From Plate to Machined Assembly, Without Changing Suppliers
Most heavy fabricated parts pass through three companies before they reach you. One cuts the plate. Another welds it. A third machines the mounting faces and bores the holes. Every handover is a new setup, a new datum, and a new opinion about whose fault it is when the bore is 0.4 mm out.
We do all three.
What that actually changes
| Three suppliers | One plant | |
|---|---|---|
| Handovers between shops | 2 | 0 |
| Times the part is re-datumed | 3 | 1 |
| Extra time in transit between shops | 5–10 days | 0 |
| Who is responsible when a bore is out of position | Discussed | Us |
| Who pays for the rework | Argued | Us |
The tolerance you can hold on a welded assembly is not set by the machine. It is set by how many times the part has been picked up, clamped and re-referenced. Cutting that number from three to one is worth more than a better machine.
The sequence
Plate arrives with its mill certificate and its heat number. It is cut and bevelled, formed, then welded to a qualified procedure. The weldment is stress-relieved before anything is machined — not after, which is the mistake that puts a good part out of tolerance three weeks later. Then it goes onto the gantry, is set up once, and comes off with the mounting faces, bores and threads finished.
It is inspected, coated, crated and photographed before the lid goes on.
The envelope
| Max weldment size | 12000 × 4000 × 3500 mm |
| Max piece weight | 4 t (limited by our 5 t crane) |
| Max plate thickness | 80 mm |
| Machining envelope after welding | 2800 × 1600 × 800 mm |
| Hole position tolerance after welding | ±0.5 mm |
| Flatness | 0.10 mm/m |
| Stress relief furnace | In-house — cycle charts supplied with the job |
- Thermal cutting to ISO 9013 Range 2 as standard.
- Weldment dimensional tolerances to ISO 13920 Class B as standard, a tighter class on request.
- Weld quality to ISO 5817 Level C as standard, Level B where the drawing specifies it.
- Machined features to ISO 2768-m unless the drawing states otherwise.
- Surface preparation to ISO 8501-1 Sa 2½, coating systems to ISO 12944 up to C4.
What we don't do
We would rather tell you now than after you've sent the drawings.
- Thin sheet metal in volume. Below about 3 mm and above 200 pieces, you want a shop with automated bending and a punch. Our setup time makes us the wrong answer.
- Small precision parts in small batches. If it fits in your hand, we are not the cheapest way to get it made.
- Load-bearing components for buildings and civil works. Those are construction products under the EU Construction Products Regulation and need EN 1090 CE marking. Our EN 1090-1 certification is in progress; until it is issued we do not take that work.
- Pressure equipment for the EU market. That needs CE marking under PED 2014/68/EU. We are not certified.
- Castings and forgings. We machine them. We don't make them.
Send us the drawing
Acknowledgement within 4 working hours. Full quotation within 48 hours when the drawing package is complete.