This blog has showcased our custom tank heads before, exhibiting our dedication to quality above all else in fulfilling your custom product orders. Today we’re going to be talking about them again, as a lens through which to look at one of our other manufacturing processes: hydroforming. While metal spinning is our core business and the process we use whenever we determine it to be the best match, hydroforming is ideal for custom tank head manufacturing thanks to its ability to combine product strength, concave form, and light weight.

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There are many steps on the path to energy independence, but one major one is the continued push of coal mining in the United States. Coal has been, and will remain for quite some time, a major domestic source of fuel. With increases in mining sites and activity comes the need for the equipment to facilitate processes from extraction to refinement to simply transport of workers, equipment, and materials. This is where Caterpillar, John Deere, and Helander come in. The machinery that these top manufacturers of industrial duty, powerful equipment produce often features components manufactured by Helander.

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At Helander, nothing makes us happier than doing great work that saves our customers money. Recently we’ve discovered a new production niche that has been bringing us tons of new and repeat customers. It seems that metal stamping facilities often face a dilemma. One of their clients might come to them requesting a short run or prototype of a new project. For the metal stamper this can be a giant headache, because it is often cost-prohibitive for them set all their machinery up to do small jobs. If they take the risk and don’t get the big project, they are out time and a lot of money. The solution? Going to Helander for metal spinning and hydroforming services that you can’t get elsewhere.

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Custom fabrication is a way of life at Helander. We’re all about making the exact pieces that our customers need, rather than a whole catalog of generic one-size-(never)-fits-all items. Our custom tank heads are a perfect example of this commitment to all that is custom. A tank head is the cover that you see on everything from milk and gas trucks to small water filtration vessels. It’s what keeps the liquid in the tank; the last line of defense, if you will. With such a ubiquitous product, there are lots of companies out there who make tank heads. You can buy them off the shelf by the truckful, but there is a major difference between our tank heads and theirs.

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It’s recommended that you drink at least eight glasses of water per day.  What you may not know, though, is how you drink it is as important as how much you drink.  If you’re drinking out of plastic bottles, you might want to think again.  17 million barrels of oil are used each year to make plastic water bottles, and in 2008, 189,000,000 plastic bottles were recovered from highways and parks.  Furthermore, chemicals such as BPA and antimony, which have been used in plastic bottles, can be dangerous, especially to children and pregnant women.

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When you’re enjoying your music, the sounds of a machine shop are likely the furthest thing from your mind (unless it’s mid-career Lou Reed). Whatever your taste: jazz, classic rock, alternative – the melodies that you hear are a far cry from the dissonance of a shop floor. But there’s more than meets the eye—or the ear—when it comes to music and instruments, and behind the best music is state-of-the-art craftsmanship and technology.

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Lots of different types of machining methods are familiar to manufacturers. Even if you don’t deal with all of them or maintain a factory full of every machine that’s out there, you can probably rattle off quite a few different types: CNC machines, EDM, waterjet cutting, and so on. Of course, for us at Helander, one type invariably comes to mind first: metal hydroforming.

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One Fabtech show in a year is quite an event. But all the metalworking expo action isn’t in Chicago. This year’s Fabtech Canada 2012 expo, happening in Toronto from March 20 – 22^nd, 2012, promises to be just as exciting and informative as its stateside counterpart. We found the January show to be overwhelmingly helpful, and won’t be attending Fabtech Canada this year. We will, however, point you in the direction of some of the most promising panels and events at the conference.

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The new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner is like nothing you’ve ever seen. It’s a super-efficient airplane that uses 20% less fuel than any other plane in its class. Did we mention that it does this with a range of 8,500 nautical miles while carrying up to 290 passengers? It’s the plane of the future because it saves fuel while helping handle the ever increasing number of domestic and international air passengers.  It sounds so exciting that it might even be worth planning a vacation around riding in one.

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Being able to bring our industry-leading metal spinning together with today’s green energy boom is on the top of Helander’s 2012 to-do-list, but we also know that we can make a difference right here in Lombard, Illinois.

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