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How
do we make the right blades...fast?
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Segment
Manufacturing
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The various combinations
of powders we utilize for segment manufacturing require different
types of mixing and blending for us to achieve the specific wear and
diamond retaining characteristics we expect. |
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CUSTOM
DIAMOND BLADE
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AUTOMATED
DIAMOND BLADE
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DIAMOND
ROOM
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GRANULATING
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| After the powders are blended for the required time, we mix the bulk powders and bulk diamonds for up to 6 blades at a time, achieving good diamond dispersion throughout the bond. We then weigh out one segment worth of diamond/bond mixture into a vial for mold loading. |
This unique process coats each diamond particle with just the right amount of bond powder. The resulting powder/diamond granules help hold the individual diamonds apart from each other, resulting in very equal diamond distribution within the segment.
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CUSTOM
DIAMOND BLADE
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AUTOMATED
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MOLD
LOADING
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VOLUMETRIC
COLD PRESSING
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| At each charging station, a technician carefully hand loads the powder from each vial into a pre-assembled mold providing an even distribution of powders in the mold cavity. Then a “backing” material containing no diamonds is loaded uniformly allowing for a quality braze or laser welded joint. Next, a plunger piece is placed into the mold cavity. |
The granulated powders are loaded into the appropriate separate hopper on this cold press, enabling us to cold press regular segments with pad or even sandwich segments with a pad. This machine can produce up to 10 cold pressed segments every minute...or, in 1 hour we can produce enough segments for over 25, 14” diameter blades. These segments are quickly and easily loaded into 2-segment graphite mold assemblies.. |
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HOT
PRESSING
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These 2-segment mold assemblies are then hot pressed to an exacting temperature and pressure for a specific time. Each bond formulation requires a different combination of temperature, time and pressure as well as a differing rate at which those 3 variables are attained. During this process the segments are molded to their final shape as the pressing rams push the plungers into the mold cavity. Since we only press 2-3 segments at a time we can heat each mold cavity to the required temperature very quickly. This process exposes the diamond to high temperatures for a short time insuring little or no damage to the diamond crystals creating stronger diamond crystals in the resulting segment.
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