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Design, materials, weld distortion, leak testing and drawing review — written from our own workshop floor.
A common question is whether pressure-rise testing is acceptable. It answers whether a chamber leaks; helium mass spectrometry answers how much and where. The gap is five orders of magnitude — a limit of the method, not of the instrument price.
The order matters: how the load enters, where the heat goes, how thick the shell must be, how large the pumps are, how the interlocks are wired. Get the order wrong and the door, the hot zone and the wall thickness all get redone.
Nine times out of ten the problem is outgassing, not leakage. Two sources dominate: water, and hydrogen trapped in the damaged surface layer. Baking and pumping time address the first; only the cleaning process addresses the second.
A welded chamber is not a deliverable chamber. Seven checks are carried out, each signed off and filed, and the report is dispatched with the unit. Records remain available for customer audit.
Most chambers are adequately served by 304L. 316L is selected where the process atmosphere is corrosive or the drawing specifies SUS316L. Where the choice is unclear, state the operating conditions in the RFQ and the recommendation will be based on them.
Start with a project outline, then email drawings in PDF, DWG or STEP format. We provide an initial response within 48 hours. Manufacturing recommendations, a quotation and lead time follow once the required information is complete and drawing review is finished.
