Welcome to Inter-Source

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Inter-Source engineers and manufactures a complete range of chip management systems to ensure we have the appropriate components to satisfy your unique chip management needs.

Please click here for examples of chip management systems we have engineered for our clients.

Many machining manufacturers gain a competitive advantage by melting their chips in-house, instead of sending them to a secondary smelter for conversion. The savings are substantial, and include:

• No transport costs
• Minimized handling costs
• Paying to melt the metal only once—when ready for use—instead of at the Secondary smelter, and then again upon return

In-house conversion also offers intangible but very real advantages, including:

• Complete control over the valued commodity of chips—you know what you have and where it is
• Reduction in environmental liability—you know how your chips are being stored and handled
• Accountability of chip quantities—the smelter’s “amount received” may not always match the amount sent.

So, while the advantages of in-house conversion are many, there are concerns. A primary one is safety.

Read more…

The flexibility of being able to use a machining center for different alloys provides an undeniable competitive edge. However, alloy changeovers, from steel to brass for example, lead to unacceptable contaminant steel in the brass chip stream. Chip management industry leader Inter-Source recently met that challenge for an automotive component manufacturer.

The manufacturer had already realized the value of processed chips; a sophisticated chip management system handled chip collection, sizing, drying, and loading. Such processed chips are highly desired by secondary smelters, but only if ferrous contamination is addressed.

With over two decades in the chip management industry, Inter-Source had already solved similar challenges. Combining experience with engineering expertise, they designed a magnetic separation triple-drum system that segregates ferrous contaminants from other alloys. For this particular application, the third drum is necessary; Inter-Source has engineered about a dozen similar solutions over the years, and most satisfy contaminant issues with a single or dual drum configuration. Inter-Source’s engineering expertise means that each customer’s unique challenges may be optimally solved with a tailored solution.

“This customer came to us first because of our experience,” noted William Nemedi, President of Inter-Source, “and they haven’t had to go any further. Our focus is optimizing chip management. We have the engineering expertise, insight, and enthusiasm to handle any challenge.”

And helping a manufacturer compete globally? All in a day’s work.

An automotive parts manufacturer developed an innovative state-of-the-art machining center to more efficiently produce components. It works beautifully, outproducing even the most optimistic parts-per-hour projections.

Unfortunately, more parts produced means more chips produced. The resultant high volume did not flow out with the coolant stream as expected.

A maintenance engineer on the project had worked with Inter-Source years ago at a different company. He knew their expertise and focus was chips – handling them, drying them, managing them. He called William Nemedi, Inter-Source President, and asked what could be done.

“Such a request isn’t unusual,” noted Nemedi. “Manufacturers tend to focus on their main product – the part – but manufacturing’s by-products of coolant and chips also demand recognition. With efficient managing, they can become another profit stream.”

Nemedi visited the manufacturer. Having just installed this state-of-the-art machining center in a specially designed facility, they wanted a solution that wouldn’t require moving it or cutting the floor. They needed innovation that matched their machining center. Inter-Source delivered.

The solution is a robot-operated vacuum collection system, which utilizes a ceiling-installed material-handling vacuum fan to pull the centrally collected chips from the middle of the machining center. A cyclone discharge decelerates and separates the chips from the air stream. The chips fall into trailers for later more conventional processing.

The innovative machining center, with its equally innovative chip handling, is still ramping up to full production. Look for more information and more detailed video at a later date.