Read on to discover the properties that these exotic materials offer:

Titanium

Titanium is a light material (approximately half the weight of the equivalent quantity of stainless steel) which makes it an attractive alternative for fasteners where weight savings are imperative.

Despite being lightweight, titanium fasteners are extremely durable and have a high melting point of 1,668 °C making them an ideal choice for applications subjected to high temperatures.

The dental industry favours surgical-grade titanium components as implant screws, and as the material also has a unique ability to bind with bone, it’s also suited for hip and knee replacements as well as a range of medical instruments.

Aluminium

Aluminium has a lot of impressive credentials. It’s strong, durable and recyclable, making it a popular choice for many applications.

For decades, the aviation and automation industries have favoured aluminium for all these great properties – but mainly because it is lightweight – which leads to reduced overall weight and improved energy efficiencies.

The material is usually an alloy mixed with copper, magnesium, manganese, zinc and silicon – it’s rare to find pure aluminium used for industrial purposes.  Aesthetically, aluminium looks great with a highly polished finish and is therefore often the material of choice for designers when components are on show.

Copper

Copper components combine strength and corrosion resistance properties. Copper offers the best electrical conductivity of all metals (with the exception of silver) and is also a good conductor of heat – which is why you will often see copper-bottomed saucepans!

Copper also has excellent antimicrobial properties, which makes it suitable for use in medical and sanitation industries, but its attractive finish means it is also used as a material of choice in applications that need to be decorative as well as functional.

Bronze

Bronze is an alloy that consists mainly of copper, but with the addition of other metals such as tin, it is a harder material than just copper alone.

It’s a good conductor of heat and electricity and because of this, it’s commonly used in applications such as electric motors and bushings.

Exotic material machining specialists

If you’re looking for precision components manufactured from exotic materials, then get in touch with our team.  We’re a leading supplier of precision engineered components with an enviable reputation for exceptional-quality machined parts, specialising in small diameter dowel pins and connectors—as well as bespoke, complex turned parts to customer drawing.

We offer a complete range of integrated manufacturing services – no matter how complex your requirements may be, contact us for a free, no-obligation quotation.

The post A guide to exotic materials appeared first on Widmer Engineering.

Dowel pins are manufactured as solid, cylindrical metal pins to precise diameters and lengths. They are available in a wide range of sizes, styles and materials.

Dowel pin sizes:

Standard dowel pin sizes include metric sizes from M1 to M20 diameter – or 1/16” to 1” diameter in imperial sizes—with varying options of lengths. We specialise in custom-made small diameter precision dowels which range from 0.80mm to 6.00mm diameter and up to 150mm in length and can accommodate non-standard sizes when an ‘off the shelf’ option won’t fit the needs of a specialist application.

Radius or chamfer – what’s the difference?

There are lots of options to consider when selecting a dowel pin. Precision dowels are produced with either a double chamfer or radius, or with a chamfer at one end and a radius at the other.

Both finishes are designed to remove sharp edges and aid the dowel pins insertion. A radius is designed to be rounded off at the ends, whereas a chamfer is a slanted finish created at the corner.

Threaded and tapered dowel pins

Threaded dowel pins are useful if the pin needs to be removed from a blind hole at any point after installation. In this situation, a pin can be tapped with an internal thread and be removed quickly using a dowel pin extractor tool – and the pin can then be reused.

Tapered dowel pins have a slightly larger diameter at one end, usually a 1 in 50 taper for metric sizes and 1 in 48 for imperial. They are often used for low torque positioning and locking in many types of mechanical assemblies.

Installing precision dowels

Dowel pin installation is designed to be fast and easy; the pins can simply be pressed in for the best results—you should never drive the pin into the hole with force.  The simplicity of these types of pin means that there are no complicated or secondary operations required, which means production times are faster.

Why choose Widmer?

Since the 1980s, we’ve enabled purchasers of our standard and custom-made dowel pins to save time and money on an assembly that requires the use of alignment pins.

We offer a complete range of dowel pin manufacturing services – no matter how complex your requirements may be.  Our workshop is home to eleven fully automated ESCOMATIC® Swiss coil-fed machines, which are designed to produce high-volume runs of dowels, making us competitively priced with exceptional lead times.

Our team are on hand to discuss your unique requirements and deliver pins to your specification, including non-standard diameters and lengths, special threads, and tolerances. We work with a wide range of metals including mild steel, carbon steel, stainless steel and brass, as well as plastics, PTFE, plastic tubing and exotic materials.

If you are looking for high-quality dowel pins, manufactured in the UK by a trusted company, get in touch for a free, no-obligation quote.

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The machine has now evolved into the ESCOMATIC® we use today — and they are still designed to produce parts to tight tolerances for the watch industry—but have now expanded into the manufacture of complex precision components for many other sectors too.

If you are a precision engineering company who routinely manufactures small components, then it’s worthwhile considering one of these hardworking Swiss coil-fed machines as your next investment. Here’s how an Esco could benefit your business:

They are the industry’s workhorse

Productivity is key when you’re a manufacturer of precision parts, and the ability to run the machines 24/7 is a ‘must’ for many businesses in order to remain competitive. ESCOMATIC® machines are designed to be run ‘lights out’ meaning you’ll be fulfilling your customers’ orders even when you are sleeping!

Machines many types of material

ESCOMATIC® machines are not particularly fussy when it comes to working with different materials and can produce components using mild steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminium, PTFE and plastics.

This will allow your business to expand its range and open new opportunities for customers who are increasingly demanding components in a wider range of materials.

Free up your staff’s time

Coil-fed machinery is less labour intensive than other machine processes. Employees will not have to spend time loading and minding the machine – they can simply attach the coil and the machine will feed itself, leaving them free to work on other tasks.

Lower labour costs mean more profit for your bottom line – plus your prices can be more competitive, helping you to win even more customers.

Provides years of service

With regular maintenance, an ESCOMATIC® machine can provide decades of loyal service. We have over 30 years’ experience in helping our customers to keep their Esco’s in tip-top condition.

If yourESCOMATIC®develops a fault or ceases to be productive, you need to know that you can be back up and running in the quickest possible time.  Our technicians can diagnose and repair your machine and provide any spare or replacement parts to get you back up and running with minimal delays.

We stock hundreds of hard-to-source spare parts, to eliminate downtime and save you time and money.

Looking to add an ESCOMATIC®to your machining capabilities?

If you are looking for a reliable, refurbished Swiss coil-fed machine for your business, we can source most models including the D2, D4, D6, D9 and the New Mach range of ESCOMATIC®

Contact our team online or call 01386 553043 with your requirements to discover the full range of our services and to discuss the purchase of an ESCOMATIC®at a competitive prices.

The post How can an ESCOMATIC® benefit your business? appeared first on Widmer Engineering.

• Strength & hardness
• Machinability
• Durability
• Aesthetics
• Electrical and thermal conductivity
• Hygiene properties
• Resistance to corrosion

Unlike mild steel, brass does not turn brittle in cold temperatures, making it a great choice for outdoor use. It also offers excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, which make it ideal for use in PCB boards or as a joining part between two points in an application that needs to conduct an electrical current.

Brass aesthetics

Brass is known for it’s traditional and stylish appearance, and depending on the composition of the brass, forms a range of colours from bronze to yellow and silver to brown. For example, a brass which has just 1% manganese will fade to a dark brown hue.
Brass is a very forgiving material to work with and is easy to bend and flex into attractive designs. It’s often the material of choice for designers, who demand brass fasteners to complement their application.

Is brass hygienic?

Copper-alloys offer antimicrobial properties—especially important during the global pandemic – making brass a popular choice for areas with high touchpoints such as door handles, taps and hand railings.

Can brass be recycled?

One of the main economic and ecological benefits of brass is that the material is fully recyclable. Swarf and offcuts are also collected and recycle to create new brass products. Making brass from new copper and zinc would be a waste of resources. The sustainability of brass means that almost 100% of brass manufacturers in the UK utilise brass scrap.

The brass industry throughout the world is well organised and equipped to recycle products at the end of their long lives and process scrap (swarf and offcuts). Making brass from new (virgin) copper and zinc would be uneconomical and wasteful of raw materials so new brass products are made from recycled scrap, illustrating the sustainable nature of this material. In the UK brass manufacturers use almost 100% brass scrap. *

*Source: https://copperalliance.eu/about-copper/copper-and-its-alloys/alloys/brass/

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This process ensures that ESCOMATIC® machinery is the economical choice for manufacturing dowel pins. Operating Swiss coil fed machines gives the following advantages and sets your business ahead of any competitors who use a turning process to manufacture dowel pins:

• Speed – dowel pins can be made 24 /7 and ESCOMATIC®s can run ‘lights out’ without issue
• Cost-effective – with less waste and faster cycle-times, ESCOMATIC® can save your business time and money
• High volume capabilities – if your customer needs a high volume run of dowel pins, an ESCOMATIC®can handle it with ease
• High-precision – dowel pins need to achieve tight tolerances and Swiss coil fed machines are well-known for their ability to create identical parts with incredible precision, so the final component is just as precise as the first.

ESCOMATIC® machines are the workhorses of the engineering world. They perform reliably and, with the proper maintenance can last for decades.

Widmer Ltd can keep your ESCOMATIC® in top-top condition. We provide spares, repairs and servicing across the UK – so there is minimum downtime of disruption to your business.

The post The benefits of using Swiss coil fed machinery for dowel pins appeared first on Widmer Engineering.

The team take part in 9-a-side football in the Cheltenham Youth League and you can follow their progress here.

It’s not just about having own name on the kit – we are genuinely enthusiastic in supporting grass-root football as a fun way to keep kids active and entertained.  Sadly, the season has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, but we believe that grass roots football clubs play a vital role in local communities across the UK.

Many of the clubs are run by volunteers who dedicate their time to helping to stay children fit and healthy, whilst forging community spirit.

We wish Badsey Rangers every success this season and hope that one the lockdown is eased the team can continue their season. We hope that some of these talented youngsters will grow into the next generation of engineers—carrying on the tradition of British manufacturing.

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