Gadgetory

this machine made 12,000 screws in the six hours before we got to this factory we're in a screw Factory take the introductory screw class which the factory managers will use to teach us about how screws are made for PC cases video cards coolers and even cars or semi trucks the factory is responsible for producing 2 point 1 million screws every single month for about 25 million screws per year and it's commonly used as a third-party supplier for the computer hardware industry Coolermaster took us on this tour to show where the screws for their cases and coolers are made including liquid cooler products like the ML 240 cases like the SL 600 M and coolers made for partners that were oddly not allowed to name but we are allowed to show not exactly sure who these particular case and cooler parts are made for but they do look familiar to other parts that we've covered in the past must be a coincidence in this video we'll be learning about how screws are made before that this video is brought to you by mass drop and the PC 37 X gaming headset with professional-grade Sennheiser noise cancelling microphone the PC 37 X headsets are what we use in the office for phone interviews where audio and mic quality are critical making it very convenient high performance solution for gaming or professional work the headphones come with a detachable ten-foot cable for safe storage during travel a standard 3.5 millimeter plug and soft foam for firm but comfortable fit over the ears the PC 37 X headphone stand apart with high mic quality mixed with high quality audio output learn more at the link in the description below screws are purchased from third-party suppliers for one obvious reason the world uses screws and just about everything and so screw making factories have been around a long time they're well established and they're able to mass-produce at lower cost and greater efficiency than any individual computer hardware manufacturer could ever hope to match as such it's better to use a third-party supplier that specializes in the task and then just buy the screws to spec screws start life buried in the earth of course but as the various metals are dug out they are turned into spools of metal wire that gets shipped to this factory the supply chain is a long one before Coolermaster ever even buys a screw and before this factory makes one the wire first has to be made by a different factory which buys the raw materials from refineries who can either buy from a mining company or are part of what various other chemicals are involved in the process all coming from different suppliers in the chain the first machine is at lawn and takes about half of the factory's width for the first floor there are about a dozen of these in this one line each costing about 70,000 RMB or about ten thousand four hundred US dollars in April of 2019 these machines to straighten the steel wire through the length of the machine then feed it into a set of six tools at the end of the line including taps thighs forming tools and cutting tools the machine dumps cutting oil into the tools and the steel wire helping keep things cool and lubricated and preventing rust it's also a recyclable operation so the factory will reuse much of this oil for continuous operation although it eventually does have to purge it as it becomes too dirty the tools each have different jobs like cutting the threads into the screw the standoff of the bolt depending on the day or tapping the screw if threading it internally the screw is fed through slowly as the cutting tools work on creating the threads and shaping the screw then is eventually cut at the tip and dropped into a bucket for collection some of the screws we saw being made are standoffs or non PC applications but the same idea applies there's an internal and external threading for these as they both insert into a threaded hole and then receive a screw on the other side and so multiple tools are required just to make one one of the other machines used is equipped with multiple dies for making different parts of the screw this one also makes screws from a long spool of steel wire and can make between 10,000 and 20,000 screws per day depending on the type of screw as the wire enters the machine it compresses to make it as wide as the screw needs to end up be the wire is cut compressed twice make it bigger and then cut again depending on the screw either a mold can be used to punch out different shapes or this machine is used to tap and die and cut the screw down to size different dies on the machine can be used for creating the head of the screw and shaping the tip of the screw including chamfering Aldana in a step-by-step process throughout the entire production of the screw we were given a set of screws from each stage in the process showing the metal wire the wire next chamfered on one end and then the screw head that's created each part of the machine is controlled by a series of gears and wheels for which we have a lot of fuel and each of those is covered in oil for smooth operation and for cooling purposes the wheels turn to keep the gears moving which moves the dies onto the steel wire to process the screws this happens ad infinitum and goes on for at least 10 hours a day it's largely automated the process only required for overseers for the entire factory floor that we were on so there are four people for dozens of machines all responsible for producing tens of thousands of screws per day the most manual part of the process is replacing that steel wire we saw earlier whenever it runs out it obviously has to be renewed and that's done by the human operator but the rest is mostly done by machine this factory makes 50 to 60 different types of screws in production per day working about 10 hours per day when we asked how many tons of metal the factory goes through per day the manager just shrugged and laughed but did tell us that they see about 200 metric tons of brass aluminum steel and stainless steel of metals enter the factory every month so you can do the math on that the screws coming out of the machine are hot to the touch and coated in oil they accumulate here until ready for delivery to the quality control room upstairs moving upstairs we get to the quality control section of the factory the primary machine is an automatic optical inspection device but it's not the same as the Aoi machine seen in the SMT lines and it uses a laser to check screws for compliance to the customers tolerances that are defined on the customer places the order P CK screws have a much wider tolerance for error than what we're seeing here they're used in an application which doesn't require intense precision of for example aeronautical equipment the customer currently occupying the obstacle inspection machine has zero tolerance for failure the screws are dumped into a sort of hopper that rotates and feeds the screws down a track and toward the inspection machine as the screw exits the hopper they slide down a metal ramp and onto a spinning disk screws that were not standing on entry will be rolled into a collecting bin simply by using the turning of the disk these are reclaimed and fed back through later another wheel is used to push screws to the outer edge so that they align with the laser screws go through laser inspection for both circumference and threading which then communicates with software on whether the screw passed or fail screws that succeed are blasted with air to kick them off of the wheel and onto a chute that leads to a bucket of past screws screws that failed are sent through a second time to be double-checked as sometimes false positives can be thrown by the optical inspection if the screw fails twice in a row its bend as potentially bad and sold to a company that melts down medals for reuse each individual type of screw is sorted into bags by weight after this the screws are bagged and marked for sale to the customer and for example coolermaster buys by the screw so they might order for example ten thousand but the factory uses weight to calculate the appropriate amount of screws based on that order quantity there's some error and variance baked in but when dealing in tens of thousands of units per order it's really the best approach as for some of the bigger pieces of machinery in the factory the most expensive machine we saw cost three hundred seventy two thousand the USD and requires a team to configure it also takes about five minutes to set it up the machine has to be warmed up before operation and is used to make large bolts and screws for non computer applications one example would be screws used in the industrial automotive applications that we discussed earlier the machine cuts and drills into the screws extending the tubes high Mullaney ously the first step is to cut the wire chamfer the edges after that then chamfer and crimp the other side after this the machine drills halfway into the screw to begin creating the threads then the remainder of the wire is pulled through and extended at the same time as the drilling process proceeds six different tools are used to make just this one screw with the robotic arm not an operation for today used to pick up and move the tools around we have shots of each of the stages from the machine as it progresses showing how the wire transforms from a steel rod into actual hardware and that's how screws are made for the PC industry and just about every other industry if you want to see more of these videos check our factory tours playlist or you can subscribe to the channel of course for additional content you can also go to store dock gamers Nexus net if you want to support these types of videos by buying some of our shirts or other merch like our mod mats from PC building or patreon.com slash gamers and axis thanks for watching we'll see you all next time