Technical questions

It depends on the process. In turning, the published maximum diameter is Ø500 mm. In simultaneous 5-axis milling the part fits an envelope of Ø500 × 320 mm, up to 200 kg on the trunnion table. In 3-axis milling the travels are 762 × 406 × 508 mm. Sawing takes bar up to Ø560 mm, surface grinding works on 500 × 1,000 mm, and wire EDM cuts thicknesses up to 500 mm.

These figures come from the manufacturers’ documentation and are confirmed against the machine plate before quotation. If your part sits at the limit, the fastest answer is the interactive envelope on the home page: enter diameter and length and see which machines take it.

This question tells you more than “do you have a big lathe?”. A part that fits one machine depends on that machine: a service interval or somebody else’s rush order moves your delivery date. A part that fits six has a different delivery certainty, at the same price.

The coverage chart on the machine park page answers directly: move the slider to your diameter and see how many of the 20 machines can take it, each one named.

Tolerance is not a property of the company; it is a property of the dimension. On the same part, a ground bearing journal and a clearance hole are not machined to the same class and do not cost the same.

Three things matter at quotation: which dimensions are functional, to what class, and whether grinding follows turning. Turning reaches the usual assembly fits. Where tighter is required, the dimension is left with an allowance and ground after stress relieving - the material moves its stresses when heated, and a dimension cut before heat treatment does not stay where it was put.

Mark the functional dimensions on the drawing. The rest is machined to the general class and does not raise the price.

.step · .stp · .iges · .igs · .x_t · .dxf · .dwg · .pdf. At most 10 files per request, each up to 25 MB.

The fastest quotation comes from a 3D model plus a dimensioned 2D drawing: the model gives the shape without ambiguity, the drawing gives the tolerances, the surface finish and the material requirements. With a 3D model alone, tolerances would have to be assumed - and we do not assume them.

Files are checked by their signature, not by their extension, and are stored outside the public area of the server under generated names.

Within 48 hours. If the part needs a clarification - a dimension that does not close, an unspecified material, a treatment that changes the routing - we contact you before the deadline runs out, not after.

Five things, in the order in which they change our calculation.

1. The material and its condition. “Steel” is not enough: quenched-and-tempered 42CrMo4 and S235 are turned with different tooling and different parameters.

2. The functional dimensions with their tolerances - the ones that go into an assembly, not every dimension on the drawing.

3. Surface finish where it is required. A surface at Ra 0.8 and one at Ra 3.2 are two different operations.

4. Quantity and call-off pattern. Ten pieces once, and ten pieces a month for a year, are two prices: the setup is amortised differently.

5. The documentation required on delivery. The material certificate and the dimensional report are planned together with the part, not improvised at dispatch.

In order: the number of set-ups, the class of the tightest tolerance, and the batch size.

A part finished in a single set-up has no repositioning error and no setup time on a second machine - which is why a simultaneous 5-axis centre changes the calculation on complex parts, even though its hourly rate is higher.

The tightest tolerance on the drawing dictates the whole routing: if it calls for grinding after stress relieving, the part goes through three additional operations. That is why it matters that it is tight only where it genuinely needs to be.

6 groups common in current production - carbon and alloy steels, stainless steels, tool and hardened steels, aluminium, brass, bronze and copper, technical plastics - plus nickel alloys and titanium on request.

Each group is set out on the materials page, with the usual grades and what each one means at the cutting edge: which can be quenched and tempered, which arrives already tempered, which is a case-hardening steel and why final dimensions are cut before heat treatment.

Yes. Certificates 3.1 or 3.2 to EN 10204, with every delivered lot.

The heat number is recorded at sawing, and from that point the part can be traced back to its certificate. Traceability is not a document attached at the end; it is a record made at the first operation.

A first-article report, a dimensional report on the critical dimensions of the lot, and the material certificate.

The first article is measured in full on the coordinate measuring machine; the series is inspected on the critical dimensions. The method, SPC and GD&T are described on the quality page.

We publish no certification without a confirmed issuer, number, expiry date and scope - and we do not claim the opposite either. The status is being clarified with the company’s management; until then it is an open question, written as such on the quality page.

We would rather say what we have not verified than publish a claim an auditor finds wrong on the first visit.

The minimum batch size is not published yet. It is a commercial decision of the company, not a technical limit, and we confirm it before writing it here.

Send the part with the quantity and the call-off pattern you need; you get the answer within 48 hours.

Yes. We deliver regularly to Germany and the Czech Republic, and the site, the quotation and the delivery documentation are available in Romanian, English and German.