Anyone who thinks that bootstrapping a machining job shop up from scratch in today’s marketplace is nearly impossible or too difficult, needs to take a look at Chatsworth, CA’s Supertec Machining, Inc., a shop producing parts for a wide range of customers in a lot of different industries. Founded four years ago by two young brothers, one 20 and one 33, the company has grown steadily and has never looked back.

“We started out with a Fadal 4020 we rented from a friend who had a plating business,” says Supertec president Hamlet Heshmati. “He bought the Fadal in case he needed to machine something, but he really never used it, because it had a problem with the controller. So we rented it from him and had Fadal repair the controller, and we’re still using the machine.It has given us good service.”

Heshmati’s first shop was a 1000-sq-ft facility, but he quickly outgrew that and moved to his present 4,000-sq-ft shop, which now houses 6 employees, 6 machining centers, a Mitutoyo CMM and all the necessary support equipment.

Okay, that all sounds great, but the brothers must have had piles of capital to get them started.

Not so, says Heshmati.

“What really helped us,” he says, “is that I have a CNC programming diploma from B&S Technical Institute, and I had worked for a number of years as a contract programmer. During that time I wrote programs for twenty-four or twenty five different companies around the Los Angeles area. Those companies were serving a lot of different industries, so I got experience programming molds, aerospace and semiconductor parts, you name it. I was able to do that, because my father had a company a long time ago and I started working for him when I was seventeen. He taught me manual machining, which really helped when I studied programming. Anyway, when I got the Fadal and started Supertec, I called some of my programming customers and they started feeding me business. We’ve been growing ever since.”

Today, Supertec produces such parts as satellite chassis, pressure testing chambers, Boeing aircraft parts, space shuttle and jet-engine parts.

“We also do sheetmetal molds and hydroforming molds,” he says. “We got into that when we added five-axis machining to our capabilities.”
During his first three years, Heshmati added 4 more machines to his arsenal to suit the kinds of work he was getting

“We bought two Acramatic mills and an Acramatic CNC lathe,” he says. “We also bought another Fadal 4020, but then about a year ago we had some aircraft parts with some underneath angles on them. The parts were really 5-axis parts, but we figured out a way to do them anyway, but they were taking much too long to produce. We realized then that we really needed that 5-axis capability if we wanted to keep doing jobs like that, so we decided to do something about it.”

Low-budget 5-Axis

The brothers were working long hours and pouring all the money they made back into the business and found that a dedicated 5-axis machine was outside their budget.

“We had a chance to do some mold work,” he recalls. “It had some 5-axis requirements and we couldn’t do it, so one days we went to a Fadal open house where they were showing off their equipment. That’s where we found the solution we needed. It was a 40-taper Fadal with a Tri-Tech 5-axis head on it. The Tri-Tech head works on either 40-taper or 50-taper machines, but needed a bigger machine, so we ordered a Fadal 50-taper VMC 6535 with a Tri-Tech head on it. We got the package financed by Fadal for about half of what we would have paid for a true 5-axis machine with equal or less capability. So far, it’s really worked out great for us.”

Tri-Tech Flexibility

Heshmati says he considered adding 5-axis capability by purchasing a machine fitted with a tilt-rotary table, but he felt that answer didn’t fit his needs.

“We needed a bigger work envelope for the parts we wanted to do,” he says. “The Tri-Tech head, which attaches to the spindle, can access all points of the machining center’s work envelope. The head places no limit on the size of the work piece that can be machined. Basically, whatever your machine can do the Tri-Tech can do.”

Also, Heshmati says, the Tri-Tech head offers an even wider range of motion than even a dedicated 5-axis machine.

“Dedicated 5-axis machines are limited to about 30° of tilt,” he explains. “Our Tri-Tech M5414 has a tilt capability of plus or minus 90° and continuous 360° rotary motion. Another thing we like is that, if we need 5-axis capability, we can put the Tri-Tech on the machine and have it set up to go in about half an hour. When we’re finished with our 5-axis parts, it only takes about ten or fifteen minutes to remove the head and turn the machine back into a 3-axis again. It really gives us the best of both worlds.”

Although the Tri-Tech is considered to be portable, it weighs in at about 150 pounds.

“It is portable,” Heshmati says. “I mean, if we wanted to, we could put it on one of our 40-taper machines, but so far, we only use it on the 6535. The Tri-Tech head will give you the same repeatability and tolerances you have on the machine its on. It won’t make a machine better, but it won’t make it worse either.”

Tri-Tech Programming

Heshmati had no problem learning to program the 5-axis head, he recalls.

“Actually, before starting Supertec, I had done a lot of 5-axis programming for other people,” he says. “I had learned SurfCam, SmartCam, Mastercam, and several other packages. Right now I use Mastercam to program the Tri-Tech just like any other 5-axis machine. The hardwiring for the 5-axis head was built into the Fadal at the factory, so when we put on the head, it’s all pretty automatic. There’s a Tri-Tech post program in almost all of the cad/cam packages. It’s all invisible and very easy.”

Benefits of Having the 5-axis Capability

“The main benefit we get from the Tri-Tech is that we’re able to take on new customers,” Heshmati says. “In fact, we’ve gained several new customers since we bought it. When people call us asking for 5-axis work, we just say, of course. It makes life much easier for us.”

So what’s Heshmati’s next step?

“We’ll just keep working hard,” he says. “Maybe buy another Fadal and Tri-Tech combination if the work keeps picking up. So far, we’ve done very well, and we think things will keep going well.”

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