We machine smaller components for CAL 1003 on our Swiss lathe, including screws.
When the machine completes a batch of screws, 1,000 can fit into one tiny box.
Once a screw is machined, they must be finished before they are assembled with the rest of the CAL 1003 components. After machining, each screw is individually hand-finished with multiple polishing steps.
Here is Cameron working on a batch of 1,000 screws.
The shiny, polished screws are then heat hardened and tempered in a vacuum chamber. Performing the hardening and tempering without the presence of air allows us to get just the right hardness of the steel, while maintaining the high polished finish. Once the screws are at the desired hardness they are individually flame-blued. The blue coloring is actually a protective oxidation layer that is formed when steel is heated to 300 degrees Celsius. This blue oxidation paired with the high polished surface helps to prevent other oxidation that is damaging, such as rust.
Now the screw is ready to go into the next CAL 1003!
