TCI Precision Metals Expands Waterjet Cutting
Improves Efficiency When Producing Short-Run Machine-Ready Blanks
TCI Precision Metals has increased its waterjet cutting services to meet the growing demand for its Machine-Ready Blanks. The variety of shapes, sizes, and quantities of pre-machined metal plates cut from full sheet material requires maximum utilization, creating as little scrap as possible. Using computer-controlled material layouts and cutting guidance, TCI can simultaneously cut materials for multiple orders, shortening lead times and passing the savings on to customers.
Machine-Ready Blanks are close-tolerance materials that go directly from the customer’s receiving dock to finish machining or fabrication. TCI originally started providing waterjet cutting to customers as a service, using customer-supplied materials or materials sourced mill-direct, aluminum, stainless steel, and other alloys. “As our blanks business continued to grow, we realized the value of cutting shaped blanks (other than square) using waterjet, which has proven a win/win for our customers and the environment, as we have reduced scrap by as much as 90% on shaped blanks,” said Ben Belzer, President, and CEO of TCI Precision Metals.
The Company continues investing in additional waterjet machines using the most advanced equipment. The OMAX 80X series waterjet, with its patented Tilt-A-Jet cutting head, ensures high precision, square, and finished edge cuts. Precision waterjet cut blanks continue to secondary operations, making them close tolerance and machine-ready to meet customer specifications.
With several grades of aluminum and stainless steel sheet and plate stock and other alloys, in-house turnaround times are short, and TCI Precision Metals ships coast-to-coast. TCI sources materials mill-direct, then precision cuts and mills two or six sides to close tolerance customer specifications.
Precision Machine-Ready blanks eliminate the need for in-house sawing, grinding, flattening, and squaring operations. Each blank arrives deburred, clean, and individually packaged to avoid damage during shipping. Blanks are available in two ways: Ready-to-ship blanks can be ordered online for same-day or next-day shipping and arrive square, flat, and parallel within ± .002” of specified dimensions all around; custom-made-to-order blanks are made to customer specifications and are guaranteed as close as +/- .0005” dimensionally and as close as .002” flatness, squareness, and parallelism.