5-axis milling and Swiss-type turning in 6061, 7075, 2024, 5052 and other wrought aluminum alloys.
Aluminum is the workhorse of the modern machine shop. High strength-to-weight, predictable chip formation, excellent thermal conductivity, and ready availability across plate, bar, and near-net stock make it the default choice for aerospace brackets, instrument housings, optical mounts, fixturing, and any program where mass matters. On the network's 5-axis trunnion and 12,000 RPM 3-axis VMCs, aluminum runs fast: heavy material removal rates, light tool wear, and the ability to single-setup complex geometries that would otherwise need three or four fixturings in a stiffer material. Swiss-type platforms handle slender pins and shafts in 5052, 6061, and 2024 with diametrical tolerances that hold across hundreds of pieces without dimensional drift. The trade-off is gummy alloys and stringy chips on the soft tempers — managed with the right tool coatings, high pressure coolant, and dialed-in feeds — and the fact that any aluminum part picks up handling marks easily, so the workflow protects critical surfaces from the moment they leave the spindle.
The general-purpose structural aluminum. Good strength, good corrosion resistance, weldable, and the easiest of the common aerospace alloys to machine cleanly. Most brackets, plates, housings, and prototype parts ship in 6061 unless the print calls for something tougher.
Highest-strength common wrought aluminum — near-steel tensile strength at roughly one-third the density. Specified on aerospace structural fittings, defense optics mounts, and high-stress brackets. Machines well but less forgiving on thin walls; stress-relieved tempers (T7351) reduce post-machining distortion on complex pockets.
The classic aircraft-skin aluminum. High fatigue strength, common on legacy aerospace drawings and repair work. Less corrosion-resistant than 6061 or 7075 — finished parts typically chromate-conversion-coated or painted downstream.
The marine and sheet-metal alloy. Excellent corrosion resistance, good formability, lower strength than 6061. Specified where the part will see salt spray or marine environments and welding may be involved on the assembly side.
Other grades — 6063 extrusions, MIC-6 cast tooling plate, 2011 free-machining bar, and aluminum-bronze for spec'd applications — are available against the drawing. If your specification is open to substitution, we will quote both options and note the trade-offs.
Aluminum's combination of low weight, thermal conductivity, and machinability puts it on most aerospace and defense bills of material as a default. We see it on weight-critical airframe brackets, sensor enclosures, RF housings, UAV chassis components, heat-dissipating amplifier plates, and the soft jaws and fixturing within the network that hold the tougher production parts. Prototype runs in 6061 typically move to 7075 once the design is locked and the strength margin is being tightened.
Routine machined tolerances on aluminum ship at ±.0002", with repeatability on precision lathe work to ±.0001". Surface finish on a properly stepped-over finish pass runs 32 Ra or better as-machined; tumbling and vapor blasting are available within the network for uniform matte finishes and edge break. Anodizing, chromate conversion, painting, and other coating processes are coordinated with qualified finishers on the program's schedule, with parts protected and bagged before they leave the floor.
303, 304, 316, 17-4 PH for corrosion-resistant production parts.
Ti-6Al-4V for aerospace and medical work, available on request.
Hub page covering every alloy family we machine.
22 CNC platforms across our production network — 5-axis milling, Swiss-type turning, inspection.
