GreatLight machines Golden Valley auto parts and hardware from billet: brackets, housings, shafts and fittings in stainless, aluminum and steel. Tolerances to ±0.005 mm, 100% inspection before shipment, and one prototype or 10,000 parts.
Four failures we get called in to fix.
A 0.03 mm plating build-up closes a bearing seat that was already on the low side. The part passes incoming inspection and fails at assembly, and the whole lot is scrap. Plating thickness belongs in the drawing and in the process plan, not in a footnote.
The machine shop holds the bracket, the finisher holds the coating, and nobody owns the final dimension. When the two stack up out of spec, each side points at the other. One vendor running the full sequence removes that gap.
Article one measures well on the bench. By part 400 the tool has worn, and a 0.02 mm shift on a shoulder turns into a fit problem. Without in-process monitoring, you find out at your customer, not at the machine.
A drawing goes out, then silence. Tooling questions, material substitutions and plating notes bounce back and forth. While that loop runs, your assembly line schedule keeps moving toward the ship date.
Milling, turning, finishing and inspection under one roof in Dongguan.
Brackets, housings and fittings with angled faces or intersecting bores usually need three or four setups on a 3-axis mill. Each reset adds stack-up error and handling time. We run 16 simultaneous 5-axis machining centers, so a part like a steering knuckle adapter or a pump housing comes off one setup with the datums intact.
For turned hardware we use 16 mill-turn centers. A shaft with a cross-drilled hole and a milled flat does not travel between two machines, which keeps concentricity where the drawing puts it. Maximum processing size is 4,000 mm, and the Ø400 mm rotary table covers most flange and hub work.
Hardware that sees road salt, brake dust or engine heat rarely fails because the geometry was wrong. It fails because the alloy or the coating was picked at the end of the job. We cut 303, 304, 316L, 420, 17-4PH and 440C stainless, plus 6061-T6, 7075 and 2024 aluminum, 1045 and 4140 steel, and C36000 brass.
Finish gets planned with the tolerance. A hardcoat anodize adds roughly 0.02 mm per surface, so a bore that must stay at nominal gets masked or cut undersize on purpose. Electroless nickel, zinc plating, black oxide and bead blasting all run through our own finishing line, so we own the final dimension after coating.
Match the geometry to the machine before you commit to a quote.
| Part feature | Process | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Angled face, compound bore | 5-axis milling | One setup, datums stay intact |
| Shaft with cross hole | Mill-turn | Concentricity held without refixturing |
| Thin wall under 1 mm | 3-axis + soft jaws | Less radial load, less chatter |
| Bearing seat, tight fit | Turning + grinding check | Roundness verified on the CMM |
| Flange up to Ø400 mm | 4-axis with rotary table | Indexed holes without repositioning |
| Long extrusion to 4,000 mm | 3-axis gantry | Travel covers the full length |
Six routes, one quality system.
Complex housings, brackets and adapters machined in a single setup. Best when the part has angled faces, deep pockets or bores that must stay true to each other.
Prismatic and round parts in the same shop. Turned diameters down to tight limits, with cross-drilled and milled features added on mill-turn centers.
One-off and low-volume parts for fit checks and test rigs. Production can start within 24 hours of a released drawing.
Anodizing, electroless nickel, zinc, black oxide, powder coating, bead blasting and laser marking. Marked characters at 1.5 mm minimum height.
Brackets, covers and shields when a part is better formed or cast than cut. We help pick the route before quoting.
Machined parts combined with purchased hardware and packed to your line sequence. One shipment instead of five.
Standard on every order unless your drawing says otherwise.
| Item | Included | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tolerance | ±0.005 mm / ±0.0002 in | On critical features, stated per drawing |
| Surface finish | Ra 0.8–1.6 μm | Ra 0.2–0.8 μm on request |
| First article | Report on request | Dimensional report with the first shipment |
| In-process check | Yes | Operator checks at set intervals |
| Final inspection | 100% before shipment | Raw material, in-process and final |
| Documents | Material cert, inspection report | On request, NDA available |
Data first, adjectives later.
Fifteen years on automotive and hardware parts, three wholly-owned plants and 7,600 m² of floor space. The process knowledge is in the building, not in a subcontractor's queue.
Stated in millimeters and inches. If your print calls for something tighter than the process can hold repeatably, we say so at the DFM stage instead of at first article.
16 simultaneous 5-axis centers, 12 four-axis mills, 27 three-axis machines and 16 mill-turn centers. Capacity spreads across jobs, so one large order does not stall the rest.
Measured across shipped lots. Parts that fail final inspection get reworked or remade before they leave, not after they arrive.
IATF 16949:2016 alongside ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016 and ISO 27001:2022. Documented process control, traceable material, controlled change.
Quotation and a free DFM analysis within 12 hours. Production can start within 24 hours of release, and parts ship in 3–5 days.
Housings, brackets and powertrain fittings where bore position drives assembly fit and NVH.
Shafts, couplings and wear parts that must interchange across builds without hand fitting.
End-effector plates and joint hardware where weight and stiffness trade off against each other.
Fasteners, fittings and replacement parts that have to match an OEM interface decades later.
One part. There is no minimum order quantity, so a single prototype and a 10,000-part run go through the same quoting and inspection process.
The setup cost is the same either way, so the per-part price drops sharply once tooling and fixtures are amortized. If you expect volume later, tell us at the quote stage and we will design the fixture for it.
±0.005 mm, or ±0.0002 in, on critical features. That is a process capability, not a blanket callout on every dimension.
Features that do not need it should stay looser. Holding a non-critical length to ±0.005 mm adds cost and inspection time without improving the fit. Send the drawing and we will tell you which dimensions drive the price.
Yes, and we prefer to plan it before cutting. Electroless nickel and hardcoat anodize each add material, typically in the 0.01–0.03 mm per surface range depending on the spec.
Bores that must stay at nominal get masked, or cut undersize by the expected build-up. Tell us the final coated dimension you need, not the pre-plate dimension.
Stainless 303, 304, 316, 316L, 420, 430, 431, 440C and 17-4PH for corrosion and wear resistance. Aluminum 6061, 6061-T6, 2024, 5052, 5083, 6063, 6082, 7075 and ADC12 for weight-driven parts.
Steel grades include 1018, 1045, 4130, 4140, 4340 and A36. Titanium TA1, TA2 and TC4, plus Inconel and magnesium AZ31B or AZ91D, are available for special cases. Brass C36000 and copper C110 cover electrical hardware.
Uploads stay confidential and we sign an NDA on request before you send anything. Access to files is limited to the engineers and machinists who need them for the job.
If your program requires it, we can quote from a simplified drawing with the critical dimensions only, then release the full model after the NDA is in place.
A price, a lead time and a free DFM analysis, all within 12 hours. The DFM notes flag features that will be expensive, hard to inspect or likely to distort.
We also point out where a tolerance, finish or material change would cut cost without affecting function. You decide whether to take it.
IATF 16949:2016 is the automotive quality system, supported by ISO 9001:2015. ISO 13485:2016 covers medical work and ISO 27001:2022 covers information security.
Material certificates and dimensional inspection reports come with the shipment on request.
Production can start within 24 hours of a released drawing, and parts ship in 3–5 days depending on quantity and finishing.
Our historical late-delivery probability is below 2%. If a finish or a material needs outside lead time, we tell you at quote rather than at the ship date.
Upload your CAD files and we will return a quotation with a free DFM analysis. No minimum order, and an NDA is available before you send anything.
12-hour quote100% inspectionNo minimum orderNDA on request
Trusted by engineers and manufacturers worldwide
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
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