Its taken a little while to get to this point. So, the first ID Drill Bushing Tray was picked-up from our anodizing sub-contractor today along with 30 plus identical trays. Behold; Bright Red, Shiny and New.
A little while back, we made a decision to have all future aluminum components anodized. This process adds a decorative and professional surface protective finish to our quality products.
What’s the big deal.?
Well… maybe to some it isn’t.
But it is for us !
The ID Drill Bushing Tray
I have worked in the aircraft industry for 40 years. Over those years I seen many highly skilled craftsman deal with Drill Bushings they have acquired from used and surplus markets. It seemed like they “made do” with what was available rather than a source that considered their access to a real aid to help them be a better craftsman. Sure there are lots of suppliers out there of these kinds of tools, but I never felt that the tool was designed and intended for a craftsman in the aircraft industry.
We have been manufacturing Drill Bushing Sets for about a decade.
It all started about 10 years ago, my son who also works in the aircraft industry as a Licensed Structures Aircraft Maintenance Engineer came to me and asked if I would make a set of drill bushing to satisfy his reasonably complex requirements. At the tine I had just acquired a CNC lathe which was part of my technically expanding company.
I took on the challenge. With his suggestions and our combined experience in the field, we came up with a set of 27 different drill bushings. The initial run was for 10 sets. A total of 270 individual bushings. We then designed and machined a tray from 6061-T6 aluminum extrusion. Much like you see in the photo above and the copy of the drawing of our 27 piece Drill Bushing Set shown below.
Together we began to offer these sets to our co-workers and associates. It took a little while for the first 10 sets to sell. When we ran out of inventory, we made subsequent batches as there was vacant time in our CNC machining schedule. We have shipped these sets all across Canada, throughout the USA and as far away as New Zealand. Now we find it hard to keep up with demand.
So… to get back to the title of this post. This is the first step in the launch of a new group of product we feel is needed and has potential to offer an organized and simple component of a drilling tool system Special Air Services-Canada Inc. intends to offer over the next few months. Stay tuned for more announcements.
We are a small shop and some days it feels like we are carrying water uphill with a hole in the bucket. We hope to soon plug the hole in the bucket. Does anyone have a couple of MS 20470AD10-10 rivets (they are big holes) and lend us a gun and bucking bar large enough to handle these rivets 😉.
We are working to replenish our inventories of needed tools to a manageable level. That way you won’t see the “Out of Stock” on items in our online store, as you might find today.
Follow the link to our:
Machining Ideas Into Finished Parts