Custom Carbon & Graphite Machining

25 Jul

Debriefing Graphite Company Business

When a job for a set of graphite plates, or any other graphite components, comes into our office, many parts of this graphite company are set in motion. At Semco, little is wasted (our scrap rate is at an all-time low), especially not time. So when the office receives a request for a job, our staff communicates the specs of the job to the machinists. Our warehouse delivers the graphite plates or blocks to the shop floor. The cuts are then made by our skilled machinists, the components are tested and inspected, and the delivery department gets the components out...

15 Jul

Giving Graphite Definition an International Meaning

Semco is proud to be an American company, headquartered in Lorain, Ohio. Like many successful American companies, we have both domestic and international clientele for the components we machine from various graphite grades. Our international clients are important to our business. So far (and we plan for this to continue), our clients across borders have given Semco a graphite grade of A. Our excellent sales team does its marketing of Semco to international clients primarily through travel to numerous trade shows. After making relationships at these shows and detailing Semco’s track record as a graphite machining shop, we contact these...

06 Jul

So What is Graphite Used For, Anyway?

Working at Semco most days means we are rarely around people who ask “what is graphite used for?” But during the summer holidays, our employees do get asked this question. It gets posed during a polite exchange at a fireworks show or at a campsite, when the talk among the recently acquainted adults turns to “so, where do you work?” When we tell folks at a neighborhood barbeque or at a public lake shore that we work at a graphite machining shop, the question “what is graphite used for?” is likely to be raised. We often wonder if people who...

27 Jun

Metal Casting Molds at Semco Carbon

What are Metal Casting Molds?Metal casting is a 7,000-year-old process used in both manufacturing and fine art. Graphite production is now a key part of this very old process. While casting metals, molten metal is transferred from crucibles into metal molds to create positive metal cast objects. After a metal is poured into a mold, both are then cooled and the metal object is removed and finished.Move forward a few thousand years and the place of graphite production in metal casting molds becomes more apparent, especially in the process called continuous casting. Continuous casting is a casting method used in...

17 Jun

Safety Around Graphite Blocks

At Semco, most if not all processes start with graphite blocks: (sometimes) large sections of (usually) synthetic graphite of various grades. To cut, grind, and shave this material into the components that our customers depend on, our shop floor employees have to pass the material through precise machining processes that bring to bear much friction, pressure, and speed on the material. With all this power and force necessary for machining graphite blocks, Semco has to think carefully about the safety of its shop floor employees. We have a great safety track record at Semco, and in this blog we will...