Macfab Blog

If you haven’t run across discussions of trace detectors for narcotics and explosives, you will soon.  As we look back on the last decade, it’s truly remarkable to witness our growth trajectory in the field of trace detection for security and defence. We’ve seen our sales in this sector more than triple, reflecting an average […]

Hurricanes, pandemics, political upheaval -in a world as interconnected as ours, major events -even isolated to a relatively small area- can throw production for a loop.  We now understand better how fragile supply chains really are.  CNC machining on demand, like any other complex manufacturing process, has to rely on quick-response manufacturing principles. The Supply […]

It’s a time of tremendous change in manufacturing.  Composite materials like carbon nano-fibers and new polymer resins are replacing metals in some circumstances. Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) is gaining new capabilities every day, with new materials becoming available and new applications coming to market. Meanwhile, CNC machining continues to expand with new axes of […]

It was, perhaps, inevitable that the success of Just-In-Time production would find its way to the CNC machining process.  Suppliers and wholesalers have for decades now shown the incredible benefits of JIT inventory control.  There was an inexplicable disconnect between being able to restock consumer electronics in a day and having to wait months for […]

There’s a real Renaissance happening in medicine today, and Advanced CNC Machining is playing a part.  When COVID-19 hit in 2020, the first vaccine was rolled out in a matter of months thanks to years of research into mRNA.  Prior to that point, the fastest vaccine development had been four years. Putting Advanced CNC Machining […]

Manufacturers talk a lot about quality.  Everyone wants to be known for putting out quality products.  “Quality is our job.” “No one beats our quality!”   Well, “Quality” is a great buzzword, but how can you tell what they mean -if they mean anything? In the realm of CNC machining, there are a couple of common […]

Environmental sustainability isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when someone mentions CNC machining, but Macfab has made environmental responsibility a key component in our business philosophy.  As we see it, doing what we can to promote sustainable manufacturing makes sense for us and our customers. Our operations are tightly integrated.  We use the […]

You can’t escape stories about artificial intelligence these days.  The Internet is blowing up with tech’s drive to roll it out and tales -from humorous to frightening- about early results.  But rest assured; artificial intelligence is coming. AI is not new in itself.  Early systems have been in use for years.  These are not the […]

Macfab is both pleased and humbled by the opportunities we’ve been given over the last 35 years.  There’s no mistaking that it’s been difficult work.  There have been challenges, and we’ve faced each one head-on.  At year’s end, it’s traditional to look back with gratitude and forward with expectation.  This year, though, we have a […]

The old adage is “measure twice; cut once”.  It’s as true today as it ever was, only in the world of quality CNC inspection, we measure a lot more than twice.  The complex shapes, delicate features, and tight tolerances of precision CNC machined parts demand higher accuracy than ever before.  It’s those once-impossible designs that […]

When you organize your CNC machine shop to reduce waste, downtime, and inefficiencies, that’s called lean manufacturing.  The underlying principles of lean manufacturing were formed almost a century ago at Toyota Motor Works.  In the years since, countless books and papers have been written on the topic and it has become the dominant system in […]

CNC machining summons images of strangely shaped aluminum plates or steel gears being formed by spinning bits. The machines are huge and complex. But precision production has a softer side, too with plastic machining. We’ve all seen metal parts replaced with engineered plastics to save money or weight. It’s easy to think that they just […]

For decades, manufacturing process R&D has been an integral part of shaping MacFab’s service capabilities and technological advancements. Our lessons learned include “what not to do” as well as “what to do”. Although many of our research projects were, at the time, product specific, the knowledge and experience gained were transferable to a variety of […]

We get it.  Quality control isn’t the most exciting topic.  You get paid for production, not QC.  But we’ve never looked at quality control that way at MacFab.  More than anything else, quality control is what brings our customers back.  It’s also how we gauge our own professionalism.  We derive a sense of pride from […]

The defense industry has long driven -and been driven by- Research and Development.  Modern militaries have capabilities even Q couldn’t dream up for James Bond.  Seeing through walls, shooting around corners, and 20/20 night vision are moving into standard military use.  Breakthroughs come consistently in drone technology, weapons guidance, and disruptive technologies like sound-based weapons […]

There’s real business value in keeping things simple.  Complicated arrangements in manufacturing introduce possible points of failure, delay, and hidden costs.  That’s perhaps the most compelling argument for working with a quality one-stop CNC machining solutions shop like Macfab.  If a problem arises, you know exactly whom to call.  If your production needs change, a […]

It goes without saying that you want a good finish on your CNC machined parts.  If they’re painted or powder coated, you want a nice, shiny defect-free finish.  If they’re passivated, plated, anodized, or even bare metal you want to see parts that look like care was taken and attention was paid to making them.  […]

You may think it doesn’t matter to you what kinds of machines your CNC machine shop has, but it should.  There are distinct differences between horizontal CNC machining and vertical CNC machining and those differences can save you money. Keeping a Clean Work Area Horizontal CNC machining has some serious advantages over its vertical cousin.  […]

Every year tens of thousands of new products are released to meet the needs of niche markets. These may be new medical devices, the newest features from the automotive industry, or the latest device to harvest sunflower seeds. If you’re producing the next big game console, you probably have to look overseas for CNC machining […]

You don’t stay on top of your game by sitting still.  For CNC machine shops, that means keeping up with the latest technology and maintaining the latest abilities for your clients.  Macfab has just completed a multi-million dollar round of investments in CNC machines to make sure we can continue to provide the most advanced […]

You’re designing a new part for CNC machining.  Design parts for CNC machining with cost savings in mind from the beginning. There are a few details you can address that can cut the cost of your CNC machined parts and speed up production. Know Your Materials Find out the standard size your raw materials come […]

When a new disease emerges, there’s a race to find the cause -bacterial, viral, fungal, environmental -some combination of those?  The cause informs us on how to fight the disease.  You wouldn’t think of a precision CNC machining shop like Macfab being involved in a race for a cure for a deadly disease, but that’s […]

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  It’s an old Chinese proverb, and it describes the fortunes of one of Macfab’s clients perfectly. The First Step -to the Garage Years ago, a young Canadian engineer started a company in his garage.  He developed a machine which could do a simple thing.  […]

It seems like if you want to get a part manufactured today, you’re going to run into 3D printing and CNC.  It’s as if the entire world of manufacturing has gone to those two technologies.  Really, though, that’s not the case.  3D printing is a different beast; it’s almost always plastic-based; it’s slow, and generally […]

You need to have a part manufactured.  You’ve got options.  You’ve also got a whole lot of questions that need to be answered.  There are steps you can take to organize the path from idea to inventory.  The good news is that you don’t have to answer all the questions yourself.  Macfab professionals are ready […]

Everyone remembers the early weeks of 2020; nobody wants to go back there.  As COVID began to -quite literally- suck all the oxygen out of the room, demand for mechanical ventilators exploded.  This was just as countries began to go into lockdown and supply chains became unreliable around the world.  In response, Ottawa announced $1.1 […]

Quality control is absolutely essential in the manufacturing of complex and precision parts, often a significant expense in the manufacturing process. CNC machine quality control is daunting, no matter how much you know.  While you can’t just assume a shop’s CNC machining processes are everything you need them to be, there are ways you can […]

We see our possible futures through the eyes of science fiction writers. Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea stretched the limits of imagination.  Now it passes without notice on nuclear subs.  Anyone with the money can fly around the world in two or three days, never mind the 80-day challenge that astounded Victorian readers.  […]

When you’ve got a new part to be manufactured, it doesn’t take long for the price tag to come up.  CNC machining costs can be daunting.  Fortunately, CNC machining costs are not cast in stone.  You do have some ability to keep your costs down.  It all hinges on attention to detail and working with […]

The individual components in computer chips shrink in size year after year.  You could fit 200,000 modern transistors in the length of the first transistor from 1947.  Mechanical parts continue to shrink right along with their electronic counterparts. Gears, switches, pumps, and countless other devices are routinely produced today on scales almost too small to […]

Generally speaking, the decision of what CNC machining services best suit your project is not a decision you have to make.  Technically that is determined by the project itself.  The physical dimensions, tolerances, kerf widths, features, and details tend to dictate what CNC machining services are required to produce it. Of course, nothing’s that cut […]

Medical CNC machining has been the de facto standard for producing medical devices and machine parts for decades.  In recent years, though, 3D printing has entered the field.  Sometimes it can be confusing trying to figure out which technology is better suited to a particular situation. Nothing in Common It would help if the two […]

In most cases, the choice between using CNC turning or CNC milling to produce a part is obvious.  There are times, however, when the decision is less cut and dried. CNC milling holds the raw material still while tools move around it, removing what doesn’t belong in the final part.  CNC milling is the obvious […]

No field presents more challenges to manufacturers than the medical industry.  The extreme tolerances are always there, but the rapid rate of change constantly creates new demands, and once in a while, curveballs can come hard and fast. The Leading Edge MacFab’s Swiss turning machines, precision milling and lathe work keep us on the leading […]

Clean rooms in are nothing new, but their use in assembly is growing dramatically now.  This is especially true in CNC machining for the Medical industry.  More than ever, medicine today relies on devices -both implanted and external- which are amazingly sensitive and complex.  Clean room assembly is required for many of these.  Even more […]

More than ever before, today’s technology is concerned with precision.  Part tolerances and fittings are now routinely measured on the nanometer scale.  It’s no surprise that incredibly precise machining is becoming more vital every day.  That’s where Swiss turn machines come in.  When complex parts have to meet exacting standards, there’s simply no better technology available. Originally designed for […]

Swiss CNC machines were originally developed to produce the high precision parts used by the famous Swiss watch industry.  While often associated with high volume production and costly tooling charges, in fact they are an excellent solution for long run high precision machining work. The machined part in this image is suitable for both conventional […]

As a senior level purchasing manager the selection of the right precision CNC machine shop for your requirements can mean the difference between a high stress job and a high stress job with long sleepless nights. Across industries such as medical, security and defense, supply chains became brittle during the pandemic. Many purchasing managers witnessed […]

Rapid prototyping is a great way to get a preliminary tactile design of the final product. It enables you to visualize your product before you start manufacturing at scale. As the name suggests, rapid prototyping is the fast fabrication of a product with the help of a three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD). While planning for the […]

We are proud to announce Macfab Manufacturing Inc. has joined the Ben Machine Products family. Backed by over 35 years of experience, Macfab Manufacturing Inc. will continue to offer precision manufacturing expertise to its broad range of customers in the life sciences, defence, aerospace, environmental and power generation industries. Ben Machine Products is the ideal […]

Building high-quality, precision manufactured goods require a partner you can trust, who has the credentials and the level of expertise and experience to provide you with quality finished products or equipment. How do you choose the best in a market full of supposedly good quality precision manufacturers? Moreover, how do you even evaluate whether a […]