Custom Carbon & Graphite Machining

30 Mar

The Tech Side of Graphite Fabrication

Your business is designing a manufacturing set-up. One of the constituent parts will be exposed to various chemicals and high heat. Graphite is considered for this part because it is chemically inert and stands up to extreme temperatures without degrading. Engineers make a mock-up of this manufacturing set-up and they Zoom call us at Semco. Customer: “Hi, we finished the mock-up of the apparatus and it looks like we’ll need a graphite mold about 7 or 8 inches long that looks kinda like this (holds up napkin drawing of future graphite component). Semco engineer: “That’s a nice drawing. Could you...

15 Mar

Lunch at Semco

Lunchtime with Graphite Engineers Here’s a riddle: what do graphite engineers talk about over lunch? Need another minute? Ok, we’ll give you the answer: graphite engineering! Well, that’s at least one of the answers. The most important part of that riddle is the fact that in a graphite shop, the employees enjoy their lunch together -- at least they do at Semco. Lunch at Semco is a time when the crew has a chance to enjoy a meal, discuss current shop projects, review the daily news, and swap family stories. While COVID has changed the dynamic in the lunchroom to...

02 Mar

Interface with Clients

Semco Carbon’s Interface with Clients We live in the golden age of business communication. Whether you’re talking finance, graphite applications, or real estate, many e-commerce solutions exist to connect consumers with businesses and facilitate purchasing when face-to-face is not possible. With nearly everyone proficient in Zoom these days (even if we’re not all sure how to get that cat filter off our screen), businesses like Semco can “meet” with our clients when we need the rapid back and forth of conversation when working on complex graphite applications, but without unnecessary travel or the risk of COVID exposure. The truth is...

24 Feb

Graphite Availability and Production in 2021

With 2019 and a particularly challenging 2020 in the rearview mirror, Semco Carbon is hoping for good things in 2021. The last couple years have presented multiple challenges regarding graphite, from material acquisition to production. Raw materials have been a particular challenge. Given the 2018 closure of multiple Chinese manufacturers per new green initiatives, many major graphite manufacturers found themselves without enough stock. Then, in 2019, everyone jumped into production and it became a year of oversupply. 2020 was a completely different story. Given the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, lots of graphite manufacturers decided to shut down production...

15 Feb

Storage of Graphite

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may remember a story we related about a farmer in Iowa who discovered giant graphite blocks (they were actually electrodes in the shape of logs) in his corn field. He called us and we went to Iowa and recycled the electrodes. They were in good shape! And that’s one of the miracles of graphite -- it’s basically impervious to weather and does not deteriorate if left outdoors. Despite this famous quality of graphite, Semco Carbon stores most of its stock of graphite blocks indoors on floorspace and racking. Why? you...