The "hair" milling tool

This one is for fellow machinists and engineers: a newly arrived Dixi 0.1mm end mill. The cutting blade is 100 x 100 microns or as thick as human hair.

To put it in perspective, I took a photo of it next to the finest Japanese 0.25mm pen tip, with regular ballpoint pen above them.

But this is not the scary bit: due to its size, our endmill will have to spin at 50,000 RPM at the bottom of a 700 kg spindle column travelling at the speed of 1G with sub-micron positional accuracy and to start, stop and reverse instantaneously.  That spindle movement action draws 60 Amp of peak current per phase. 

The equivalent of your car going from 0 to 100kms in 2.47 seconds.

A simple message

Once again - this December-  we are going out in public ready to spread the 'good news': a full page advert in Company Director followed by Qantas in-flight Magazine in January.

A print ad is a major project for any small business: we've spent 2 months in preparation, stretching our resources to the limit. Today, the ad is ready for print and we can finally relax. Our message is simple: we design and assemble watches in Sydney; out of 649 sold, every single watch is fully functional; and, for the first time in the history of our country,  complex watch parts are manufactured in Australia. Investing in a NH watch is an investment in the future of a small independent Aussie watchmaker.

While the advert features our flagship model 'the fifty', it will be for watch enthusiasts to discover the story about this piece by themselves. Sophisticated readers will love it - it is a simple yet powerful story about ordinary people trying hard. 

To all of our supporters: thank you. We wish you a happy 5th rebellious anniversary.