We turn one-off and low-volume nonstandard parts from bar stock to ±0.005 mm. Live-tool mill-turn centers handle cross holes, flats and threads in one setup, so your drawing holds without extra operations.
If any of these sound familiar, the fix is usually in setup and process control, not in the drawing.
The first part measures fine. Parts 20 through 60 drift as the bar heats up and the tool wears. By the time the lot reaches inspection, the bore is 0.02 mm out and the whole run gets scrapped or reworked. Thermal drift on a lathe is predictable and can be compensated with offsets between cuts.
A turned part with cross holes, flats or an axial slot often gets sent to a mill after turning. That second clamping point adds runout and cost. If the lathe has live tooling and a sub-spindle, the same program finishes both sides without releasing the part.
Wall sections under 0.5 mm collapse or spring back under three-jaw chuck pressure. The bore goes oval and the OD is no longer concentric. Soft jaws bored to the part diameter, light radial cuts and a support mandrel keep the wall round through the whole cycle.
A nonstandard part with no history means the shop has to guess at setup time, tooling and fixture cost. Those guesses come back as a wide price range or a slow quote. When the shop has the machine envelope and the material in stock, the quote can be firm and issued the same day.
Mill-turn capability, in-process measurement and a process plan written around your specific part geometry.
Most nonstandard parts arrive as a turned body with a handful of off-axis features: a cross hole, two flats, a thread, maybe a keyway. On a plain lathe those features force a second operation. On our mill-turn centers the B-axis and live tooling cut them in the same cycle, and the sub-spindle picks up the part for the back side.
That matters for concentricity. Every time a part is unclamped and moved, it picks up runout. Keeping it in one workholding reference from blank to finished part is the difference between a 0.01 mm and a 0.005 mm true position on the cross feature.
A lathe cut is only as good as the measurement behind it. We check the first article against the drawing, then re-measure at set intervals through the run. If the trend line moves, the operator applies a tool offset before the part leaves tolerance, not after.
For tight bores and thin walls we gauge with bore micrometers and pin gauges rather than calipers, because caliper readings on a 0.4 mm wall tell you almost nothing. Reports are available on request for any lot.
The turning/ milling split is decided by geometry and feature count, not by habit.
| Part characteristic | Best process | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Round or near-round body, OD/ID ratio > 1 | CNC turning | Chucking is stable, no fixture needed |
| Cross holes and flats on a shaft | Mill-turn, one setup | Concentricity held across features |
| Thin wall under 0.5 mm | Turning with soft jaws | Even radial load, less spring-back |
| Flat plate with pockets, no round datum | 3-axis milling | Turning adds no value here |
| Complex 5-face geometry in one cycle | 5-axis machining | Fewer setups, less stacking error |
| Prototype quantity of 1 to 10 | Bar-fed turning | No fixture cost, fast changeover |
One shop for the turned part, the secondary features and the finish.
Bar-fed and chucked turning from Ø1 mm to Ø400 mm, with live tooling for cross holes, flats, slots and threads. One setup per side where the geometry allows it.
For nonstandard parts that need contoured surfaces, angled ports or five-face access. 16 simultaneous 5-axis centers available in the same plant.
Single-piece nonstandard parts turned and milled to fit form before you commit to a run. Same machines as production, so the prototype predicts the real part.
Anodizing, electroless nickel, zinc and silver plating, powder coating, black oxide, bead blasting and polishing, plus laser marking down to 1.5 mm character height.
Turned parts checked against mating components before shipment. Shafts fitted to bores, threads gauged, O-rings and bearings test-fitted where a drawing calls for them.
Aluminium, stainless, steel, brass, titanium, Inconel, magnesium and engineering plastics including POM, PEEK and HDPE, sourced against the grade your drawing names.
Numbers you can check a drawing against before sending it.
| Capability | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Turning diameter | Ø1 mm to Ø400 mm | Bar feed and chuck work |
| Maximum part size | 4,000 mm | Larger milled features available |
| Achievable tolerance | ±0.005 mm | On controlled diameters |
| Surface finish | Ra 0.2–0.8 μm | Fine turned and polished faces |
| Material grades | Aluminium, stainless, steel, brass | Titanium, Inconel, plastics on request |
| Lead time | Parts ship in 3–5 days | Production can start within 24 hours |
| Quotation | Within 12 hours | Includes free DFM analysis |
| Order size | From 1 piece to 10,000+ | No minimum order quantity |
Fifteen years of nonstandard part production, and the machine list to back it up.
Fifteen years of nonstandard parts, across three wholly-owned plants and 7,600 m² of manufacturing space.
Held on controlled diameters and bores. We tell you upfront which features can hit it and which cannot.
Turning, milling, 5-axis, mill-turn and finishing in the same plant. No shipping parts between vendors for secondary work.
Parts that pass inspection on the first submission. 100% inspection before shipment on every lot.
Quotation and free DFM analysis within 12 hours. Production can start within 24 hours of approval.
No minimum order quantity. The same program runs your prototype and your 10,000-part production lot.
Turned shafts, bushings and sensor housings that must hold bore concentricity across the lot.
Small-diameter turned components with fine surface finish and documented material traceability.
Turned joints, pins and actuator parts where fit and repeatability decide assembly time.
Nonstandard replacement parts for equipment where the original drawing is the only reference.
A nonstandard part is one that does not match a catalog item, so there is no off-the-shelf tooling or fixture behind it. That means the setup, the tool path and often the workholding have to be built around your specific drawing.
In practice this covers most turned components: a shaft with a nonstandard shoulder length, a bushing with a specific interference fit, or a housing with an off-center port. The work is in the setup, not in the cutting.
Turning runs from Ø1 mm up to Ø400 mm. Maximum processing size across the shop is 4,000 mm for parts that also need milled features.
Very small parts are usually bar-fed. Larger flanged or hollow bodies get chucked or fixtured, depending on wall stiffness and how the features are distributed.
Yes, on controlled diameters and bores, provided the material and wall section allow it. A rigid 17-4PH shaft is straightforward. A 0.3 mm wall in aluminium will move under chuck pressure regardless of the machine, so we would discuss a support mandrel or a different sequence first.
We tell you at the quote stage which features can hold ±0.005 mm and which need a wider band. That is more useful than a blanket tolerance claim.
For most turned parts, no dedicated fixture is needed. Standard collets and soft jaws bored to the part diameter cover the majority of jobs, so a single piece can be produced without a tooling charge.
If the geometry genuinely requires a custom fixture, for example a thin-walled part that needs radial support, we quote it separately and you keep the discussion at the drawing level.
On our mill-turn centers, live tooling cuts cross holes, flats, slots and threads in the same cycle as the turning. The part stays in one workholding reference, so the true position between the bore and the cross feature does not pick up re-clamping error.
If the feature count is high or the geometry is contoured, the part moves to a 5-axis center instead. The choice is made on feature count and access angle, not on machine availability.
Aluminium 6061-T6 and 7075, stainless 303, 304, 316L and 17-4PH, and steel 1045 and 4140 come up most often. Brass C36000 is common for small precision fittings.
Titanium Ti-6Al-4V, Inconel, magnesium and engineering plastics including POM, PEEK and HDPE are also in regular production. We match the grade named on your drawing rather than substituting.
Yes. Uploads are handled as confidential, and we can sign an NDA before you send the drawing if your process requires it.
Nonstandard parts often carry the design intent of the product, so access to the files is limited to the engineers and operators who need them for the job.
Quotation and free DFM analysis come back within 12 hours. Production can start within 24 hours of approval, and parts typically ship in 3–5 days.
That timeline assumes the drawing is released and the material grade is in stock. If a special grade has to be sourced, we tell you the added time at the quote stage rather than after the order.
Our engineers review your nonstandard part, flag any feature that cannot hold tolerance as drawn, and come back with a price you can plan around.
12-hour quoteFree DFM analysis100% inspectionNo minimum orderNDA on request
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Upload your 3D model or 2D drawing and get a quotation with a free DFM analysis. Maximum processing size 4,000 mm.
CNC Metals 13 grades
CNC Plastics 10 grades
Machines & processes 12 options
Surface & post-processing 10 options
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