This part has some quiet complex surfaces and blended profiles that form the part. When we first started this part we were working at making prototypes and then a small production run. The parts were manufactured from a block of aluminium encompassing all of its outer dimensions. This meant that there was a lot of material to be removed and a number of operations to achieve the finished shape ready for polishing.

Our client was looking to reduce costs on this and the other parts that make up the assembly when he went into a larger production run. We were able to meet his objectives in a number of ways.

Firstly we changed from a large block of material to an extrusion that was very close to the finished end shape profile, this removed a lot of material and machining time from the job. Both of these processes saved the customer substantial money towards meeting his pricing targets.

The part is now done in two operations instead of the original five operations and so leads to a more accurate part with less loadings. The part is then polished to remove machining marks and give it a total uniform surface ready for anodising, then assembly.