Update from the workshop

More than just watchmaking:

This last week we have been tackling a fairly complex problem from a local medical company. Without breaking any NDAs, the parts called for some extremely small grooves to be made in PTFE, Teflon.

Traditionally, working with plastics is actually quite easy. The tool wear is low, and the material is quite forgiving. But with Teflon, micro-milling is more analogous to trying to cut bubble-gum with a spoon.  Making a groove that's just under half the width of a human hair becomes a very large challenge when dealing with Teflon! Due to the quick turnaround needed on the job, we had to make the tool that would create this geometry ourselves. We used some micro-grain tungsten carbide, a very hard, homogenous material used for most cutting tools, and used a series of diamond wheels to grind the desired cutting geometry.

First a cone was ground, and then very precisely split down the centre of the tool. The resulting geometry is a very precise V shape, with sharp edges that are able to carve out the Teflon, in the same way that an ice-cream spoon creates a nice curled scoop.

The tool is then placed into our Kern micro-milling machine, measured, adjusted and then introduced into the Teflon - with the line "scribed" to the desired depth.  The first-principles mechanics behind the process are very simple. Using an exacto knife to cut a profile in a piece of cardboard, or dragging your foot in the sand to mark the lines of a beach volleyball court, or making the guilloche pattern on the dial of a MK2 Curl Curl, all use the same basic cutting action.  The execution... that's where the devil is in the details!

Most interestingly of all... the only reason why we were able to take this job on, and execute it in such a fast time frame, was due to our stable, in-house processes behind the guilloche of the MK2 Curl Curl. Our sister company, NH Micro, was able to leverage the watchmaking experience that birthed it, and offer it to local, Australian owned and operated, high tech businesses. After years and years of setting up, and trying to build horological capability in Australia, we are finally edging closer to the point where we can give back.  Horology has always been intermixed with parallel precision industries, whether it be time measurement enabling the exploration of the world and the universe through celestial observation, or life saving medical instruments leveraging manufacturing knowhow from the artisans that made screws and pinions for watches in the 60s and 70s, or now, in Sydney, where the "too old, too dumb, and unwilling to invest" are enabling the broader Australian advanced manufacturing industry to thrive... Josh