The Magnetic Tape Cutting Dilemma

The Problem

Big Blue had the blues. IBM's Tucson, Arizona, facility needed to slit computer magnetic tape from 3 inches to 1/2" wide, but its cutting equipment wasn't sharp enough to do the job; what's more, the cutting blades wore down too quickly. Orders were piling up at an alarming rate.

The Imagineering Solution

In anticipation of this large and demanding order, Philadelphia Carbide geared up for 12-hour shifts, six days a week. Each day IBM shipped in two three-foot long arbors (shafts), each containing 20 to 25 pitted, chipped and otherwise damaged circular tungsten carbide cutting blades. Our assignment: put the blades through a "roughing" machine; machine-grind each blade to a razor-sharp finish, and ship back two full arbors daily. After six months, at IBM's request, Philadelphia Carbide dispatched a team to Arizona to set up a precision grinding operation at the computer giant's Tucson plant.



The Wafer Chips Quandry

The Problem

A high-tech New England manufacturer of computer components was in a bind: its present vendor was unable to meet the machining specs or turnaround time on the precision-ground silicon carbide wafers that the manufacturer needed to produce semi-conductors. The size of the wafers, 12 inches in diameter, was daunting enough for most machine shops; but, in addition, they had to be ground from .250" thickness to .200" with a tolerance of .0004" flatness/ parallelism. A search of Thomas Register turned up no machine shop that could meet the stringent requirements.

The Imagineering Solution

Upon the recommendation of a helpful grinding materials salesman, the manufacturer decided to put Philadelphia Carbide to the test. They sent two wafer samples, along with the tight tolerance specs, and instructions to return them "as quick as you can." Three days later, the computer equipment manufacturer accepted the finished samples and, subsequently, placed the second largest order in PC's history.



The Chip in the Rod Emergency

The Problem

A North Carolina manufacturer of ceramic grinding wheels was facing some serious downtime unless a crucial core rod which had been chipped either from misalignment or operator error, could be repaired quickly.

The Imagineering Solution

Since Philadelphia Carbide had manufactured the rod five years before, management pleaded with us for emergency service. "If we give you the rod tomorrow, when can you fix it and get it back?" they asked. The next day, the chip arrived and PC machinists set to work. They ground 1/8" of the original 1" thickness, re-packed it and shipped it back by 4 p.m. the same day. Although same-day turnaround is not standard operating procedure at PC, we recognize that sometimes emergencies do occur..and when they do, we do our best to oblige.