Colin Weightman, President"Most clients do not want to use traditional sandblasting because it requires a lot of masking. The focused abrasive stream generated by our microblasting process achieves a delineation of .007” eliminating the need for masking"
While microblasting is a niche segment in the manufacturing industry, Comco has been creating ripples in the market since 1965. Comco offers precision microblasting systems to texture, deburr, clean, and cut a wide variety of materials, from hardened steel to delicate glass. “We have refined a really old process and made it capable of working with a whole range of modern manufacturing requirements,” says Colin Weightman, president of Comco. Excelling in fine precision, the company’s microblasting solutions are used across manufacturing and industries, including medical and dental manufacturing, aerospace, microelectronics, precision machining, industrial controls, electronics, and fossil and gem preparation.
“Most clients do not want to use traditional sandblasting because it requires a lot of masking. The focused abrasive stream generated by our microblasting process achieves a delineation of .007” eliminating the need for masking,” says Colin. The company’s microblasting process is driven by four main variables, abrasive size, abrasive type, abrasive quantity, and velocity. By simply adjusting one variable, the blaster can switch from a tool that deburrs to a tool that textures.
Originally, the microblasting process was developed as a method for cavity preparation for dentists. Rather than using a high-speed drill, the idea was to use a miniature sandblast, which proved to be quite effective. However, the technique did not particularly work for dental procedures and did not grab much attention in the market because nobody wanted to spit dirt. But the microblasting technique was here to stay with new potentials in industrial applications. In a quest to unleash new opportunities, Colin’s grandfather, Herb Weightman, who worked in the manufacturing industry, developed the MicroBlaster®, a micro-abrasive blaster for selective cleaning, focused cutting, precision deburring, and surface texturing. Leveraging his familiarity and experience with sandblasting technology, Herb spent three years tinkering with concepts on how to mix abrasive and air to get them out of small nozzles for precision work. With his MicroBlaster, Herb founded Comco in 1965.
To start out with, we help clients to select a manual microblasting solution and as volumes ramp up, we take the same core technology and build automation around it
Advancing the Classic Microblaster
Today, Comco’s classic MicroBlaster has been fortified with advanced capabilities, including the Simoom® Technology, its patented method of mixing air, and abrasive to provide increased control, power, and versatility. In fact, the revamped version, the AccuFlo, ensures consistent results with a steady flow of abrasive. With a user-friendly design, the AccuFlo blaster is suitable for most applications across small labs to multinational manufacturers and can be easily transitioned from use in single operator processes to fully automated production environments. Besides, AccuFlo’s ComfortGrip Handpiece helps clients carry out blasting for long hours using an ergonomic design. In addition, the AccuFlo features a PowderGate Valve that is more resistant to abrasive wear than traditional pinch mechanisms and can function under harsh conditions as well. The valve can last for about 250,000 blast cycles as opposed to traditional pinch mechanisms which last only 10,000 cycles.
Perfectly complementing the AccuFlo blaster is Comco’s ProCenter Plus that delivers a space-saving workstation, dust collector, and air dryer in a single unit. The system is designed such that any operator can easily use it to take advantage of modern manufacturing techniques. When used in conjunction with AccuFlo, clients need not make use of heavy gloves. Besides, the ProCenter Plus can function quietly, making it suitable for places like a museum.
In case a manual microblasting system cannot provide the required output, Comco’s automated systems offer steady processing of precision parts. Both the company’s automated systems, Advanced Lathe and JetCenter, provide a turnkey solution that includes hardware along with complete tooling and programming needs to enable clients to plug and play. “To start out with, we help clients to select a manual microblasting solution and as volumes ramp up, we take the same core technology and build automation around it,” adds Colin. This is particularly beneficial for clients from the medical device industry who can opt for the manual system and then upgrade to automation without needing to requalify the process by the FDA. In fact, a lot of times, Comco has proved to be the solution of last resort when nothing works for the client by changing or completely readjusting the design for them.
From Demonstration to Implementation
Colin explains that most clients are unaware of microblasting as a procedure and are really intrigued to understand it before actually using it. Comco has developed an application lab where clients can send in their samples, and the team can demonstrate the entire process to them. “Our robust applications lab is built over the past 20 years with an extensive range of analytical equipment to show our clients the parameters used to create specific surface finishes,” states Colin. Here, Comco provides the client a complete analysis including high resolution before and after pictures and optical profilometer measurements. In the current COVID-19 situation, the company records videos demonstrating the entire process of microblasting the customer’s specific parts.
Comco has helped a number of clients from across industries for selective, but extremely important purposes. For example, in the medical device industry, a commonly used material called nitinol must have a smooth surface for the human body to accept it. For this, the manufacturers have to go through a lot of work to polish the surface to remove surface defects like oxide layers and impurities. Comco’s microblasting helps remove the brittle damage on the surface to create a uniform texture. This, in turn, makes the electropolish process much more controllable. Comco’s products are also used for microblasting in the medical device industry for osseointegration, creating a surface finish that improves the rate and strength of integration into bone tissue. Similarly, for cleaning fossils, Comco’s systems are used to strip off the matrix without damaging the specimen underneath it. Top museums and archeologists rely on Comco’s systems to prepare high-value artifacts.
More to Conquer
In order to keep track of the right ingredients in its success strategy, Comco is powered by a team of experienced and skilled mechanical, electrical, and software engineers as well as research scientists. “We have a strong understanding of what our responsibility is to our customers to make sure that they have the machine designed to work in a production environment, and that we have the support that goes along with that to keep them up and running,” says Colin.
Explaining Comco’s upcoming plan, Colin says that the company intends to offload a lot of burden with regard to microblasting from clients who have been bombarded with a lot of work lately. “Our plan for growth over the next 18 months is to become more of a partner to some of client’s engineers,” says Colin. Comco is also looking into the automotive industry in the area of self-driving cars. “The circuit boards that go into these cars have to be well protected to run in harsh environments. The process of reworking on the boards requires cleaning off the top coatings. So we come in to help clean off the coatings or conformal coating removal without damaging the boards underneath,” says Colin. Similarly, Comco will also continue looking for opportunities in the aerospace and medical device industry to expand its footprint in various markets and innovate in the field of microblasting.
