You may not know exactly what CNC machining is….but you’ve already experienced what it can give you.
WHAT EXACTLY IS ‘CNC’ MACHINING?
Most people know what a wood lathe is. Technically speaking, it belongs in a category of machine tools that shapes or cuts metal, plastic or a variety of other materials. This ‘machining‘ also includes cutting, boring, grinding, polishing and so on. As soon as man started to shape the world around him, he invented tools to help him do so.
True innovation was introduced to the machine tool world in the 1980s when computer numerical control (CNC) machines combined computers and machine tools with several other inventions to revolutionize many industries, especially manufacturing. Using CAD (computer aided design) software, a product design could be created in a computer, then loaded into the CNC machine. The result was a precision product cut out of raw materials exactly as drawn and prescribed by the computer.
Because each copy created is identical to the original, if the design has been properly vetted before mass production begins, each component operates perfectly time after time after time. This consistency is the genius behind Simple Pump’s high efficiency and low weight.
THE WORLD BEFORE AND AFTER CNC MACHINING
When tend to be nostalgic about older cars, always remembering the good times and rarely remembering the bad. Cars from the 60’s and 70’s were overweight clunky rust buckets that constantly broke down and exhibited poor fit and finish. Some of this could be attributed to poor design and assembly. But much of it was the direct result of ill fitting component parts poorly machined with large and variable tolerances. The golden age of the automobile wasn’t so golden when compared to the modern cars of today.
Back then, car doors needed to be slammed, body parts were forced into position on the assembly line, wiring harnesses developed shorts and breaks, squeaks and rattles were everywhere, lemons were more common than the manufacturers ever cared to admit, and engines and transmission wore out after 100,000 miles….or less. The list of vehicle issues was endless.
But slowly Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining was introduced into mass production processes and vehicle reliability and performance gradually improved. The same can be said about motorcycles, washing machines, bicycles, trains, planes etc. The ability to mass produce precision parts for a reasonable price has transformed mechanical civilization as we know it. And it’s only going to get better from here.
HAND PUMPS CAN BE MADE LIGHTER AND STRONGER
Until CNC machining was fully developed, cutting stainless steel parts from billets (basically steel bricks) was not only impractical, but nearly impossible. Whereas before, molten metal was ‘cast‘ into a basic form, then machined by hand into a finished product, CNC machining allows fabrication of complex components to tight tolerances on a consistent basis. This is why the Simple Pump’s stainless steel design is smaller, but stronger, then competing models. Don’t make the mistake of thinking bulk means quality. This simply isn’t the case.
EVERY MOVING COMPONENT IS CNC MACHINED
With the Simple Pump™, if it moves it’s CNC machined. For example, the Simple Pump™ pump pistons are CNC-machined food-grade PVC. The stainless steel pump cylinder cannot be manufactured any closer to perfection and has no visually detectable seam. The pump piston is activated by featherweight sucker rods that are fiberglass rather than heavier steel.
The pump head is a gleaming stainless steel example of precision CNC machining. Once you hold the head assembly in your hands, you will finally see and feel what it means when we speak of our high quality components. Nothing else compares once you’ve held the best.
LEAN MEAN PUMPING MACHINE
Might does not make for right, nor for efficiency. Cars today are lighter and smaller, yet they run faster, ride better, turn and brake quicker, last longer and pound for pound, return double or triple the gas mileage. The same principal applies to hand pumps and it is the reason why Simple Pump™ is far more efficient and longer lasting than the other larger, heavier and harder-to-operate hand pumps on the market.
CNC machining is not something that’s here today and gone tomorrow. It is a sophisticated and widely used computer/machine technology that has been quietly introduced into nearly every consumer product you use today. Just as this technology has greatly improved your life in countless ways, so too has it improved hand operated pumping technology for those producers who understand the role CNC machining has to play in the manufacture of their hand pump products.