Today is the big day.  We are in the process of moving our laser cutting service to its permanent location in Milpitas, California. A big thank you to our production staff for the extra hours they have put in to ensure that our customers flow of work does not get interrupted.  We will use the weekend to test and calibrate the UV and IR laser systems, so that we can hit the ground running on Monday.  The new facility is fantastic and will be shown off next month when we have our Open House.  Details of the party will follow soon.  Our laser cutting services will certainly be enhanced by the new location.

It has been a very busy time for our laser cutting service.  We are finalizing the move into our permanent building in San Jose, getting through tradeshows, and working on too many new projects to count.  I’ve been amazed by the number of new UV laser friendly materials we are seeing in addition to the increased volume we are preparing for on the IR systems.  Nobody is taking it easy for the summer, that’s for certain.  The good news is that I am racking up the frequent flyer miles.  Our team is, as always, making all of the travel worth while by delivering outstanding parts for our newest opportunities and most loyal customers.  Our team and technology will keep us one of the premier laser cutting services in the United States.

We will be showing our laser cutting services for the precision parts industry at Design 2 Parts Santa Clara next Wednesday and Thursday.  This is a great opportunity to show off some of the various materials we process and the detailed work we can provide.  Our laser cutting services focus on tight tolerance applications in the thinnest materials.  For instance, we have recently worked with .9 micron thick material.  The ability to handle such materials and achieve high quality cuts sets our laser cutting service apart from the others.  Please come visit us at booth #433 and make arrangements to have a free sample part cut for your project.

A-Laser is one division within a family that forms FCT Assembly.  In addition to precision parts manufacturing, we produce SMT stencils, leaded and lead-free solder bar, flux , and paste, and offer metal reclain services.  Most of this work focuses on the contract manufacturers and OEM’s related to the PCB industry.  A-Laser covers both more of a broad and narrow spectrum.  Broad in that we work with vastly different companies each day, but narrow because we provide a very niche service. Our lasers are some of the most precise lasers at work in the United States right now and UV frequency lasers that have the ability to route rather than simply drill or etch are dificult to find.  UV laser cutting provides very high quality parts without the mess associated with our other hot cutting systems. 

Fineline Stencil uses similar high precision IR frequency lasers to cut their products.  The equipment, combined with excellent customer support and quick turn times, has positioned Fine Line as one of the premier stencil providers in the nation.

FCT Solder has a leg up on the lead free solder market as a liscensee of Nijon Superior’s Sn100c.  This product, among many others is helping FCT Solder to lead the way as new demands are placed on circuit board manufacturers.

FCT Recovery is our newest division aimed at reclaim services.  Our focus is offering a transparent and simple means to dispose of materials that take up space and create hassles for manufacturers.

These companies share a goal of high quality, excellent service, and value.

A-Laser is now an ITAR registered laser cutting service.  The process was a few months long, which really isn’t all that awful.  It could have been much longer had we not been given assistance from customers that have already been through the registration themselves.

A-laser will be exhibiting laser cutting services next week at the DelMar Electronics show.  Please come by booth 521 for a visit.  I will bring sample parts to show off our UV and IR laser capabilities.

I spent the day walking through BioMed device Boston to review opportunities for us to share our laser cutting services with the market in the New England region.  We know that our capabilities match the needs of medical industry applications, but there are so many different applications that it is hard to sort through the bad to get to the good laser cutting opportunities.  We do our best to be easy to find for these customers and tools like this blog are very useful.  Laser cutting within the medical industry can involve many facets; such as scribing, welding, tubular cutting, and, our specialty, precision laser applications for flat sheet stock.

A-laser has focused on the NdYag applications for our laser cutting services, but we are curious about taking on other equipment to compliment our current capabilities.  There is some very interesting CO2 equipment out there, as well as tube cutting systems.  Laser cutting services are widely varied, because materials dictate the equipment that is ideal for the application.  For instance, we use our frequency tripled NdYag lasers to cut polyimide materials (Kapton, Cirlex, Pyralux) because it provides a very clean cut in the most optimal speed.  This material can be cut with CO2 laser systems, but the cut quality isn’t even close.  Ceramic materials, such as Alumina, cut very well on CO2 lasers, but our UV lasers struggle to cut them once past 10 mil thicknesses.  Laser applications are increasing all the time and we want to make sure our laser cutting services are equipped to handle as many of the opportunities as possible.

Our laser cutting service customers work in a wide range of industries and with so many different materials, that one of our biggest challenges is maintaining communication.  It is always important for us to give a clear understanding of our UV and IR laser cutting capabilities and to ask the right questions of our customers.  We need to understand the critical inspection points, acceptable quality levels, and delivery needs just to mention a few.  We work hard to service these demands and will always set the bar high to make sure we are a premier precision laser cutting service.

A-laser, the precision laser cutting division of FCT Assembly, will be exhibiting at APEX alongside our other divisions.  We will highlight all of our laser cutting services, but flexible circuit processing will be the most applicable.  Our ability to provide incredible accuracy and virtually carbon free skiving to expose copper traces make us the ideal laser cutting services for aerospace, military and medical flex circuit applications.  Stop by booth 2317 to say hello and arrange for a free sample.