for welding many industrial parts, especially in the high-volume production stage. Used extensively in automotive and electronic part

Why Consider Pure Tungsten or Pure Molybdenum for Your Application? Electrode materials are commonly thought of as a blending of copper or silver and tungsten. These “blends” are well known in the industry, and many different percentages of materials can be chosen. There are other additives that are

Why Does Uniform Density in CuW Electrodes Matter? Last week we talked about some of the reasons for choosing pure tungsten or molybdenum as a material for spot welding electrodes. With these pure materials, infiltration — the blending of metals throughout an electrode so that the ratio in every qua

Why Do Bonding Problems Happen — and What Can We Do to Prevent Them? Recently, we’ve talked a lot about the different materials that can be used for resistance spot welding electrodes — materials that, alone or in combination, need to stand up to high currents and large pressing forces. But of cours

Using a Metal Probe in Electronics and Medical Research There are a lot of different materials to choose from when you are designing a metal probe. If you follow our blog, you know we’ve talked before about the use of tungsten wire for probes, in everything from medical device applications to integ

Offering 2-week delivery for standard burr-free metal cutting service Time is on everyone’s mind — but never seems to be on anyone’s side — whenever customers are looking for metal cutting service. So, “When will I receive my order?” is the question we get most often, from virtually every customer w

Preventing and Detecting Surface Flaws Before They Become an Issue The glass to metal seal is a truly essential phenomenon in electronics, used in the manufacture of a wide range of products. From the “old-fashioned” (but still ubiquitous) incandescent light bulb to vacuum tubes, electric discharge

More Ways to Create an Air-Tight Seal in Electronic Devices Last time, we talked about the importance of achieving a vacuum-tight glass to metal seal in electronic products. Similarly, a method known as potting (also called encapsulation) is often used in manufacturing to create a tightly sealed pac