Electronics Industry
A board is only as good as the box around it. If the standoff is 0.2 mm short, the connector will not mate. If the heat sink face is not flat, the chip runs hot.
CNC machining, 3D printing, injection molding and sheet metal. Enclosures, heat sinks, connector housings, faceplates, shield cans and chassis. One supplier from the first bracket to the shipping carton.
What we make
We do not build boards. We build everything the board bolts into, seals against, and dumps heat through. These are the eight part families we quote most.
Machined, molded or folded boxes with board standoffs, connector windows and a lid that closes flat.
Finned aluminium, copper spreaders and liquid cold plates. Flat mounting face, machined after anodising if needed.
Backshells, D-sub shells, terminal blocks and keyed plugs. Mating faces held to ±0.05 mm.
Anodised panels with laser marking, countersunk holes and masked ground pads.
Rack chassis, card guides, 19-inch panels and mounting brackets in cold rolled or galvanised steel.
Stamped stainless or beryllium copper cans, finger stock and conductive gasket grooves.
Bed-of-nails plates, board nests and alignment fixtures in POM, FR4-grade laminate or aluminium.
Turned aluminium knobs, molded caps and silicone keypads with a defined actuation force.
What decides whether it fits
Electronics parts are rarely hard to make. They are hard to make so that the third, fifth and five-thousandth assembly all close without a shim.
Standoff height, boss position and connector windows all stack up from the PCB. We dimension from the board outline, not from the outside of the box.
Shielding works only if the seam is continuous and the lid actually touches ground. A conductive coating over a painted flange shields nothing.
A 0.1 mm bow over a 40 mm chip leaves an air gap, and air is a poor conductor. Flatness matters more than the fin count on the drawing.
UL94 ratings are given per wall thickness. A resin that passes V-0 at 1.5 mm may fail at 0.8 mm. We confirm the grade against your actual wall.
Boss walls at 0.6 times the nominal wall, with gussets and a fillet at the base. For a lid that opens often, use a metal insert, not a plastic thread.
Two halves do not seal because you asked them to. A triangular weld bead, a locating step and 0.3 mm of collapse have to be designed into the part.
01CNC Machining
For metal parts where the board has to fit and the heat has to leave. No tooling, real material, and a drawing you can inspect against.
Pockets, standoffs and connector windows cut in one setup, so the board sits flat and the lid closes without a shim.
5-axis machining →6061-T6 with a mounting face flat to 0.02 mm over 100 mm. Fins cut to a 6:1 aspect ratio without chatter.
CNC milling →Turned shells and milled keyways. Mating faces held to ±0.05 mm so the plug seats fully and latches.
CNC turning →Anodised, laser marked and countersunk. Every hole dimensioned from one datum edge, not from each other.
Precision machining →Metals and plastics we machine for electronics
| Material | Why it is used | Finish that fits |
|---|---|---|
| 6061-T6 aluminium | Enclosures, heat sinks, faceplates | Anodise, chem film, bead blast |
| 7075 aluminium | Thin walls, stiff brackets | Hard anodise, masked pads |
| C110 copper | Heat spreaders, busbars | Nickel plate, or bare |
| Brass H62 | Connector shells, standoffs, pins | Nickel plate, gold flash |
| 304 / 316 stainless | Shield cans, wet or corrosive areas | Passivation, electropolish |
| POM (Delrin) | Insulators, test fixture plates | As machined, deburred |
| PEEK | High-temperature insulators, wafer parts | Annealed, as machined |
| PEI (Ultem) | Transparent covers, ESD-safe parts | Bead blast, vapour polish |
Finishes and markings you can specify
023D Printing
For fit checks, fixtures and short runs while the tool is still being quoted. Print the part, put the real board in it, and find the mistake in an afternoon.
0.05 mm layers, sharp connector windows and clean text. The fastest way to prove a board fits a shell.
SLA printing →Tough, dimensionally stable and snap-fit ready. Good for 20 to 200 brackets and covers with no tooling.
SLS printing →Aluminium, stainless and copper. Real metal for shield cans, heat sink prototypes and load-bearing brackets.
SLM printing →Printed nests, alignment blocks and covers in ESD-safe material, so a fixture never zaps the board it holds.
FDM printing →Choosing a print process
| Process | Detail and surface | Best for | Typical lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLA | 0.05 mm layers, smooth | Fit checks, fine connector detail | 2–4 days |
| DLP | 0.03 mm layers, sharp edges | Small precise inserts and caps | 2–4 days |
| SLS | 0.1 mm, uniform matte | Brackets, covers, snap fits | 3–5 days |
| MJF | 0.08 mm, slightly grainy | Small-batch end-use parts | 3–6 days |
| SLM | 0.03–0.05 mm, blasted | Metal shield cans, heat sink samples | 5–8 days |
| FDM (ESD) | 0.2 mm, visible layers | Fixtures, nests, handling trays | 1–3 days |
Send the STEP file plus the board outline you need to clear.
03Injection Molding
Where unit cost, wall thickness and a flame rating have to agree with each other. We check all three before we cut steel.
Walls from 1.5 to 3.0 mm, ribs at half the wall, 1 degree of draft. Balanced wall sections are what keep a box from warping.
Injection molding →Insert-molded pins and terminals located to ±0.05 mm on pitch. Coil formers with walls thin enough to fit the winding window.
Insert molding →ABS, PC/ABS, PBT, PPS and PEI with a UL94 V-0 rating at the wall you actually mould. Colour is confirmed against the yellow card.
Precision molding →TPE gaskets bonded to a hard shell, strain relief at the cable exit, and a weld bead designed in so two halves seal.
Overmolding →Resins we run for electronic parts
| Resin | Typical part | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| ABS (V-0 grade) | Enclosures, brackets, bezels | Rating holds only at the stated thickness |
| PC | Clear covers, light pipes | Must be dried, stress-cracks with some solvents |
| PC/ABS FR | Housings, control boxes | Paint or a dark masterbatch can drop the rating |
| PA66 | Connector bodies, bobbins | Absorbs moisture, so size moves after moulding |
| PBT GF15 | Connectors, coil formers | Glass fibre warps long flat sections |
| PPS GF40 | High-temp housings, SMT parts | Abrasive, wears gates and screws |
| PEI (Ultem) | ESD covers, high-heat parts | High melt temperature, needs a hot runner |
| PEEK | Wafer handling, high-temp parts | Expensive, high shrinkage, anneal after moulding |
| TPE / TPU | Gaskets, strain relief, seals | Bonds only to a compatible substrate |
Send the part, the wall thickness and the annual volume.
04Sheet Metal
Chassis, racks, brackets and shield cans. Where strength per dollar and a continuous ground path matter more than a mirror finish.
Rack chassis, card guides and 19-inch panels. Tab and slot first, then rivet or weld, so the frame stays square.
Sheet metal →PEM standoffs pressed in, hole position to ±0.1 mm, deburred on both faces so nothing cuts a cable.
Stamping →0.2 mm stainless or beryllium copper, stamped and formed with solder tabs and a lid that clips on.
Laser cutting →Powder coat, zinc plate, chem film and silk screen. Ground pads masked before coating, never scraped after.
Welding →Sheet materials and thicknesses
| Material | Thickness | Typical part |
|---|---|---|
| SPCC cold rolled steel | 0.5–3.0 mm | Internal brackets, painted covers |
| SECC / SGCC | 0.5–2.0 mm | Chassis that skip the paint line |
| 5052 aluminium | 0.8–4.0 mm | Light covers, front panels |
| 6061 aluminium | 1.0–6.0 mm | Structural brackets, base plates |
| 304 stainless | 0.2–3.0 mm | Shield cans, clean areas |
| 316 stainless | 0.5–3.0 mm | Marine, chemical, washdown |
| Copper and brass | 0.3–2.0 mm | Busbars, grounding strips |
| Beryllium copper | 0.1–0.3 mm | Finger stock, contact springs |
DXF or STEP plus bend lines, hardware callout and finish.
Choosing a route
The same box can be machined, moulded, folded or cast. The right answer depends on quantity, on heat, and on whether the box has to shield.
| Part or situation | Best route | Why | Typical lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enclosure, 5 pcs, before tooling | CNC billet | No tool, real metal, anodised | 5–7 days |
| Enclosure, 5,000 pcs | Injection mold | Lowest unit cost once the tool exists | 20–30 days |
| Heat sink, 200 pcs | CNC with cut fins | Flat face, any fin pattern | 6–8 days |
| Heat sink, 20,000 pcs | Extrusion plus machining | Cheaper per metre, then face and drill | 15–20 days |
| Rack chassis, 100 pcs | Sheet metal | Strength per dollar, no tooling | 8–12 days |
| Shield can, 50,000 pcs | Progressive stamping | Thin gauge, very low unit cost | 25–35 days |
Tell us the volume and the date. We will say if a cheaper route exists.
What you can hold us to
These are the numbers we quote against. If your design needs something tighter, say so early and we will tell you honestly whether we can hold it.
| Item | What we hold | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Machined tolerance | ±0.02 mm | ±0.01 mm on a defined datum, on request |
| Connector cutout | ±0.1 mm | ±0.05 mm when dimensioned from the mating face |
| Heat sink flatness | 0.02 mm over 100 mm | Checked on a granite plate before packing |
| Molded tolerance | ±0.05 mm | Depends on resin, wall and gate position |
| Minimum molded wall | 0.8–1.2 mm | Below this, short shots and warp |
| Plating thickness | 3–8 µm nickel | 0.05–0.1 µm gold flash over nickel |
| Flammability | UL94 V-0 | Only at the wall thickness stated on the drawing |
| ESD surface resistivity | 104–1011 Ω | Conductive or dissipative, declared on the datasheet |
Quality and documentation
An electronics buyer needs to prove the part is the same as the one that passed the test. That is a paperwork problem as much as a machining problem.
Every critical dimension measured against the drawing and reported with the datum scheme you specified. AS9102 format on request.
Mill certificates for metal, resin lot and UL yellow card for plastic. Filed against the order, not hunted down later.
XRF on plated parts: nickel, gold flash and zinc read per lot. A coating that is 2 µm thin is a corrosion claim waiting to happen.
Heat sink mounting faces checked before packing. A warped base is a hot chip, whatever the fin count says.
Masked pads and chem film faces checked for resistance before the lid goes on, so the shield path is real and not theoretical.
Pink bags, black conductive totes and moisture barrier bags for reels. The part arrives as clean as it left the bench.
Where we fit
Electronics supply chains are long. Being clear about our slice of it saves a month of emails.
If your program needs any of the items listed above, tell us at RFQ. We will point you at the right kind of supplier instead of costing you a launch date.
How a project runs
Electronics teams already work in four rounds. We quote and deliver against those same rounds, so the hardware and the schedule line up.
Machined or printed shells, 5 to 20 pieces. Real board inside, real connector, real mistakes found early.
Correct material, correct finish. Drop, thermal and grounding checks on 20 to 100 pieces.
Parts off the production tool or die. Process window locked, cosmetic and dimensional limits agreed.
Volume with SPC on critical dimensions, AQL cosmetic check and ESD packing on every carton.
Tell us the part, the volume and the round you are in. You get a DFM note and a price, not a brochure. NDA signed before we open the file.
Questions we get every week