Custom Carbon & Graphite Machining

21 Jan

The Challenges of Measuring Surface Finishes

Any surface, from a school desk to a basketball court, has a topography with peaks and valleys. On the surface of the earth, topography is readily apparent (except, maybe, in parts of Kansas). But even the smoothest metal surfaces deviate from a theoretically ideal plane. Recent standardization has resulted in the creation of a standard range (Ra) for surface deviation, measured in micrometers or micro inches. With graphite material, these deviations from a perfect plane are typically more pronounced due to the porous nature of graphite. Those small naturally occurring pores in the material have the effect of increasing the...

14 Jan

Industries that Use Graphite

For many people, graphite is something associated with pencil lead. People may remember it has something to do with diamonds, high temperature, and, if they think back to high school chemistry, crystalline molecular structure. Outside of industry, graphite is a material that just doesn’t get a lot of play in the media like steel or aluminum do. Followers of this blog, though, know that carbon products are crucial in many industries and the many uses of graphite. Graphite is a versatile and extraordinary material, and at Semco, we make it our business to be experts in everything about graphite and...

07 Jan

Holiday Traditions at Semco Carbon

The holidays are a special time around Semco. We keep working, but we slow it down a bit. We use the time to take stock of another great year of work, and we spend time with friends and family. As we celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year, we make sure our employees know how much they are appreciated. With that in mind, Semco provides its employees with a year-end bonus, a small appreciation for the good work throughout the year. In addition to being able to provide our employees with an end-of-year bonus, Semco is lucky in...

18 Dec

Semco Carbon and Indoor Storage of Graphite

As you’re probably aware, at Semco we really love graphite. It is an incredibly versatile material with so many applications in various industries. We keep a lot of it on hand at our manufacturing facility in Ohio. Partly, as we’ve detailed in several blogs this year, our stocking of various grades of graphite is meant as a hedge against an unpredictable international market. We also like to have material on hand so that we can begin production quickly when a client comes to us with a graphite machining order. Our customers frequently ask us about storage of graphite material, both...

09 Dec

From Tons to Ounces

For people who do not work in the manufacturing sector, the phrase “manufacturing industry” probably brings to mind huge factories belting out smoke and divulging huge metal beams or giant crucibles from airplane hanger doors. A great deal of the manufacturing that goes on in the U.S. and elsewhere, like the graphite machining we do at Semco, occurs on a more modest scale. That’s not to say that Semco doesn’t machine large graphite components: we recently produced, for instance, several custom vacuum furnace graphite plates as three piece assemblies that, once assembled, measured over 13’’ think and a whopping 120’’...