The Science of Success
Edgecam enables Island e-Beam, LLC, to eliminate
outsourcing while improving efficiency and part quality
Understanding the science behind the products made at Island eBeam, LLC, may sometimes require an advanced degree — which is
one reason why not many companies do what it does.
As one of about a dozen businesses worldwide that manufacture
electron beam sources and thermal evaporation equipment, Island
e-Beam, LLC, of Bradenton, Florida, is filling a fruitful niche.
About The Company:
“We have a very diverse customer base that ranges from the low end
to the high end,” says David Ferguson, owner of Island e-Beam, LLC.
Name: Island e-Beam, LLC
“On the high end, you have our OEMS that build complete PVD Business: manufacturing of electron beam
(physical vapor deposition) systems, along with military and sources and thermal evaporation
equipment
aerospace applications,” he explains. “On the low end, you have the
decorative and art industry.”
Having spent his manufacturing career working for businesses that
make similar products, Ferguson opted to branch out on his own in
2009, the year Island e-Beam, LLC, opened its doors.
Website: islandebeam.com
Benefits Achieved:
The science behind the company’s products entails physical vapor • Eliminated outsourcing
deposition, or PVD, by which electron beam sources are used within
vacuum chambers to deposit thin coatings of vaporized materials • Increased part quality
onto a range of items.
• Toolpath remains associative to the
High-voltage electricity (10kV) is used to accelerate a stream of
CAD model
electrons that have been generated by heating up a tungsten
filament. That stream of electrons is captured, focused, and directed
onto the material to be evaporated.
Comments:
Vaporization converts the material from a solid, into a vapor — and,
“While machining with Edgecam is fast, I’m
finally, back into a solid at the substrate in the form of thin layer of
material, usually measured in angstroms. One angstrom is a unit of not as concerned with the time involved as I
am with the part being correct. With
length equal to one-billionth of a meter.
Edgecam, the parts are correct.”
The PVD process can be as simple as a single material coating, or as
complex as a 180-layered beam-splitter coating.
David Ferguson
Owner
After having grown tired of outsourcing the parts required to build
his electron beam sources to local machine shops, Ferguson began
to look at bringing the work in house.
“The quality wasn’t there, the delivery wasn’t there, and the price
wasn’t there,” Ferguson says of his outsourcing woes. “Inevitably, the
parts would come in and the tolerance would be off, the tapped
holes wouldn’t be right. We would usually just fix it here and be done
with it because it was just easier that way.”
Furthermore, the electron beam sources are made of materials that
some machine shops don’t like to cut, including OFHC copper,
stainless steel, mild steel, molybdenum, tantalum, tungsten,
titanium, and others.
“We only use vacuum-compatible materials to make the parts,”
Ferguson says. “Not everyone wants to machine those materials,
which is another reason why we wanted to bring the work in house.”
To bring the work in house, Ferguson — who had never before
worked with CNC machines — purchased a Haas VF-2 milling center.
Following a lengthy struggle with his former CAM software, Ferguson
also acquired the Edgecam computer-aided-manufacturing (CAM)
solution by Vero Software to program the new Haas.
“It was a constant battle,” Ferguson says of his former CAM solution.
“Every time we would try to generate toolpath, there was always a
glitch, and their tech support never fixed the problems.”
When Edgecam representative Silverhawk Solutions showed
Ferguson what the software could do, he was pleased with the
solution’s functionality and ease of use.
"Steve Harrison of Silverhawk Solutions came in and gave me a
demonstration,” Ferguson says. “Some of the parts that we make are
complex and, now that we can just drag in a solid, using the Edgecam
software has been the easiest solution.”
To create its solid models, the company utilizes computer-aideddesign solutions AutoCad, by Autodesk, and SOLIDWORKS, by
Dassault Systèmes. Given that Edgecam is “CAD neutral,” it offers
error-free interoperability with any CAD system. Without the need
for data translation, Edgecam toolpath remains associative to the
original design, retaining the integrity of the designer’s vision.
With Edgecam’s ease of interoperability, the company’s solid models
are easily imported into Edgecam, where the software automatically
identifies features to be machined.
“The parts we make are generally the same,” Ferguson says. “The
only thing that varies is the size of the pockets, which is where you
put the material to be vaporized.”
Still, while the parts are alike, the task of hand programming would
be difficult, if not impossible, and subject to human error. “We ran
one job that probably had 1,000 lines of code, and I can’t imagine
trying to program that by hand.”
Dimensionally, a small electron beam source is 5"L x 6”W x 4” H and
weighs about 6 pounds, while a large electron beam source is up to
12”L x 8”W x 5”H and 40 pounds.
“Just to be able to machine a pocket with an angled wall in Edgecam
is a great feature,” Ferguson says. “We’re not a production machine
shop by any stretch. While machining with Edgecam is fast, I’m not
as concerned with the time involved as I am with the part being
correct. With Edgecam, the parts are correct.”
Among the latest upgrades to the software is Edgecam Workflow, an
easy-to-use interface that simplifies the task of managing a job. By
approaching a job comprehensively — from cutting tools to stock
management, fixtures and machining strategies — Workflow assists
programmers in making the best choices for managing every step of
the process.
“As soon as we had Edgecam, we were very quickly able to machine
a part with minimal hiccups,” says Ferguson, who implemented the
solution in April of 2013. “The results were immediate. I’m very
pleased with the Edgecam software, and with the support I have
received. Steve Harrison and his team at Silverhawk Solutions have
been great, with superb tech support whenever we need it.”