Apprenticeship

MED Area Machine Shops are five machine shops open for use b y all qualifies laboratory employee. MED’s resident journey-level machinists provides direct program support, manages each shop, oversees safe operations, and provides technical advice for users.

High Explosives Processing is a highly specialized process requiring rigorous safety protocols and specialized equipment. The machinists at Site 300 are among the most skilled in the nation at machining high-explosive materials, employing conventional and CNC machine tools for contact and remote machining.

The Dimensional Inspection Laboratory is a full-service center providing solutions for all metrology needs. Our facilities are in a controlled environment that accommodates a broad range of inert, toxic and radioactive materials. MED maintains a variety of world class metrology equipment traceable to NIST standards to inspect manufactured products. Our basic logic is that measurements made in our Labs need to be at levels of uncertainty that are below ten percent of the tightest tolerances required. 

The Laser Processing Facility is an integral part of MED manufacturing and provides laser processes such as laser cutting and welding of material up to 0.100 in thick and a cutting envelope up to 37 in x 18 in for metals. Laser Processing has 400W and 200W Nd:YAG pulsed lasers. Our personnel have extensive experience in prebuilt design assistance, weld joint designs, weld-preparation, and alternative manufacturing processes.

The Main Bay Machine Shop provides computerized numerical controlled (CNC) milling up to a 98” x 71” x 55” machining envelope and CNC turning capacities up to 67” in diameter and 112” in length. We also provide heat treating, tool & cutter grinding, forming, vendor evaluation, project coordination, and consultation on manufacturing feasibility, and process evaluation.

The Metal Finishing and Plating Shop is a chemical processing facility dedicated to providing electroplating, cleaning, and other chemical processes to Laboratory programs. The 6,500-square-foot facility houses processing tanks of up to 550-gallon capacity. More than 65 different processes are available or can be set up for special requests.

The Optic Shop's resident master opticians work with engineers to develop processes for onsite fabrication, liaise with vendors, and offer offsite inspections and technology transfer training. The Optic Shop has been a primary contributor to such programs as Target Fabrication, the National Ignition Facility, and the Mercury Laser system. In addition, we assist outside laboratories and businesses such as Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Allied Signal.

The Precision Shop is dedicated to providing high quality precision parts. A wide variety of materials from plastics to exotic/precious metals are machined using traditional and non-traditional manufacturing processes. Work is performed in a temperature-controlled environment conducive to micro machining and producing parts with tolerance requirements in the 0.0001-inch or less range. Capabilities in our shop include tight tolerance 5-axis CNC machining, wire electrical discharge machines, and ultra precision diamond turning lathes.  We also have the capability of machining classified parts.

The Sheetmetal Shop provides standard sheet metal fabrication processes such as shearing up to 96″ x ¼”, braking up to 96″ x ¼”, rolling up to ¼”, sawing, forming, nibbling, punching, tubing & thick spring bending, riveting, brazing, spot welding up to 1/8″, and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding up to 1/8″. Some unique services include CNC laser cutting (tolerances of 0.002” on metals up to 1/8”), tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding of refractory metals in an inert environment, and welding for vacuum applications.

The Special Materials Machining Facility (SMMF) is a large, diversified shop designed to machine toxic and low-level radioactive materials. This facility also offers T-base lathes and large, five-axis milling capability, as well as many conventional and computer numerically controlled (CNC) lathes and mills, both plunge and wire electrical discharge machines (EDM), and two jig-boring machines.

The Target Fabrication Shop boasts ultra-precision machining capabilities to create targets for NIF, Z machine, and the Omega Laser Facility. Materials from aerogels to exotic or precious metals to radioactive material, are machined under conventional and diamond turning processes in a temperature-controlled environment conducive to micro-machining. There is also a full array of non-contact measuring tools such as measuring and laser micrometers, white-light interferometers, and confocal microscopes. The facility offers computerized numerical-controlled (CNC) lathes, three-, four-, and five-axis CNC milling centers, and ultra-precision diamond turning centers. We use model-based manufacturing with Creo Parametric and MasterCam CAD/CAM software extensively.

The Water Jet Shop is an integral part of the MED manufacturing facility and provides unique material cutting capabilities. Its machines do not induce stress or thermal inconsistencies into the material being cut.

The Weld Shop provides fabricated metal parts, heavy weldments and assemblies varying in thicknesses from 1/8” to several inches. The shop works on most nonhazardous metal alloys and has a material yard and 10-ton crane for added flexibility and quick turnaround. The Weld Shop capabilities include processes such as shearing up to 96″ X 1/2″ in aluminum and steel and up to 3/8″ in stainless steel, rolling up to 1″ aluminum and sawing up to 24″ diameter.