Skip to content

04 / About JTR

Three decades. One standard.

JTR Specialties is a precision machine shop in South El Monte, California. We've done honing, lapping, grinding, and testing work since 1995, and Joe and Tim Ramos still run the shop. We hold tight tolerances, we hit our dates, and we stand behind our work.

The JTR shop floor in South El Monte, with Sunnen honing machines and the crew at work
The shop
10356 Rush St, South El Monte
Tim Ramos working at the CNC cylindrical grinder, print clipped to the machine
SECOND GENERATION
Tim Ramos

Our story · Since 1995

Three initials over the door.

JTR is the family. J for Joe, T for Tim, R for Rosa. Joe Ramos put those three letters over the door when he opened the shop in 1995. We treat every job like the family name is on it, because it is.

Three decades later, the Ramos family still owns and runs the shop. Most of what we do is honing, lapping, grinding, and testing, O.D. and I.D. work that has to be held tight, and most of it comes from customers who have been sending us parts for years. You don't keep that kind of business unless you hold your tolerances and hit your dates.

1995 → Today

Measured in decades.

31 years and counting

  1. 1995
    The doors open

    Joe Ramos opens the shop in Covina, California, with the family's initials on the door and ten years in the trade already behind him.

  2. 2006
    The move to South El Monte

    New machines, new methods, and more demand call for a bigger building. Honing, lapping, and testing come together under one roof in South El Monte.

  3. 2010s
    The next generation

    Tim joins Joe in running the shop, holding the standard his dad set. More grinding and flat lapping capacity comes into the building.

  4. Today
    Still family-run

    Joe and Tim Ramos run the shop together, and the standard set in 1995 hasn't moved.

Sunnen honing machine set up mid-job, with a dial bore gauge and micrometers on the tool tray
The honing bay · gauged at the machine
Machinist inspecting a finished part under a stereo microscope at the inspection bench
The inspection bench · checked before it ships

How we work

Small shop. Run right.

01

Nothing gets lost here

We're a small shop, so a job never disappears into a queue. The machinist who sets up your part sees it through inspection, and if you have a question, that's who you'll talk to.

02

Hard parts welcome

Some parts don't have an obvious way to hold them or finish them. We'd rather build a fixture or work out a setup than tell you it can't be done.

03

Fast, without shortcuts

Fast turnaround is a big reason customers come to us, but we don't cut corners to get there. The part is right and it's on time. That's the job.

Come by the shop.

Closed weekends

05 / Contact

Let's talk about your part.

Have a print, a model, or a part that has been hard to source? Send the details and you will get a quote and a straight answer, usually within one business day.

Call us Request a Quote