Burt Belzer and partners started TCI Precision Metals (Tool Components Incorporated) in 1956 as a tooling distributor. The Gardena, CA. based company soon added material distribution and saw cutting to their palmarès. Now, almost 70 years later TCI Precision Metal’s 3rd generation management honors the past while embracing the future through investment in the latest technology.
“My grandfather got into the material distribution business and began saw cutting it into pieces in the early 60’s,” tells Ben Belzer, President and CEO of TCI Precision Metals. “At first we just saw cut aluminum plate and sheet and shipped it without additional processing. It was up to the customer to finish it. We’ve evolved into a precision-sized raw material supplier with 105,000sq.ft. and 70 employees. We are not a machine shop, nor a straight distributor that just chops and ships. All material is sourced directly from the mill or local distribution and we process it into a tight tolerance pieces of raw material called Machine-Ready Blanks or pre-machined blanks. Tolerances are within thousandths of an inch. Our customers are looking for stable material, that is net or near net size and shape, and ready to go into their CNC machines for finish machining. It’s been our bread and butter for over 60 years.”
In the late 60’s tight tolerance precision grinding of flat plate soon became commonplace, upping the value-added options available to customers. TCI began using double disc grinders in the 70’s, around the same time that John Belzer joined his dad in the company. “My dad took over running the company in the 80s,” tells Ben. “A lot of the technology we have is because of him, including our first water jet and CNC mills. I took over leadership in 2014 and since then we’ve been aggressive at growing the value-add material supply side of the business. We’ve doubled our sales since then, but it came with a heavy investment in new machines. At that time most of our equipment was either bought or built in the 60s, 70s, or 80s. Since then we have purchased a state-of-the-art Schelling aluminum plate saw out of Austria. It takes a full plate and automatically nests parts, doing what we did with our homemade machine in a fraction of the time. Our duplex mills from the 70’s have been replaced by five Amada CNC duplex mills. Setup time has gone from hours to minutes with increased accuracy and speed. A custom built C&B double disk grinder and two OMAX water jets were also added in the last couple years. It’s been a lot, but worth it. To compete, we couldn’t be using an unsafe home-built plate saw from 1970.”
TCI Precision relies on a pair of OMAX 80X water jets for all their ferrous metal cutting. Each machine is equipped with a Collision Sensing Terrain Follower, articulating head, and the OMAX Variable Speed Solids Removal System (VS-SRS). Machine two has a larger pump to cut faster through harder metals.
Standard TCI workflow is saw cut or water jet rough oversize rectangles or other shapes from a full plate of material. Then it gets sent to grinding where they grind it flat and to thickness. Grinding is tight and typically within .001”-.002”, so it is a nice finish, but still has unfinished edges. The next op comes from the duplex mills. Both sides are milled simultaneously, then it is turned, and the other sides are milled. Everything that leaves TCI is square with tight tolerances on all 6 sides and ready to drop in the customer’s machines and press the green button. TCI use a couple different technologies to cut the full-size plates depending on the material. For the ferrous metals they use two new OMAX 80X water jets and for the non-ferrous a Schelling CNC saw. “We had water jets back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s,” tells Ben. “They got expensive to operate for what they were doing, and the technology had moved on. So, 15 years ago we decided to get out of the water jet program all together, selling all the equipment. Fast forward to 2019 and it was time to jump back in. Our business is to bring in full size plate, 48”x144” or 60”x144” and cut it down to rectangles. Our non-ferrous saws can cut some red metals and aluminum, but prior to 2019 steels, titanium, and anything like that we would have precut from the distributor and delivered to us for a fee. It was expensive and time consuming, lead times were long and uncontrollable, and quality began to suffer too. We decided to invest in the technology to bring it all in-house. We bought trainloads of 316 and 304 stainless and an OMAX 80X water jet to go with it. With reduced lead times and better pricing, we were able to market it to our customers again, and sales boomed.” Ben and his team found that their new OMAX 80X was good at more than just rectangles, precision shapes were also in play. They were quickly over capacity and added a second machine within the first two years. “The second OMAX is basically the same machine, but it has a larger pump to cut faster through the harder metals,” adds Ben. “These machines were so effective that we were able to see an ROI a year earlier than projected on both machines. We rely on OMAX for all our training and some of our service needs. We are well versed in maintaining the machines and making repairs, but if it is something big, we call them in. They are a great company to work with and know how to support their customers. Service and reliability were two big reasons I went with OMAX.”
TCI went with OMAX because of its favorable reputation in the industry and the features associated with the brand. “Even our friendly competitors suggested we look at the OMAX machines,” continues Ben. “OMAX sold us on having the best tech and the best software, and we agree with them. How a water jet works hasn’t changed in the last 20 years, with water and grit cutting metal. But the articulating head is something our old machines didn’t have; it is one of the upgrades that makes a huge difference to our workflow. The head angle compensates via the OMAX IntelliMAX software predicated on the specs we input. The software sets a baseline, and we can fine-tune it as necessary. On a thicker piece of material, the water comes in from the top and flares in both directions. Without compensation, the top is the correct size, but the bottom might be undersized. The articulating head tilts, so the flaring is now straight down on the side of the part that is the keeper, the waste side has a bigger cutout. This allows us to cut thick and hard material with no waste and better quality.”
Top – Double disk grinding is typically the second operation after being cut via water jet or saw. TCI still has a quiver of older machines that do a great job, but they recently purchased a new CB Machinery Grinder. The CB has made setups five times faster.
Right – before and after. Each part is ground for flatness.
Another seemingly simple feature that Ben touts on the OMAX is their Collision Sensing Terrain Follower, which makes sure the head doesn’t crash. “You often don’t think about crashing a water jet like you would on a complex mill,” tells Ben. “But it is deceivingly easy to do because of inconsistencies in the material. A water jet moves on one plane with the head very close to the material. If there is any bow across the 12’ plate it can be a problem because the head is so close to the surface. The Terrain Follower automatically maintains the correct nozzle standoff throughout the cutting process, adjusting to uneven surfaces and reducing the need for additional programming.”
Duplex milling is a big part of what TCI Precision does. Both sides are milled simultaneously, the material is turned, and the other sides are milled, creating a tight tolerance block on all sides. TCI added five new Amada duplex mills in the last few years that save time on setup, run parts faster, and can achieve a tighter tolerance compared to their older machines.
Constant maintenance and upkeep in the 90s were some of the reasons TCI moved away from owning water jets. Cleaning out the machines is a nasty, dirty, back-breaking chore with people inside the machine using shovels. “We used to every couple of months remove the used garnet,” describes Ben. “Honestly it took forever and was a workplace injury waiting to happen. Thankfully, 20 years later, the OMAX Variable Speed Solids Removal System (VS-SRS) has made our lives so much better. VS-SRS is a garnet recycling system that automatically pulls the used garnet out and filters it so you can dispose of it more easily. What it means is that I’m not shutting down the machine every couple of months, removing all the fixturing, emptying the water, and shoveling out by hand the waste. All the used garnet comes out automatically, and every other year, we do the routine waste removal process. I just started using a 3rd party company to come do it for us. They flush water continuously through the system separating all the particles until it is clear and clean.”
TCI purchased a Schelling CNC aluminum plate saw. It takes a full plate and automatically nests parts, doing what they did with a in-shop built machine in 1/5th the time.
Ben describes TCI’s typical customer as everyone from OEMs to mom-and-pop. “Our OEM and large production customers don’t want to spend the time prepping,” tells Ben. “They just want to pull the Machine-Ready Blanks off the shelf and get cutting. The mom-and-pop type places are a little different but still benefit from the same ease of use. Sometimes, they need material for a one-off type of job, or maybe they only have a single machine and can’t spare the spindle time to prep before running the job. We can add features as well. For example, we have a dovetail line for the 5-axis shops using the Raptor or 5th-Axis type vises. Just take it out of the packaging, load it, and go. Our customers are a diverse group, but they can depend on the uniformity of all our products to make their lives more productive and profitable. If they don’t need a custom size, shape, or finish, we have an extensive ready-to-ship line as well. We have 2000+ skews in 5 different alloys and 25 different length/width configurations. Those are all premade and stocked, ready to go through vendors like McMaster Carr, Amazon, Online Metals, Grainger, and our own website. As an example, customers can place an order for one 1/4” x 12” 12” of 6061 material. It’s going to show up +/- .002 on all dimensions. You unwrap it, and there is the material cert, and you can get right to work. Keeping our customers working is what we’ve been doing for almost 70 years.”
How TCI Precision processes its material has changed since opening in 1956, but its dedication and service haven’t. Third-generation owner Ben Belzer knows how rare it is these days to be part of what can only be called a legacy. Sales are soaring thanks to his leadership, and TCI’s looking good for its next 70 years.
TCI’s Machine-Ready Blanks can be custom ordered or selected right off the shelf from their ready-to-ship line of 2000+ parts. Flat blanks, dovetail blanks,
feature-added blank or round stock to rectangular square blanks, TCI has you covered.