News, insights and tips for improving the design and
manufacture of metal-formed parts and components.
Thanks to the latest six-axis laser cutting system and the ability to integrate multiple software packages, Bomco, Inc. can now produce tooling, prototype and finished parts of higher quality in half the time or less.
Customers can now e-mail Bomco full, three dimensional representation of their parts.Using state-of-the-art programming packages, Bomco engineers are able to extract the tool configuration to produce a given part and to prepare a computer-generated tooling order complete with specifications.
At the same time, Bomco engineers are able to produce the multi-axis tool paths required to manufacture the part on the six-axis laser cutting system.Here Bomco's 6-axis laser cuts elongated slots in a combuster dome of a large jet aircraft engine in a fraction of the time required by conventional machining.
The speed of this type of production is obvious and frequently Bomco has reduced running time by half, and sometimes by 75 or more percent. What isn't so obvious to designers is the reduced cost of tooling. In the past, complex punching and trimming tools were required for production using two or more machines. With the new laser cutting system, lighter, simplified and less expensive tooling is produced for only one machine-the laser cutting system.
Less expensive tooling and faster prototype production gives Bomco's customers greater design flexibility.
Changes in product or component design can be accomplished without major changes in tooling. Additionally, designers may not be aware of the improved quality inherent in the laser manufacturing process. In the past, many parts required multiple set-ups as they moved from machine to machine. With each new set-up came the possibility of minute deviation. Bomco's new laser cutting system requires only one set-up and has the capability to "digitally and visually proof" the cutting operations prior to production.Bomco engineer, John Braz, holds a critical rocket nozzle component that benefits from the quality and consistency of laser cutting.
Another quality improvement inherent in the laser cutting process is the precise, clean cut of the laser.
With multi-axis laser cutting, virtually any angle or complex configuration is possible. In addition, the cut is far cleaner than traditional machining, and deburring operations are virtually eliminated.
Since designers are no longer limited by traditional tooling and machining methods, they are able to consider far more complicated metal formed configurations. Bomco frequently laser cuts airfoil slots and other complex configurations for high tech and aerospace customers.
Many of Bomco's customers are benefiting from the rapid prototype production, faster production time and improvement in the quality of intricate metal formed components produced by the laser cutting system. A manufacturer of kidney dialysis equipment was able to confirm the design of a heater tray and to test prototypes within four weeks. A high tech rocket manufacturer significantly increased the quality and consistency of a critical rocket nozzle component.
A leading aircraft engine producer achieved the demanding quality level required for the combuster dome of one of its engines.
The laser system that Bomco uses is the Trumpf 6-axis Laser cell TLC 105. Bomco manufactures precision formed metal components for aerospace, electronic, medical, vacuum technology and other original equipment manufacturers.
In addition, Bomco makes wire handling products for wire processing industries and proprietary quartz-to-metal seal assemblies for electro-optical industries.
Our Customers "We would like to thank you... for your time and interest and for a very interesting and informative tour. In particular, we appreciated the 'education' that we received from you concerning your unique equipment and processes. My staff had been after me for some time to make this trip, I can see why they were so enthusiastic and insistent.
We came away very impressed by everything we saw and heard. More important than your equipment were the Bomco Personnel, particularly Mark Standley and Mike McCarthy. The trip gave us reassurance that we are contracting with an excellent partner. I hope that we will be able to put some of your capability, particularly your laser torch, to good use in the future.
Thanks again."
H.C. Starck Inc.
A Bayer Company
Plant Shutdown
July 516Bomco's annual plant shutdown will occur July 5 through 16. Please let us know your needs well in advance so that we can make every effort to assist you. Plan ahead... enjoy the summer!
If you have a comment about Bomco's performance and would like to "speak for us", we would be very happy to hear from you. Please send your comments to N.K. Banks, Jr.,
President, Bomco, Inc.
125 Gloucester Ave.,
Gloucester, MA 01930.
Bomco, Inc.
125 Gloucester Avenue
Gloucester, MA 01930-2254
Phone: 978-283-9000
Fax: 978-283-2882
E-Mail: custserv@bomco.com
