Replaced Welded and Brazed Aluminum Assembly With a Machined and Polished VaPore® Vacuum Chamber Casting
Our customer approached us with the challenge of replacing welded parts by combining a vacuum chamber and a valve body into one casting. While we were collaborating on the design, we decided to incorporate some mounting features into the casting. The final “add on” design feature was a drain port on the inside of the vacuum chamber that had always been really difficult to machine in their conventional welded and brazed aluminum method of manufacturing. Once the chamber had been machined and leak checked, the final test was assembly in the system. To everyone’s surprise our cast vacuum chamber far outperformed their old chamber in the rate of rise vacuum test, see graph below . They were able to achieve such excellent rate of rise performance that it allowed them to meet a criteria that had knocked their system out of contention with a potential new customer.
Operating Vacuum Level
10e -7 Torr
| Welded/Brazed and Machined Aluminum Chamber |
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|---|---|---|
| $ 6,700 Plus Assembly Labor | ||
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|---|---|---|
| Pattern: | $ | 20,065 |
| Cast / Machined & Polished: | $ | 3,422 |
MACHINED ALUMINUM ASSEMBLY versus PALMER VaPore®® CASTING
Per Part Savings: $ 3,278 (or 49%)
Pattern pays for itself after 6.1 units
Combined five Parts into one while eliminating a sealing surface and O-Ring.
Improved vacuum quality.
