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RP Abrasives: Making Medical Equipments Ready-to-Use

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Joe Shean, Owner, RP AbrasivesJoe Shean, Owner
When it comes to surgical equipment manufacturing, finishing services are one of the most important aspects. A manufacturer can create the equipment with the right sizes, shapes, and features but it can only be usable when the surfaces and the edges of the product are polished appropriately. In recent years, the requirement for surface finishing in medical equipment has become more and more precise and difficult to achieve. This is because machining has become precise and repeatable such that the surface of the product now makes a huge impact on how the product performs. At the forefront of equipment finishing is RP Abrasives that offers high quality finished parts with fast turnaround times. “Through our many processes such as bead blasting, vibratory and high energy tumbling, wheel and hand deburring, and finally buffing and polishing, we can achieve just about any finish clients need,” says Joe Shean, Owner of RP Abrasives.

In a typical customer meeting, RP Abrasives understands the kind of finish the client desires. Here, the company analyzes the size of each product and the total number and then reviews the sample drawing provided by the client. It will provide surface finishes on client-supplied sample products to determine the exact type of finish client requires. Once the client is satisfied with the finish, the company proceeds to pricing and then executes small runs to validate the process. When the client is comfortable with the validation, then the company enters into full production. “The value that we bring to the client is being able to achieve different specifications rapidly and cost-effectively,” explains Shean.

Based on client requirements, RP Abrasives offers various finishing services.

The value that we bring to the client is being able to achieve different specifications rapidly and cost effectively

“When we started back in 1996, the star of our business was the removal of small burrs. Today, we have progressed to providing any finish required for the application,” explains Shean. The company helps to remove burrs, which like wood slivers are small and hard to get off. Along with the removal, RP Abrasives also helps clients in edge rounding with chamfering. “Usually, at the end of the machining process, the edge is normally 90-degree corner making it very sharp; for almost all cases this should be rounded.” Next, the company provides vibratory and high energy tumbling which is also called centrifugal barrel tumbling that can give extremely smooth surfaces. On the other hand, to provide matte finishes, the company offers bead blasting services where small particles are pushed against the product’s surface using compressed air. This creates a matte and non-reflective finish. Finally, RP Abrasives offers passivation services using a citric acid based solution to passivate stainless steel and titanium to improve the equipment’s resistance to corrosion. Clients can select one or a combination of these services for their products. In addition, the company’s quality management system meets all the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 to ensure the highest quality for customers.

Over the years, RP Abrasives has served numerous medical equipment providers. In an instance, a large surgical equipment manufacturer was struggling with surface finishes. The company provided some samples to the client and discussed the pros and cons of each type and finally narrowed down on certain parameters. Soon RP Abrasives started providing the required finishes to the equipment that helped the client achieve significant growth across the U.S. market.
Moving ahead, the company is set to expand its capabilities in each of its processes by incorporating any new trends. Similarly, the company will continue concentrating on providing finishing to more equipment with utmost precision.