What the part has to do
- Seal against water and dust at a rating you can defend.
- Conduct component heat out through the wall.
- Open for service without destroying the seal.
- Stay flat after most of the material has been cut out of it.
Material and finish
6061-T6 as standard, because it machines cleanly, anodises evenly and moves heat out of the electronics inside.
Type II anodise for most aircraft, hard anodise for spray and coastal work. Mask internal faces that conduct heat or carry a ground.
The features that decide it
Tolerance these. Let everything else on the drawing run to the general tolerance, because it costs money and changes nothing.
O-ring groove depth and width
Taken from the seal maker table for that cord and squeeze, never modelled on the cord itself.
Sealing face flatness
Machined last, after the pockets, because a part that loses most of its mass relaxes.
Groove corner radii
Tight corners stretch the seal on the outside and bunch it on the inside, which is where the leak path opens.
Connector cutouts
The rated seal on a connector needs a flat, square land to sit on.
What we hold
| Feature | Held |
|---|---|
| Groove depth | ±0.05 mm |
| Groove width | ±0.1 mm |
| Sealing face flatness | 0.05 mm across the face |
| Groove and face finish | Ra 0.8 to 1.6 |
Normal production figures for this shop, not a best case. Full tolerance reference.
What we need to quote it
- O-ring part number, cord diameter and compound
- Target ingress rating and whether it is tested or declared
- Connector and gland part numbers
- Heat to dissipate inside the box, in watts
- Whether a protective vent is fitted
Send what you have. A STEP file and a quantity are enough to start, and the rest sharpens the number.
Read before you draw it
Tools for this part
Run your part through them and send the answers with the model. It makes the quote sharper and the questions fewer.
Questions about enclosures and housings
Can you pressure test a sealed housing?
We can arrange a test and report it, and the requirement has to be on the drawing with a pressure and a duration. We do not certify an IP rating ourselves, because that is a test house job and we do not pretend otherwise.
Machined from billet or cast?
Machined. Casting is not done here and we place nothing blind, so a part that genuinely needs casting gets said out loud rather than quoted as billet at three times the price.
Quote this part
Send the model and the quantity. Price, lead time and any question that would cost you money if we guessed come back within 24 business hours, EXW, in USD.
Need the full form with tolerances, finish and documents? Open the RFQ page.
Other parts we cut
Arm and boom clamps
The joint that holds the arm on. It has to grip a tube that is never the diameter the catalogue says, without crushing it, and come off again after a season in the weather.
OpenMotor mounts and bells
A plate with four holes that decides whether a motor runs cool and whether the replacement one sits the same way the first did.
OpenGimbal brackets and yokes
A small part with a hard job. The camera has to point where the controller says it is pointing, through vibration, while weighing as little as possible.
OpenHeat sinks and cold plates
On a small aircraft there is no fan and every gram of heat sink is a gram not spent on battery, so thermal parts are a weight problem wearing a temperature problem as a disguise.
Open