Aluminum is the material to reach for when weight matters, when a part needs a protective or cosmetic finish, or when the geometry is awkward enough that fast cutting helps. It machines quickly, takes anodizing beautifully, and does not corrode in normal service thanks to its own oxide layer.
The trade-off is strength and stiffness. Aluminum is roughly a third the weight of steel and correspondingly softer — which is exactly why it cuts fast, and exactly why it is the wrong answer for a heavily loaded part.
Grades We Run
Aluminum Machining Capabilities
| Grades | 6061-T6, 6063, 7075 |
|---|---|
| Machining tolerance | ±0.01 mm standard |
| Surface roughness | Ra 1.6 |
| Processes | CNC turning, turn-mill compound, CNC milling and engraving |
| Typical parts | Washers, spacers, housings, brackets, covers, handles, milled plates |
| Surface finishing | Anodizing (including colour), sandblasting, polishing, electro-coating, blackening |
Machining notes
Aluminum is soft enough to be awkward. It tends to stick to the cutting edge and build up a welded lump that ruins the finish, so aluminum is cut at high speed with sharp, polished tools and generous clearance. A job that looks simple and comes out with a torn finish is almost always a tooling problem, not a material problem.
Anodizing grows the part slightly. The coating is built from the surface rather than laid on it, and it adds a few microns to every dimension. On a thread or a close-fit bore that matters — tell us which features are functional and we will size them accordingly.
Thin walls move. Aluminum is not stiff, so a thin wall can deflect under clamping pressure and spring back when released, ending up out of tolerance even though the cut was correct. This is why we ask what the part has to fit rather than only looking at the drawing.