We don’t just manufacture complex mechanical parts; we also create original works of art for clients and collections around the world.
Here at Thompson Precision, we often utilise our high precision engineering skills in new and interesting ways; with the technical know how and the infrastructure to produce intricate, original and highly accurate components for a variety of industries, every now and then we stray into an area where the terms micron and gauge are less commonly heard; the world of art.
Alongside our sister company JH May Models and Prototypes, we often get tasked to produce support structures, wall fittings and CNC sculpted metalwork for companies and galleries requiring our services; we also have the capability to create one-off components for products in the design and prototyping stages of manufacture. But every so often a project comes along that is less about solving issues of performance and more about highlighting aesthetics.
While tolerances aren’t always necessitated to the same degree as a job for the aerospace industry, objects we’ve manufactured for the art world are still treated to the same rigorous standards as any other project. We still follow an artist’s or design engineer’s drawing to the most precise measurements, and often have to use all of our collective engineering ingenuity to solve problems; how do you secure a piece of metal that only has curved edges and can’t be screwed to a mounting plate? How do you give a piece structural stability after milling it with more holes than Swiss cheese? These are the sorts of problems we love to solve, as they combine practical knowledge with the creation of imaginative solutions.
How do you balance engineering impossibilities with the need to create intricate works of art?
Somebody had to figure out how to move the stones to Stonehenge, or build the first bridge across an expanse of water. While we have considerably more high tech equipment and design software, sometimes the answer is suitably traditional. We’ve often had to segment an operation into many smaller milling programmes on the CNC machine to ensure a solid base to work from, or to utilise a CAD’s negative to create a custom-built tool to hold an item in place. And sometimes we just have to take a step back and have a good think about how we’re going to overcome a problem; that tends to be when we come up with our most ingenious solutions. Complex or simple, we can provide tooling solutions to streamline manufacture for mass production or a small batch operation; this can help make an impossible job slightly more manageable!
This mind-set keeps us on our toes by constantly innovating new ideas and over the near century we’ve been operational, our repertoire of problem solving techniques can lead to solutions for a company’s toughest problems. If you need some help with figuring out how to manufacture an item, or with streamlining a difficult problem, we can help come up with efficient and innovative answers.
Whether it’s an exhibit for an art gallery or a complex multifarious mechanism, rest assured Thompson Precision can develop a solution for the manufacturing of your project. Our disciplined and exacting engineers can think outside the box to manufacture almost anything; let us know what you need and we’ll let you know how we can help.
