Machining capabilities
What we can hold, in what size, out of what material — stated plainly so you can decide in a minute whether your part belongs on our machines.
Critical milled parts
Prismatic and contoured components cut on 3- and 4-axis vertical machining centres, with workholding designed and made in-house rather than improvised on the day.
Most of what comes through the mill section is aerospace and defence hardware: brackets, housings, manifold blocks, covers and pocketed structural pieces where wall thickness, true position and flatness all have to hold at the same time.
The 4th axis lets us take multi-face parts in fewer settings, which is usually where accumulated tolerance goes wrong. Where a part still needs more than one setting, the datum scheme is agreed with you before the first cut, not after the first rejection.
Typical work
- Housings, covers and bearing carriers
- Airframe and equipment brackets
- Manifold and valve blocks with cross-drilled ports
- Contoured and deep-pocketed structural components
- Thin-wall parts requiring staged stress relief
| Machines | 2 × LMW J2 vertical machining centre, 4th axis |
| Work envelope | 800 × 500 × 500 mm |
| Axes | 3-axis, plus 4th-axis rotary indexing |
| Positional tolerance | ±0.01 mm achievable |
| Surface finish | 0.4–1.6 Ra typical |
| Batch size | 1-off prototypes to 500-off repeat batches |
| Workholding | Designed and machined in-house; soft jaws, dedicated fixtures, tombstones |
| Programming | CAM from your native or neutral CAD; simulated before proving |
A 5-axis Hurco VM10i is on order for the last week of December 2026, which will add single-setting machining of contoured and angled features. See the incoming machine list.
Turned critical parts
Shafts, bushes, flanges and spacers held to close diametral, concentricity and runout limits on CNC turning centres.
Turning is where material behaviour shows up fastest. Titanium work-hardens, Inconel loads the tool, 17-4 PH moves after heat treatment. We hold parameters that have already been proved on those grades rather than finding out on your batch.
Long or slender parts are supported and cut in stages, with dimensional checks between roughing and finishing so that we catch drift while there is still stock left to correct it.
Typical work
- Shafts, spindles and slender turned parts
- Bushes, sleeves, spacers and seal rings
- Flanges and adaptor bodies
- Threaded, grooved and undercut features
- Close-concentricity assemblies machined as matched pairs
| Machines | LMW LL20TL5 CNC turning centre |
| Swing / length | Ø300 × 500 mm |
| Diametral tolerance | ±0.01 mm achievable |
| Concentricity | to 0.02 mm TIR, part dependent |
| Surface finish | 0.4–1.6 Ra typical |
| Threads | Metric, UN, NPT and drawing-specified forms |
| On order | 2 × Lokesh TL200 turning centres, ordered 22 August 2026 |
Fixtures and functional gauges
Workholding, checking fixtures and functional gauges — designed, machined and proved against the master drawing before they are used on anything that matters.
Machining fixtures
Dedicated workholding that locates on the part's own datums, repeats across a batch, and does not distort a thin-wall component while it is being cut.
- Milling and turning fixtures
- Welding and assembly jigs
- Soft-jaw and vacuum solutions
Checking fixtures
Fixtures that hold a production part in its functional orientation so that inspection measures what the assembly will actually see.
- Attribute and variable checking
- Correlated against the CMM
- Documented with a usage sheet
Functional gauges
Go / no-go plug, ring, thread and profile gauges made to the print, with a calibration record and a stated wear allowance.
- Plug, ring and snap gauges
- Thread and profile gauges
- Gauge R&R support on request
Files we can work from
Send the native file if you can. A 2D print alone is fine too — we will model from it and send the model back for your approval before cutting.
| Type | Formats |
|---|---|
| 3D neutral | STEP (.stp / .step), IGES, Parasolid (.x_t) |
| 3D native | SolidWorks, CATIA V5, NX, Creo |
| 2D | DWG, DXF, PDF |
| Inspection | Ballooned PDF, AS9102 forms, customer QAP |
| Large files | WeTransfer, Google Drive or your own portal |
What we would rather you tell us up front
- The tightest tolerance on the print, and which feature carries it
- The material specification, not just the family — AMS-4911 rather than "titanium"
- Whether the part is heat treated, and at what point in the route
- Which inspection documents your goods-inward needs to accept the part
- Quantity now, and quantity per year if this repeats
Under NDA before you send anything? Say so in the enquiry and we will sign yours, or send ours, before drawings move.
What we do not do — yet
Said plainly, so you do not lose a week finding out. Where a route needs one of these, we manage it through approved partners and stay accountable for the finished part.
In-house special processes
Heat treatment, plating, anodising, painting and NDT are subcontracted to approved sources, controlled by our purchase order and inspected on return.
Very large components
Anything beyond 800 × 500 × 500 mm milled, or Ø300 × 500 mm turned, is outside today's envelope.
High-volume production
We are built for 1-off to a few hundred. Tens of thousands a month belongs with a shop set up for it.
Send the drawing. Get a price in 24 hours.
Tell us the material, the quantity, the tightest tolerance on the print and which inspection documents you need. We come back inside one working day with feasibility, price and a date.