The best way to understand what we do is to see how we’ve done it for other businesses. Click on any of the links to learn how we applied the Arcadia process to some of the industries’ most demanding challenges.

Time Warner Kiosk

Challenge

When J. Federick Construction of Brookfield, Connecticut approached Dependable Glass Works of Covington, Louisiana with plans for information kiosks at New York City’s new AOL Time Warner Building, they were reluctant to accept the challenge.  The plans called for eight pieces of one-inch thick curved panels of laminated glass to be carved into computer kiosks for the shops located inside the AOL Time Warner Building. Traditional waterjet cutting can only cut flat glass; these machines do not have the ability to maintain optimum distance between the cutting tool and the bent glass surface.

Solution

Then Dependable Glass Works discovered Arcadia’s unique 5-axis waterjet machine had the capability to sculpt these chunks of laminated glass into a detailed sculpture.  Not only did the 5-axis machine have the ability to follow the glass curvature on all dimensions, but it did so with incredible accuracy producing precision cuts with clean edges.  The custom glass fabrication company sent its manager of product development, Will Watts to witness this groundbreaking technique. Watts, who is familiar with waterjet cutting, was so impressed with Arcadia’s facilities and capabilities that he called back to Louisiana to say he was in the “Walt Disneyland of waterjet cutting”. Arcadia’s expert engineering team and waterjet machine operators worked hand-in-hand with Watts for 16 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week for three weeks to finish this innovative project.  The finished product has excited architects and design professionals nationwide, opening up creative new design options that until now were not technically possible.

Watervliet Arsenal: Humvee Doors

Challenge

During a town hall meeting, on December 8th, at a staging area in Kuwait, Army Specialist Thomas Wilson asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why many wheeled vehicles are not properly armored in Iraq.  Wilson asked, “Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?” The soldiers do not have an adequate barrier between themselves and attacks, such as roadside bombs.  This comment caught our attention here at Arcadia.

Solution

Arcadia has been working to retrofit humvees overseas with sufficient armor since March 2004, long before the issue was brought to national prominence through Wilson’s “tough question”.  Since the December 8th town hall meeting in Kuwait, Arcadia’s production has catapulted into two full shifts. We are cutting various parts out of armor plate and steel that are sent to the Watervliet arsenal.  These parts include a 3/8” thick armor plate door panel, which provides an extra layer of protection for soldiers in the line of fire. At the arsenal, these cut and painted parts are assembled into kits, which supply soldiers with the proper materials to “up-armor” their vehicles.  As of March 2004, we have provided enough material to retrofit 1,200 humvees. Together with the arsenal we are working extremely hard to ensure that our troops overseas are properly protected during the War on Terror.

6 Inch Thick Copper Cylinder

Challenge

An international energy company needed to locate where there was a failure in a 4000 lb experimental copper test cylinder. The cylinder was approximately 72” long with a 48” OD and a 36”ID with multilayered plastics and copper wire wound inside. Conventional means of splitting cannot be used because of its size, weight and interrupted cut. There was also a concern of destroying the integrity inside of the cylinder during this process.

Solution

Arcadia was asked if it was possible to open up the cylinder with waterjet. After reviewing the project our engineers and operators set up the cylinder inside the tank of our single head 2.5 axis table. First we split the cylinder open by cutting the length on one side and then flipping over and making the exact cut on the other side. Once split, our customer was so impressed with the clean cut they asked us to continue cutting sections so they could further evaluate different areas of failure. This resulted in huge savings in man hours and coordinated testing  while offering our customers an inexpensive way for testing and troubleshooting.