Update from the workshop:

 

As many of you already know, our workshop in Brookvale has evolved over the last years. Not only do we make watches like the NH3 and MK II, we also have a separate business that focuses on making high precision components for parallel sectors. Scientific instrumentation, opto-mechanics, quantum computing and medical parts to name a few. This separate business, called NH Micro has been growing rapidly in the last 3 years, the growth has exposed us to some quite incredible projects. We've talked about a few in this newsletter. Building telescopes that will inquire deeper about the origins of the universe, medical devices that save and improve lives, and technologies that will help revolutionise AI, computing and consumer products. This last week we completed a very intricate, very delicate part that we are excited to share some photos of! The part is used in an opto-mechanical application - think lenses, lasers and parts that have to move very precisely. This specific part is what is called a "flexure". The small, thin cuts in the material intentionally introduce flexibility to the part. The design of the thin cuts is very carefully tuned so that the "flexing" is very defined, resulting in precise motion in the X and Y axes.

Flexures like this are cut on our Wire EDM machine and the blanks are made in our Kern Micro HD - two of the most precise machines in Australia coming together to make complex, intricate parts! To see more of this type of work, and pictures of the parts and processes in the workshop, follow NH Micro on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nhmicro/

AMW 2022

by Josh

NH Micro - our workshop's contract manufacturing arm - had one of the biggest weeks it's ever had. Nearly 2 years ago we decided that we would take NH Micro to the next level by expanding our client base - going to Australia's largest manufacturing expo as an exhibitor was the crown jewel of that plan! >From June 7-10, the NH Micro team set up shop at the ICC in Sydney's Darling Harbour. Our ambition was that just showing up and participating was already a success, and that it didn't matter if our booth wasn't perfect. We were simply happy to be the worst team in the best league.  The plan was straight forward: to talk to potential and existing clients, as well as to show case our capabilities with sample parts that we had on display. We had parts from the medical, space, optics/photonics, scientific instrumentation/research, and semiconductor sectors. Coming from a watchmaking background, our unique selling point was expertise in making all the difficult components that no one else wanted to make. Our mantra was, "small, complex and tightly toleranced". With quite tempered and reserved hopes, we began the first day of the fair. Tuesday morning; our relaxed and content attitude did not prepare us for the sheer volume of interest our little 9sqm booth was generating. From Tuesday until the end of the fair on Friday evening, the three of us - Andrew, James and myself, talked non stop to seemingly endless masses of engineers, designers, machinists, inventors and proud NH owners! A common theme started to come together; lead times are long, quality is low, and everything is getting more expensive. Finding suppliers and partners that can execute tasks on time and on budget is the Paul Newman Daytona of the manufacturing world. We barely had a moment to walk through the fair ourselves, but upon a quick stroll some things became obvious. For a manufacturing fair, there was very little manufacturing being exhibited. In fact of all the exhibitors, NH Micro was the only booth that represented a micro-machining capability, and one of only THREE manufacturing companies. The other two companies, Marsh Alliance, and Ronson gears, specialise in spring manufacturing and gear manufacturing respectively. The rest of the fair was a combination of conventional machinery resellers, cutting tool manufacturers and a lot of 3D printer distributors. After a few laps, it became pretty clear- we weren't the worst team in the best league, we were the only team in a nearly non existent league!

For our little, growing company this fair represented a huge milestone. It was our first public outing, and for it to have been so successful (over 200 contacts!) was an extreme confidence boost. The sobering reality of manufacturing in Australia never seems to dissipate, but for us, the show pointed towards a hopeful, exciting future.

Is Santa even real?

You spent the whole month putting reindeers and neon lights on the roof. The tree is glowing, the cake is baked, and the glasses are ready. Ray Charles sings. It's Christmas. Yes, you've been a good boy all year round. But you still wonder - this year, sometime after midnight, will Santa himself descend down the chimney with that toy you’ve dreamed about for far too long? Will he make it, this time? As you read this, the Australian Manufacturing Week (AMW) is in full swing. Granted, it’s a humble event measured by global standards, but nevertheless, the largest and most important event for a hundred or so die-hard Australian businesses who work hard to keep Australian manufacturing going. All dressed up nicely, enthusiastically, and ready to put on display the very best they have to offer. Yet once again, for the fourth time in a row, our Minster for Industry and Science hasn't shown up. "We do what we can,” says the fair organiser. “We call the office, we send an early letter, then a few more emails as we near the event. We provide extra staff, extra security - we beg. Unfortunately, the Minister never shows up.” "Of course, what else would you expect from a Labour minister?" you say. The truth is, neither of his three Liberal predecessors, formerly in power, made it to the AMW fair either. In Australia, ministerial disinterest is above the party line. "Maybe he is overseas, attending some international summit?" you insist. Well not really. As we speak, our Minister for Industry and Science is in Jakarta, spreading multiculturalism and dabbling in foreign politics. Don't get me wrong: multiculturalism is important, and I am all for it, but that is simply not his job, nor his portfolio. His job is to lead us, talk to us, and listen to us. To create and implement policies, to provide funds, to invest heavily and determinedly into Australian manufacturing. But, like Santa, he wasn't there today, on the day it matters. On his Facebook page, Minister Husic has left a message, confusing the Australian Made Week with Australian Manufacturing Week, events which ironically run in parallel, sharing the same acronym. It seems like a feed from a junior staffer who quickly googled AMW... "Australian manufacturing matters. We've got a proud history of manufacturing in this country. This week is Australian Made Week, a timely reminder of why we need to make more things here. The Albanese Government will invest in Australian manufacturing by setting up the National Reconstruction Fund to drive investment in projects that will build prosperity across the country." I wish he hadn’t. Three lines of a cliché rhetoric, failing even to get the name of the event right, promising something on someone else's behalf. Gutless and empty; almost as cynical as that old saying, “In a democracy, people get the politicians they deserve". Are we really that bad, Santa?

The Kern Micro HD - An update from the NH workshop

For those that have been following along with our Manufactured in Australia journey, about 14 months ago we placed an order for the most precise 5 axis milling machine on earth - the Kern Micro HD. Now we are home to the most accurate milling machine in Australia, again. This machine would give us a capability boost - with it, we will be able to bring the manufacturing of our cases in-house! Our current milling machine - the Kern Pyramid Nano - was able to prototype cases quite well, although serial production of those parts would be a challenge with that machine. On top of cases, the new machine is still able to manufacture many of the internal/movement components of our watches. Undoubtedly, cases do not need to be the most precisely made parts of the watch, so why purchase one of the most precise milling machines available? Well, during the last four years we have been approached by many parallel precision industries; including but not limited to the medical, space, optics, and high end science/research fields to name a few, to manufacture parts for them. About 1 year ago, the work we were receiving from these external industries grew to a point where we had to formalise a distinct business arm to cater specifically to "contract manufacturing". The skills we have in manufacturing watches, and making complex, tightly toleranced parts filled a gap in the market. Very few people in Australia manufacture things precisely. Undoubtedly within these industries, there is a need for things to be made precisely. All this ultimately led to the establishment of "NH Micro" (https://www.nhmicro.com/) with the mission statement - "Ultra precision manufacturing in Sydney, Australia" The start of our year revolved around preparations for this new machine from Kern Microtechnik. We had to renovate our electrical, compressed air, and air conditioning systems, as well as completely change the layout of the factory! We also had to do some major structural reconfiguration of our factory. Cutting open our mezzanine and strengthening the second floor. Many of the displaced machines and equipment would need to be moved upstairs. Thank you Peter! The first quarter of this year involved a period of constant moving, packing, shifting and reshuffling. The new Kern has a fairly large foot print (about 1.7m wide and 3m long) and weighs around 6 tonnes. Shifting it into place is a one-time project that requires precision and planning, albeit on a very different scale than we are used to! By mid March, our new machine arrived in Brookvale. This marked the beginning of the last chapter of a 14 month long project. 9 months of building this special machine, and then a long journey across the world.... From "Upper Bavaria" to Bremerhaven, through the English Channel, down to Durban, then across to Perth (where port congestion delayed the vessel which had so far been spot on time, by 10 days), past Melbourne and finally into Port Kembla. From Port Kembla the ship was unloaded, and the individual crates were trucked up to Brookvale.

Above: Precious cargo arriving at Brookvale Below: The precision machine placement equipment

Below: Andrew next to the main body of the machine

The "install day" started at 0400, when we began taking machines out of our factory into the common area, preparing the final route for the new machine to enter, and waiting for the low-loader truck, the forklift, and the "riggers" - specialised tradesmen who are experts in moving and managing heavy loads. By 0700 everything was in place - just waiting on the crates to arrive! 0700 to 1700 was a blur. Forklifts moving precious cargo, old machines being skated out of the way, new machines being unboxed, and the wooden crates being disposed of. At one point it also started to rain, which caused a mad rush to protect all the machines that were still sitting outside... but finally by some time around 6pm, the new machine was in place and ready to be properly installed.

Above: Andrew liberating the machine from its box and Jonas making sure nothing is broken. Below: Jonas assisting the precision forklift driver in lowering the machine onto its three feet

Above: All hands on deck to push the machine into place. Below: The Eagle has landed!

Our Kern install technician - Jonas - flown in from Germany, would for the next two weeks complete the install, calibration, and commissioning of the Micro HD. After the commissioning, Andrew, James, and I, had a week of training and applications support on the machine. This involved learning how to do basic maintenance (as well as some higher level stuff because we are so far away) and programming. Most importantly, Jonas shared some tips, tricks, and general advice on how to chase the micron from his years of experience - he actually did his apprenticeship at Kern! We all knew the capabilities of the machine on paper, but seeing it hit and surpass those specs in our workshop, was truly mind blowing. The mis-alignment of the spindle to the rotating c-axis was measured to be 0.08 micron (yes you read that right) over 1 metre. To put that into perspective, that is 80 micron (a human hair) over 1 kilometre. Just one of the many points of alignment and positional accuracy.

Above: Jonas installing the machine (no, we didn't squash him) Below: Left to right - James, Jonas, Andrew, and Josh, after finishing the training.

So if you've been wondering why Brookvale has been a little silent, the controlled chaos of importing the most precise milling machine into Australia was the reason! We can't wait to show you what we've been working on. Within a month of the machine being in our factory, we have the first prototype of a new NH watch case in our hands.. exciting! Once again, a big thanks to everyone who was involved in the process from start to finish. We could not have done it alone. Josh

Friedrich Deckel and the Bee Gees

 

Last week a fine gentleman and friend of mine had decided to part with two pieces of machinery from his workshop. Both pieces were imported from Europe, one from Switzerland and the other from Germany. They were in immaculate condition and coincidentally, with how the world works, were exactly what we needed in our factory! This story is the story of one of those machines - the Deckel S0, tool grinder. Friedrich Deckel was a machine tool manufacturer that made precision toolroom machinery out of Germany during the mid 1900s. The story of their company is fascinating, with links to Zeiss, Ernst Abbe and many other industrial powerhouses in central Europe. Interestingly, FD manufactured shutter components for nearly every single camera manufacturer! If you have a minute, even a quick glance over their history on Wikipedia can give you a great understanding of the influence they had on the industrialisation of Europe. During the late 50s, Deckel narrowed it's business scope to making machine tools, some of which today have the same cult following among machine tool collectors as vintage Patek does to Patek collectors. Deckel made some of the most well built milling and grinding equipment money could by. We talk a lot about our "Kern" machine, Deckel was the Kern of it's time! In 1993 Deckel merged with another machine tool builder, "Maho AG" and became Deckel Maho AG. Within a year they filed for bankruptcy and were purchased by Gildemeister, another German machine tool manufacturer, and renamed to "DMG". About 20 years and a lot of growth later, a Japanese company by the name of Mori Seiki merges with DMG, to make DMG MORI, which is as of writing this, the largest machine tool manufacturer in the world, supplying machines to every single market segment and servicing every single manufacturing need that humanity has to offer. Friedrich Deckel, the "D" in DMG Mori AG, is in many ways the progenitor of arguably the most successful, and definitely the largest machine tool builder in the world. From humble beginnings making grinding equipment for Zeiss and almost failing twice, now the crowning letter in a company that employs over six thousand people and has a sales volume measured in billions. This story is fascinating to me, it's all about longevity - make something, make it well, and service it to last. Success is almost guaranteed. Who knows where you will end up if you can keep on 'Stayin Alive'. Pictured: The Deckel S0 Single lip tool and cutter grinder. Used in our workshop to produce cutters out of carbide and high speed steel, and most notably will be used to make and sharpen cutters for the guilloche process in our NH series watches. While you are here: a photo of the current project: an assembly for a space application. This is a ground up project where our role involves providing a technical solution, design, manufacturing and assembly. The chassis was made from a solid block of metal, and so were the bronze rack gears.

Manufactured in Brookvale, soon to launched into space.   Josh

This is just super cool

Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a collection of other telescopes owned by the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, and other institutions. The observatory is situated 1,165 metres above sea level in the Warrumbungle National Park on Mount Woorat. Astralis Instrumentation Consortium is a leading astronomical instrument designer and builder, with 100 instrument scientists and skilled engineers from Macquarie University, Australian National University and the University of Sydney. Astralis is building Hector. Hector is the next dark time instrument for the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) at Siding Spring Observatory. The new workhorse instrument will carry out a survey of 15,000 galaxies, using unique fibre-based integral field units, called hexabundles. The hexabundle technology allows for a 3D view of stars and gas in galaxies, including the rotations and complex kinematics that cannot be seen by single-fibre galaxy surveys.  The new Hector spectrograph will provide the highest spectral resolution of any large multi-object integral field spectroscopic survey, and the new positioner’s unique design will minimise losses due to telescope telecentricity for the first time. The Hector Galaxy Survey will explore how galaxies in the local Universe formed by using the dynamics of stars and gas to reveal how mass and angular momentum build up and how star formation evolved to create the vast array of galaxy morphologies seen today. Sydney Watches Pty Ltd is proud to be part of Hector project. In the past 12 months we have manufactured a number of parts for Hector. It is an absolute privilege and honour to be part of this exciting 'manufactured in Australia' project, and being recognized as a reliable supplier of high precision components. Seeing our parts featured on Astral's website is one of those 'hey, we made that!' moments. https://astralis.org.au/hector-the-multi-object-integral-field-spectrograph-for-the-aat-nearing-completion/

Prism being glued to the face of the hexabundle. Photo credit: Adeline Wang/Astralis-Usyd

Genuine News Only

 

AuManufacturing is the news and analysis website of the Australian Manufacturing networking group. It features ''the views of real Australian manufacturers, thought leaders and commentary''. Editors Peter Roberts and Brent Balinski have more than 50 years shared experience in the industry reporting what is really happening in Australia's $100 billion per year manufacturing sector. Unlike other media outlets, AuManufacturing contains no paid content masquerading as 'editorials' - only genuine news and views of those at the manufacturing coalface. Last week, Brent Balinski had a chat with Josh about watchmaking and our own "Manufactured in Australia" project. https://www.aumanufacturing.com.au/australias-only-watch-manufacturer-to-split-in-two-target-space-industry