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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 15 F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 2 0 WO R K P L A C E T E C H N O L O G Y Robotics Westbrook-based Lanco Integrated makes robotic systems for clients to perform mass assembly and tests of their products. "A lot of our customer base is medical," says Mitch Sanborn, manager of manufacturing. "We make robots that pick and place suture needles, thread the suture material into the needle, then package it. e fiber can be 30,000 of an inch and it has to hit a hole in the needle that's a couple of microns wide," he says. e accuracy of these systems, depending on the client's requirements, can get down to a 20-mil- lionth of an inch. High-speed robots can pick up components and move them 6 inches for placement into the final assembly in less than 1 second. Cutting edges Precision cutting machines include Trenton-based Nautilus Marine Fabrication Inc.'s Flow Waterjet. A powerful blast of water mixed with fine-grained sand and driven through a slim nozzle can cut flat stock — any kind of metal, stone, ceramic, plastic, composites, rubber, foam and wood — to almost any shape. e company caters mainly to boat builders looking for precision parts or odd shapes. e technology proved useful for a boat built by Brooklin Boat Yard to a design by architect Frank Gehry, who called for numerous lattice-styled cutouts in the hull and deck. e water is blasted at 50,000 pounds of pres- sure per square inch. ree-quarters of a pound of sand runs through per minute, says the company's president, Steve Brenton. e machine cuts to a thousandth of an inch. Nozzles, made from hard alloy, get used up quickly. "It's like having an acid that's so strong it eats through anything, but you still have to contain it," says Brenton. He adds, "It will cut off your finger." Two large-format five-axis computer-controlled routers at Varney CNC in Brunswick offer faster set-up and cutting compared with traditional three- axis routers. "Let's say you have a 3-foot by 5-foot by 2-foot rect- angle and you have to machine all sides of it," says the company's owner, Nathan Varney. "You can machine all five sides without ever having to flip the block over." e company caters to any industry that works with composites, including marine, aerospace, renew- able energy, architectural and construction. Like the water jet cutter, the routers can cut to within a thou- sandth of an inch. e high-tech machines themselves require special consideration, for things like temperature, humidity, cleanliness and rigorous calibration. "You can't just buy a 20-foot-long CNC [com- puter numerical control] router and plunk it down on the floor and start running," says Varney. "You have to level the machine to at least the third or fourth decimal place." He adds, "ere's a lot of intricate set-up for this equipment. ese aren't your grandpa's dirty machine shops anymore." L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r , c a n b e r e a c h e d a t l s c h r e i b e r @ m a i n e b i z . b i z OLD COMPUTERS CAN GO BACK TO WORK When your company donates its outdated technology, Goodwill creates jobs and keeps electronic waste out of landfills. Find out more: goodwillnne.org/Goodtech We refurbish computers, tablets, phones and peripherals, making technology affordable to everyone. F O C U S Nautilus Marine Fabrication's Nautilus Marine Fabrication's Flow Waterjet cutting Flow Waterjet cutting machine uses a powerful blast of water mixed with machine uses a powerful blast of water mixed with fine-grained sand to cut flat stock, like these lattice- fine-grained sand to cut flat stock, like these lattice- styled hull and deck cutouts, in a sheet of carbon styled hull and deck cutouts, in a sheet of carbon fiber, designed by architect Frank Gehry for a boat fiber, designed by architect Frank Gehry for a boat built at Brooklin Boat Yard. built at Brooklin Boat Yard. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y N A U T I L U S M A R I N E FA B R I C AT I O N

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