Frequently Asked Questions

1. What industries does Prime Products work with?

Our largest customers are in the Aerospace industry, however we also serve customer in the Medical, and Audio equipment industries, as well as a variety of other industries.

2. What companies does Prime Products work with?

We are typically a good fit for customers in any industry who require:

• A single source for machined or laser cut parts that are painted, printed, laser etched or require other high-quality cosmetic finishes
• High-quality finishing on their supplied parts
• Quality certifications such as AS9100, ISO 9001 and Nadcap
• On-time delivery
• Outstanding customer service
• Low to mid production volumes
• Repeat orders, blanket orders and long-term agreements

3. What types of customers are not a good fit for Prime Products?

We are typically not a good fit for customers who are looking for cheap prices or high production volumes. We are also not well suited for customers who lack drawings and specifications to define their requirements or those who are looking for a product to be built just one time.

4. What certifications does Prime Products maintain?

We maintain a quality management system that is third-party certified to AS9100 and ISO 9001. We are also Nadcap accredited for Painting & Dry Film Coatings and we maintain ITAR registration for drawings that are EAR and/or ITAR controlled.

5.Can Prime Products design my part for me?

No, our AS9100 quality certification is without design, so we require our customers to provide drawings and specifications for the products that we produce. We can provide design guidance as it relates to manufacturability upon request.

6. What types of parts can you spray paint?

We are able to paint a variety of materials, including aluminum, stainless steel, acrylic, polycarbonate, and silicone. Our spray booths can accommodate parts that are up to 24” x 24”, although we are best suited forparts that are much smaller than this. We offer a wide variety of pre-cleaning methods, including plasma (corona) treating, and we have batch and walk-in ovens for post thermal curing.

7. What types of paints can you work with?

We have extensive experience with many solvent based paint systems from OEM’s such as Cardinal, DayGlo, Deft, Exxene, Klinger, PPG, Randolph and Sherwin Williams, including mil spec paints such as DOD-P-15328, MIL-DTL-53022, MIL-PRF-22750, MIL-PRF-23377, MIL-PRF-85285, TT-E-489, TT-E-527, TT-E-529, TT-L-20 and TT-P-1757.

8. What types of materials and artworks can you screen or pad print?

We can print with many different ink types,including Nazdar, Trans-Tech and GT Products, on a wide variety of materials including plastics, composites, metals, painted surfaces and silicone. We offer plasma (corona) treating when necessary to ensure optimal ink adhesion. Parts with flat and smooth surfaces are typically screen-printed with nearly no limit to the artwork size. Curved or textured surfaces are typically pad printed with an artwork size up to 3” diameter.

9. What file type can you accept for artwork?

Our engineers can create the files we need based on your fully dimensioned drawing or, to save on NRE charges, you can supply the artwork file in .dxf, .dwg, .eps, .ai and .cdr file formats.

10. What materials can you laser etch?

We are able to laser etch on painted surfaces, anodized metals, stainless steel, aluminum and a variety of plastics. However, as the results can vary greatly between materials, we generally ask for a sample piece to test materials we have not etched previously. We have the capability to mark a 6” diameter flat area (up to 25″ x 16″ with multiple setups), and parts that are no taller than 5”. Rounded surfaces are difficult, but can potentially be marked, depending on the degree of curvature. Our fiber lasers are designed for marking and paint removal purposes, and therefore do not engrave with a depth.

11. What types of materials can you laser cut?

We are able to laser cut up to 1 inch thick acrylic, .125” thick carbon steel, and .060” aluminum or stainless steel. Most films and reflector/diffuser materials also cut very well on the laser. We can cut some types of silicone and rubber products as well, but we will need a sample of the material in order to test as some of these materials tend to burn when laser cut. Polycarbonate also tends to burn and discolor on the edges, but for some applications that are not cosmetically sensitive, it can still be an option

12. What types of parts can you machine?

We are best suited for small, tight-tolerance, cosmetically sensitive plastic and aluminum parts such as panels, buttons, knobs, dials, lenses, etc. Our CNC mills are 3-axis with high rpm spindles. Our CNC lathes feature a Y axis, live tooling, sub spindle and bar feeder.

13. What types of illuminated components do you produce?

We manufacture illuminated light plates, panels, buttons, dials, pointers and knobs from materials such as acrylic, polycarbonate and silicone. Each product is built to meet our customer’s requirements for color, gloss, light transmission, luminance, chromaticity and contrast ratio. The part is produced and tested using a lighting fixture that is supplied by our customer, or we can procure the lamp boards and supply completed assemblies.

14. Can you produce panels per MIL-DTL-7788?

We can comply with most of the requirements of MIL-DTL-7788, but because we don’t have design authority, we need our customers to provide drawings which fully define the requirements and we need them to handle any environmental testing that is required. We can build NVIS panels but we need our customers to assist with ensuring our process yields parts that are within their spectral radiance limits.

15. Does Prime Products accept blanket orders?

Yes, we do accept blanket orders for our established customers. Customers may split deliveries with predefined limits on the value of each delivery. Typically all blanket order deliveries must be taken within one year of the order date.

16. What types of credit cards do you accept?

We do not accept credit cards. For established customers, we can set up anaccount with payment terms.