Sculpin

Surmodics hydrophillic coatings may be second to none. They have p[proven to be reliable, and durable once implemented on our manufacturing line. The staff was very helpful in determining our needs, and formulating a coating that simply works. The down side is that in order to gain access to their coating, we had to pay a significant development fee, and then they also wanted royalties based on our sales so in the end the coating cost can become a significant contributor to the COGS. But if you need it, it is worth it!

Strengths: Lubricious cotaings

Needs to improve: cost and contract requirements

ViaMed was very helpful in the development of our braided nitinol device. When other vendors were unwilling to run a variety of sub-minimum quantity runs, ViaMed agreed to run a whole matrix of braid for us with varying parameters (pic count, wire size, number of wires, etc.) so that we could determine what combination would allow the device to work. Without their cooperation, we would have spent 5X the cost and it would have taken 3X the time. The team at ViaMed really understands the needs of the little company and make a great partner.

Strengths: braiding - especially for early concept development

Needs to improve: no complaints

We purchased several of their torque watches for use on the catheter manufacturing floor. These tools were used to reliable tighten critical #2 screws that made the whole device work properly, so accuracy, repeatability and duty cycle were critical. The Mountz tools have met our needs and have been on the line for years. Highly recommended.

Strengths: toque watches

Needs to improve: no complaints

We sourced thin walled (.005" nom. wall) braided shaft at Teleflex. Price and delivery were reasonable compared to other quotes and they delivered beautiful shaft on time with each order. While they may not always be able to react as quickly as the small shops, their ability to quickly scale up manufacturing can be a huge offsetting advantage - especially if your specs are within the normal range.

Strengths: Braided shaft

Needs to improve: no complaints

The small, but beefy orange handled scissors are the best. Excelta also makes several full lines of tweezers in all sorts of configurations - I have made particularly heavy use of the revers action tweezers and the tweezers with replaceable plastic tips for handling polished implants. The various product lines allow you to pay for the level of quality that you require. Similarly, the side cutters are of great quality and come in a variety of sizes and styles. But seriously, the orange handled scissors are the best.

Strengths: Tweezers
Side Cutters
Scissors

Needs to improve: none

Harvey Tool is a great resource for miniature cutting tools. I usually purchase from their expansive catalog, but if you need something different, they custom make tools as well. The quality of their carbide tooling is high, and they have a wide variety of strange tools in stock (20, 30, 40 degree countersinks that cuts to .010", anyone?) I've referred Harvey Tool to a couple of my local machine shops when they said that my part was difficult to machine to great success.

Strengths: Carbide machine tools

Needs to improve: none

Meiji scopes are my favorite (and the operator's favorite) for miniature assembly work. They are well built with excellent depth and field of view, allowing for many hours of comfortable use in the clean room. I have used a couple other varieties, but keep coming back to the Meiji's. The tri-ocular version also makes capturing photos of issues on the line for later discussion very easy. Highly Recommended!

Strengths: Excellent stereo microscopes

Needs to improve: none

Like others have stated, Lumen Dynamics is the manufacturer of the OmniCure UV light sources. We have several of these in the lab, and they work reliably and get used daily to create high quality catheter bonds. The only real cost of ownership is when the bulb burns out, then you are on the hook for hundreds of dollars. Their newer LED based offerings look quite nice, and we will be talking to them more when it is time to buy additional curing stations.

Strengths: UV Cure Systems

Needs to improve: they keep changing names

I miss Small Parts, but I have to say that the Amazon search is much better, and it is overall easier to find what I am looking for. Throw in use of my existing Prime account, and this is a winner. Just like SPI, Amazon Supply carries a wide range of materials that are useful for prototyping and model making. It is a convenient place to get heat shrink tubing, nitinol wire as well as PTFE coated mandrels. They may not have exactly what you want, and the materials are probably not suited for production, but it's perfect to knocking out a couple of initial prototypes.

Strengths: Stock tools, materials and components for catheter prototyping.

Needs to improve: none

I used to use the Rutland Tool on Brokaw road a fair amount as it was just down the street. The MSC take over hasn't changed my experience much as they still maintain a large catalog of tooling, much of which is shipped over from Reno, NV. That shipment often takes a day or two, so if I need something right away I am forced to look elsewhere.

Good variety of tooling with an equally wide range of cost and quality.

Strengths: Large catalog of metalworking supplies

Needs to improve: none

We have purchased stock (off the shelf) silicone tubing for use in our bench model and silicone sheet for use in our device itself. Customer service was helpful in finding the parts that I needed, and shipment of all components was fast and accurate. The sheeting came sterile, which increased the cost, but it was in stock and certified medical grade material, so I have no complaints. Great vendor to work with when you can't wait for custom silicone parts.

Strengths: Silicaone tubing and sheet

Needs to improve: none of note

I have used a number of Instron load frames, load cells and software. Instron's systems work well and are very versatile. Load cells are easy to change and appear to re-calibrate well. As with any fully functioned test machine, the software is very capable, but it can be difficult to get it to do what you want it to do without pouring through the manual for hours. Once established, however, the programs run smoothly. The cost of pneumatic grips and alternate specimen holding apparatus can get very expensive very quickly, but the quality of all Instron gear is consistently high.

Strengths: tensile/compression test machines

Needs to improve: none of note

When you work at a start-up there is never time to wait for anything so when I need a hot box, I usually call these guys and Hot Air Systems and buy the unit from whoever can 1) deliver it faster and 2) sell it for less. I have purchased a few of the Beahm units this way, and feel that their polish is a bit higher than their competitor, but in day to day use all the machines have performed identically. Beahm does have the advantage of a wider selection of process automation equipment once your needs grow out of the simple hot box.

Strengths: Hot boxes for catheter development

Needs to improve: none

When you work at a start-up there is never time to wait for anything so when I need a hot box, I usually call these guys and Beahm and buy the unit from whoever can 1) deliver it faster and 2) sell it for less. On many occasions, I have ended up with the Hot Air Systems boxes, and have not been disappointed. They also offer a wide variety of nozzles and I can generally find one that meets my needs.

Strengths: Hot Boxes for catheter processing

Needs to improve: none

If you are trying to source a well understood braided component, with mid to large volumes, then Secant is the place to go. Even if your specs aren't completely dialed in, the can help you get there. Secant will also do smaller prototype runs, but in my experience, their business doesn't focus on this part of the development process, and it is more difficult and expensive to get things done. After all, braiding is primarily a large quantity operation where the set-up costs can be a substantial contributor to the piece part cost. I would still recommend Secant, but it's important to know where their focus is before you start.

Strengths: Braiding of metallic and non-metallic fibers

Needs to improve: much more interested in large orders

We sent our nitinol implant devices here for testing to support MRI Conditional labeling. While I assume all of the reports are nearly identical, our report was detailed and complete and delivered slightly ahead of schedule. We have submitted these reports to FDA and CE notified bodies with excellent results and have used the MRI conditional information on the info card that is kept by the patient. Highly recommended.

Strengths: MRI related testing

Needs to improve: None, but Dr. Shellock is a character!

I have purchased Martech's tear-away sheaths and their standard introducer & dilator components. The OEM introducers were modified to become a main part of our product, so we were very dependent on their quality. I'm happy to report that all of the components have met our acceptance criteria and performed well in testing and in the field.

Strengths: OEM Introducer Sheaths
Dilators

Needs to improve: none

We installed a small compressor to supply our R&D lab and modular cleanroom. The system was set-up indoors, next to the CER. It worked well, and supplied all of the capacity that we needed, however, it was a bit loud for our space. We added a couple layers of rubber pads under the feet to keep the vibration out of the concrete slab, but the purge of the tank was always loud and somewhat surprising. Overall, it was a pretty good solution for our application.

Strengths: Small CDA systems

Needs to improve: Could be quieter

While not inexpensive, the EFD adhesive delivery systems work very well. I have used both the newer blue units as well as the older black units on the manufacturing line and R&D lab with excellent results. On the line, they can make a huge difference in reliability of the bonding processes, in the lab they are just more convenient than using the hand plungers.

Strengths: Adhesive dispensing

Needs to improve: price

We had Lloyd design and manufacture a custom piece of test equipment to assess the adhesion of a lubricious coating to our catheter shaft. While the final product was somewhat cumbersome, the machine worked fine and had the ability to catch adhesion issues prior to releasing the product into the field.

Strengths: Custom mechanical testers

Needs to improve: none identified