CUSTOM PRECISION MACHINING OF HIGH VACUUM CHAMBER

An analytic instrument company needed a custom vacuum chamber that provided intricate holders for all of their components that were to be assembled in the vacuum chamber. This chamber was 6” thick 14” wide and 21” long and was hollowed out creating a large tub. The challenge with these types of parts is to maintain accuracy while machining away a lot of metal and not incurring warping or movement from the machining process. We worked with the engineers to optimize the machining by increasing the space between features so we were able to use larger cutters and speed up the process. We selected our Okuma horizontal 4 axis CNC mill with a large (50 taper spindle) to handle this large part. Initially this part took over eight hours to produce but after we consulted with cutting tool manufacturers and the machine tool company we eventually lowered the run time to 5.75 hours and we passed the savings on to the customer. These parts were polished to a high surface finish that helped speed up the vacuum pump down time. We also used special screw threads so there would be no virtual leaks from the threaded holes.
Turnaround time for this project was 4 weeks with JIT deliveries, however faster lead times are available. Approximately 100 vacuum chambers are produced annually for this customer, shipping to locations across the USA. For more about this aluminum vacuum chamber milling project, or our other precision machining requirements, please see the table below or contact us directly.