We machine joint arms, wrist housings, bases and body frames for humanoid platforms. 5-axis work to ±0.005 mm, in aluminium, titanium or engineering plastics. Your CAD files turned into parts, not promises.
We see the same four problems in robot programmes. Each one costs schedule time.
A joint housing machined with 3-axis tooling can drift 0.03 mm or more on one side. The bearing presses in with slack, or won't press in at all. By the time you find it, the actuator is already assembled and the subframe is scrapped.
Thin ribs machined from both sides can come out 0.4 mm different across a single leg segment. Mass properties shift, the balance controller needs retuning, and every unit in the run behaves a little differently.
Your actuator geometry and joint placement are the most valuable thing you own. If a shop won't sign before seeing the model, the model doesn't get shared, and the project stalls on paperwork.
A shop that only handles one-off prototypes can't scale to a 10,000-part run later. You re-qualify a new supplier, redo first article inspection, and lose the process knowledge from the prototype.
One process, from the first prototype joint to a production run.
Humanoid joints are not simple parts. A wrist housing usually carries a bearing bore, a motor mount pattern and a cable passage on three different faces. If each face is machined in a separate setup, the errors stack.
We hold these parts on simultaneous 5-axis machines so the bearing bore and its mating face come off the same datum. Positional error between features stays inside ±0.005 mm instead of accumulating across setups.
Every gram in the upper body costs torque at the hip or shoulder. We machine pockets, ribs and lightening slots into 7075 or Ti-6Al-4V frames while keeping the load path between the joint and the actuator mount solid.
That balance is a machining decision, not a CAD decision. Rib thickness, corner radii and floor thickness all have to be reachable by the cutter. We flag the ones that are not during DFM, before the program is posted.
Typical robot part families, the usual material, and the process that fits.
| Part family | Typical material | Process |
|---|---|---|
| Joint arm links | 7075-T6, 6061-T6 | 5-axis, thin-wall milling |
| Wrist and elbow housings | 6061-T6, 17-4PH | 5-axis, bore + face in one setup |
| Base and torso frames | 6061-T6, 4130 steel | 4-axis, large envelope |
| Transposition pillars | 7075-T6, TC4 | Mill-turn, Ø400 mm table |
| Cable covers and shells | ABS, PC, PEEK | 3-axis, vacuum fixture |
| Gearbox and actuator plates | 4140, 17-4PH | 5-axis, ±0.005 mm bores |
| Sensor and camera brackets | 6061-T6, 5052 | 3-axis, bead blasted |
| Hand and finger linkages | TC4, 316L | 5-axis, Ra 0.8–1.6 μm |
One shop for the metal and plastic parts around the actuator.
Complex joint geometry machined in one setup. 16 simultaneous 5-axis centers, up to 4,000 mm envelope.
Good fit for long frame rails and housings with features on four sides. 12 four-axis mills.
Brackets, plates and covers where the budget matters more than the geometry. 27 machines.
Pillars and shafts with turned diameters plus milled flats. 16 mill-turn centers.
Get a joint housing in your hand before you commit to a production tool. No minimum order.
Anodizing, hardcoat, electroless nickel, bead blasting and laser marking.
Pick the class that matches your part, not the other way round.
| Class | Travel / size | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Large | 4,000 × 400 × 150 mm | Torso and leg frames |
| Medium | 750 × 1,150 × 550 mm | Arm segments and bases |
| Medium | 600 × 600 × 600 mm | Housings with 5-side access |
| Compact | 500 × 500 × 450 mm | Wrist and elbow parts |
| Compact | 500 × 310 × 200 mm | Hand and finger links |
| Rotary | Ø400 mm table | Pillars and rotary joints |
Three wholly-owned plants and 150 technicians. The same team runs your prototype and your production run.
Send a STEP file. You get a price, a lead time and a list of features that will be hard to machine.
Once the drawing and material are confirmed, the job is scheduled the next working day.
Raw material check, in-process monitoring and final inspection. Reports on request.
Also ISO 13485:2016 and ISO 27001:2022. Audited annually by third-party certifiers.
One prototype or a 10,000-part run. Same process, same inspection standard.
Large aluminium frames machined on 4-axis with weight pockets and actuator mounts on the same datum.
Bore and mating face cut in one 5-axis setup so bearing fit stays consistent across the batch.
Small titanium links with tight corner radii, machined from TC4 and finished with bead blasting.
Plastic and aluminium covers machined on 3-axis, anodized or painted to match the platform.
±0.005 mm is our standard achievable tolerance on bores and mating faces when the feature is machined in one 5-axis setup. That is the number to design around.
If your drawing calls for something tighter on a specific bore, tell us which one and we will say whether it is realistic before quoting.
6061-T6 covers most arm links. It machines fast, takes anodizing well and has good stiffness for the weight.
Move to 7075-T6 when you need more strength in the same envelope. Move to Ti-6Al-4V only when the load or wear demands it, because titanium costs more and cuts slower.
We need a solid model. STEP or Parasolid is ideal. A mesh file can work for simple geometry but makes it hard to hold a tolerance on a bore.
If you only have a scan, we can sometimes rebuild the critical features as solids.
Uploads are secure and confidential. We will sign your NDA before files are shared, or use ours.
Design files are not passed to third parties. If a finishing step is subcontracted, only the parts travel, not the CAD.
One piece. There is no minimum order quantity, so a single prototype joint housing is fine.
The same process runs up to 10,000+ parts, which means you do not re-qualify a supplier when the design moves to production.
Internal corners with a radius smaller than the cutter, pockets deeper than four times the cutter diameter, and floor thickness under 0.5 mm on aluminium.
We list these in the DFM report that comes back with the quote, usually within 12 hours.
Quotation and DFM within 12 hours. Production can start within 24 hours of confirmation, and parts ship in 3–5 days.
That schedule assumes the drawing is frozen and the material is in stock. We will tell you if either is not.
Every part. Raw material is checked on arrival, dimensions are monitored during cutting, and a final inspection runs before shipment.
Inspection reports are available on request.
Upload your CAD and we will return a price, a lead time and a DFM list. No minimum order quantity, no obligation.
12-hour quote100% inspectionNo MOQNDA on request
Trusted by engineers and manufacturers worldwide
Upload your 3D model or 2D drawing and get a quotation with a free DFM analysis. Maximum processing size 4,000 mm.
CNC Metals 13 grades
CNC Plastics 10 grades
Machines & processes 12 options
Surface & post-processing 10 options
Material: not selected Machine: not selected Post-process: not selected
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