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Glass cutting is an art that combines precision, technology, and expertise to transform raw glass into intricate shapes and designs. Accumet is a pioneer in this type of advanced manufacturing, offering specialized glass cutting services that cater to a wide range of industries. From aerospace to medical devices and optoelectronics, Accumet's expertise in precision glass cutting plays a crucial [...] Read More
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In recent years, the global semiconductor industry has faced unprecedented challenges due to a shortage of telecom chips. As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, the demand for advanced communication technology has skyrocketed. However, a perfect storm of factors has led to a severe scarcity of these crucial components.
Keep reading to explore the causes and consequences of the telecom [...] Read More
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When it comes to achieving precise results in various mechanical applications, lapping compound can be an invaluable tool. Lapping compound, also known as abrasive compound or polishing compound, is a versatile substance used for fine-tuning and finishing surfaces to achieve exceptional flatness, smoothness, and dimensional accuracy.
Whether you are working with metal, ceramics, or even [...] Read More
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Sectors like the medical device industry demand highly accurate processes that traditional manufacturing methods cannot provide
In the rapidly evolving world of precision manufacturing, industries such as electronics, medical, and aerospace demand increasingly sophisticated solutions for the fabrication of their components. One such cutting-edge technology that has proven to be highly advantageous [...] Read More
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When manufacturing parts for the stringent aerospace and defense industries, there are two certifications that are critical for suppliers: ITAR and AS9100. The purpose of these certifications is to ensure that U.S. manufacturers take all precautions necessary to protect U.S. national security while producing safe and reliable products to our government.
ITAR Defined
The acronym ITAR stands for [...] Read More
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What sets aerospace manufacturing apart from fabrication shops? While the latter may offer similar services, capabilities, and equipment as the former, aerospace parts manufacturing requires considerably higher quality standards and intense administrative support in terms of documentation.
Accumet understands the level of commitment required to be your qualified and certified aerospace vendor because [...] Read More
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There is a wide variety of materials used within the automobile industry, and the electronic vehicle (EV) market is no exception.
Modern automotive manufacturing uses plastics, textiles, metals, glass, carbon fiber, wood, and rubber, just to name a few. Accumet is home to over 26 lasers with a variety of output powers, ranging from a few tens of watts to many kilowatts. Our lasers are useful for [...] Read More
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Industrial adhesives are the ideal choice for high-performance medical applications. However, modifying adhesive stock sizes to meet custom packages and design requirements can be challenging.
When cutting industrial and high-performance adhesives to size, it’s all about holding tolerances and creating pristine cut edges while maintaining a high yield. Here at Accumet Engineering, we [...] Read More
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The ongoing trend of miniaturization in electronics is being further fueled by consumer electronics and the automotive industry which demand greater speed, efficiency, power, and decreased weight. Ultimately, the consumer largely benefits from these advances. Higher quality medical imaging equipment, insanely fast devices, increasingly reliable electronic vehicles are just a few examples. These high-performance [...] Read More
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One of the fastest and most repeatable metal cutting methods is to cut with an industrial laser. Lasers quickly make precise cuts, even when working with the smallest and most intricate pieces. By highly focusing its beam and reducing its spot size, the laser becomes a sharp cutting tool. A typical cut width of .003” make lasers ideal cutting small features. This small kerf allows close nesting [...] Read More
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Stainless steel is a material solution used in a wide variety of applications because of its inherent corrosion resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, and strength. Joining separate stainless steel pieces via a high power welding process is preferred over other methods of welding or adhesion in many automotive, medical, and military and aerospace (MIL/AERO) applications because of laser [...] Read More
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Are you working with a ceramic substrate processing partner to prepare your materials for the final manufacturing of your integrated circuits (ICs)? It's helpful to work with a partner that will work with you during prototype development to ensure your base substrate has been fully optimized to achieve your desired outcomes regarding your IC's performance and ultimate customer value.
Accumet [...] Read More
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To remain competitive and satisfy their customers, manufacturers face increasing demands for ever-faster delivery. To respond, more and more manufacturers are looking to looking to outsource some or all of their production to one stop shop advanced processing manufacturers. The decision to outsource manufacturing processes might not be an easy one. But once that decision has been made, how do you choose [...] Read More
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The potential benefit of functionally integrated components made of steel and aluminum has sparked global research in methods to weld these two dissimilar staple metals for many years. The ability to leverage steel and aluminum alloys in mixed metallic components could dramatically reduce the weight of automobiles and planes without sacrificing mechanical strength, and offers consumer and medical device [...] Read More
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In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted, based on careful observations of emerging technological trends, the steady, two-year cadence of chip improvements that would double a processor's performance every couple of years, while simultaneously decreasing its relative cost. While far from prophetic, “Moore's Law”, as it came to be known, would hold true for decades, and serve [...] Read More
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With hundreds of customers served each year and millions of products shipped, we're proud to announce that over half of our business is in support of the medical instrument and device industry. We consult with research universities and corporate labs to share our insights about the reaction of materials during production and our risk of failure reasoning. We are always examining our [...] Read More
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When plating through holes in a printed circuit board, sometimes vias are filled irregularly. The result is raised bumps along surface of board. There was a time where this was not a problem, but in the age of surface mount components, surface planarity is critical. This is because adjacent, low-profile components may be affected by the surplice of metal.
How can Accumet help with via filling?
Accumet [...] Read More
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We often engage in conversations with our RF and microelectronics and medical industries supply chain managers about their unique purchasing requirements for substrates and related advanced material processing needs. What we hear most often is that without smaller ceramic substrates stocking distributors like us who offer Toshiba, Kyocera, Coorstek, Corning, Ceramtech and Dynasil substrates with a [...] Read More
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If you’re a fan of good TV commercials you’ve probably been enjoying AT&T’s most recent campaign “Just OK is not OK". As a product designer, researcher, engineer, product manager, or production manager, you can surely relate. Perhaps you’ve received a response back from less experienced laser job shops like: “Just send us your specs. We’ll figure it [...] Read More
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When selecting an effective marking method, every application is unique; different materials interact differently with laser energy. A variety of factors, from materials to finishes can affect your final outcome. There are a number of laser marking processes to choose from such as ablation, engraving, etching and more. Choosing the right method to achieve a permanent mark for your application [...] Read More
Blog
Introduction
In part 1 of this 2-part blog series on laser welding hermetic seals, we presented insight on understanding the materials that are ideally suited for packages, lids, and seals, which laser technology is right for the job, and which laser welded joint types are to best to use.
IV. Consider Final Testing and Potential Rework in Advance
Final testing stages of a hermetically sealed [...] Read More
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Hermetic seals are used throughout the high-tech industry to provide maximum packaged
protection from environmental elements that can reduce the reliability and required lifetime of
critical electronics. Laser welded (or laser fusion welded) hermetic seals are the certified
method governed by many military and aerospace quality and reliability standards (MIL-STDs).
Devices designed to (or near [...] Read More
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There are vast opportunties for medical tool, instrument, or device designers to leverage the power of laser cutting, marking, and welding technology to create innovative and disruptive solutions in healthcare. Examples include exploring new metals and alloys that might otherwise be impossible to weld for next-generation surgical and dental tools, precision cutting of adhesives to provide [...] Read More
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With advances in laser processing techniques being unveiled everyday, here are 5 myths we’d like to debunk for you that may have kept you from thinking laser machining was the answer to your industrial cutting challenges.
Myth #1: Laser cutting certain materials is new
Laser cutting was first introduced in the 1960s and became widely adopted in the early 1980s. Today, laser machining [...] Read More
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Understanding laser ablation vs. chemical etching and solder dams when looking to control solder flow or remove layers of unwanted materials from a printed circuit board (PCB) or integrated circuit (IC), is pretty basic science.
Laser ablation is a process that removes layers of materials from the surface of a solid object while leaving the base material intact. It offers built-in advantages that [...] Read More
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Asking the right Laser Processing questions early in the relationship can avoid challenges later.
If you think you might have a project that requires laser processing, such as cutting, welding, drilling, marking or etching, there are certain things you should find out before moving forward. Whether you are an expert in this field or only have limited experience working with a laser [...] Read More
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Without the right laser choices and expertise a job shop might set you up to accept limitations you might not have to, take twice as long to process a job, could aid in you failing incoming visual inspections, provide limited bond strength, and ultimately create lower yields and higher costs. “Trying it” on an ill-equipped laser, in other words, is not something you want to endure.
But [...] Read More
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From bio implants, to surgical instruments, to lab equipment, and more, a wide range of products in the medical field have very similar requirements when it comes to welding medical devices.
Here’s a question: If you manufacture devices, tools, instruments, or appliances for the medical industry - whether for the surgical suite, hospital lab, medical clinic, dental office, or other [...] Read More
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The design of your microelectronics circuit is a huge factor in determining whether its ceramic substrate can be laser cut. Here are some factors to consider as you design.
Almost every week it happens — an electronics component manufacturer asks if we can cut the ceramic substrate of a microelectronics circuit they have already designed. Of course we’re always happy to take a look. [...] Read More
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When you need an ally that can help you with prototypes ahead of the volume order, the best partner will be able to answer some key questions right up front.
- Can this idea be manufactured within the budget and timeframe specified?
- Will they break, corrode, or otherwise be damaged either during manufacturing or later when deployed in the actual application?
- Are the materials, [...] Read More
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If you’re looking to engrave a barcode, serial number, photograph, piece of artwork, a logo, or some decorative lettering onto a curved object, then laser rotary engraving is your best option. Mechanical rotary engraving methods such as diamond dragging, stamping or dot peening tend to be slower, require more setup time, and are more limited in the variety of patterns they can engrave. Lasers [...] Read More
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Invented in 1960, the laser was introduced to the plant floor just five years later when the first production laser-cutting machine was used to drill holes in diamond dies. But even though lasers have had a long and successful history in manufacturing, people still have a lot of questions about them in that role. So we thought it would be helpful to have our resident expert, Laser Man, answer the top [...] Read More
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Laser welding is much cleaner than conventional arc or Tig welding, and therefore helps risk of contamination. It’s also more precise, easier to automate, and provides for bonding of much thinner metals, and provides for much greater tensile and bending strength.
If arc welding is typically part of your product manufacturing process you may wish to consider laser welding instead. Unlike [...] Read More
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When you see BYOB on a party invitation, you know what your host wants you to do. And when you have a BYOD policy at work, you know your boss wants you to bring your own device (smartphone or laptop) to the office. Both BYOB and BYOD are very popular. So what about BYOL? Is buying your own laser a good idea too?
For most manufacturers, probably not, and here’s why:
BYOL Carries Costs and [...] Read More
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Accumet stocks and delivers a variety of high-performance frozen epoxies from Ablestik™, Emerson & Cuming, and Henkel. The most popular frozen epoxy we work with is Ablestik’s Ablefilm® 5025E – a silver-filled, unsupported epoxy adhesive-film designed to provide very thin, uniformed bond lines. These high-performance epoxies are kept in stock, and laser cut and drilled while [...] Read More
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If you are a product manufacturer how do you know which technology is a better way to cut your materials: laser cutting or water jet cutting? (We covered the relative merits of a third technology, die cutting, in another blog article.) As with most things in life, no one answer fits every situation. The thickness of the material to be cut, your cost and timing requirements, and the desired condition [...] Read More
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To reduce project risk, cost and delays, don’t wait until the last minute to engage your laser services provider.
When it comes to laser services a lot of customers want it done yesterday. That may be because windows of opportunities are closing, or because downstream assemblers are waiting for the part, or because revenue targets are at risk — or maybe because there was not sufficient [...] Read More
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When considering laser services like cutting, etching, or welding don’t just buy a part; hire a design partner. You’ll reduce costs, speed up production and get a better product.
There are many questions to consider when assessing what’s the value of a manufactured part or component to your end product, your business and your end user-customer. Questions like: How much will the [...] Read More
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Here are 3 Simple Reasons the Laser is King Over DIE Cutting
You see, the thing about laser cutting is, well, it’s not just one thing – unless we’re referring to the monochromatic, coherent, collimated power surge generated by the light beam itself – but let’s not delve into a physics lesson here. We might find ourselves lost in the land of limits, summations, [...] Read More
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