Home/Industries/Telecom Equipment

CNC Machining for Telecom Equipment

Pin-fin heat sinks, RF cavities, filter housings and enclosure hardware, usually in 6061 with a bright or black anodised finish. This is the sector where we know exactly where our parts ended up.

The three we hear most

Problems buyers bring us in this sector

Telecom is the sector where our customers have told us what the parts are for, so we know exactly where these three problems come from.

“The filter tunes out of band”

Cavity depth and wall thickness decide the passband. We hold both to the drawing and put the measured values in the first-article report, so you can correlate them with your network analyser results instead of guessing which cavity moved.

“Plating pushed the part out of tolerance”

We take the plating allowance out of the machined dimension. Tell us the plating specification and thickness in the RFQ and it is the finished, plated part that lands in tolerance — not the raw one.

“The heat-sink fins keep coming out wrong”

In 6061 we hold fins down to about 0.8 mm with a 1.5 mm gap, depending on height. If your geometry is past what milling can do without chatter, we say so and point you to skiving or extrusion rather than quote something we cannot make well.

Typical parts

What we machine for telecom customers

Telecom is the one industry where our customers have told us what the parts are for, so the examples below are real rather than generic.

Pin-fin heat sinks

Milled fin arrays in 6061 with a flat, lapped base for the power device.

RF cavity filters

Milled cavities and tuning posts where wall thickness and cavity depth decide the passband.

Filter and duplexer housings

Machined housings with silver-plated interiors and sealed covers.

Antenna mounting hardware

Brackets, clamps and adapters in aluminium and stainless, usually anodised or powder coated.

Waveguide components

Flanges and transitions machined to the drawing with sealing faces held flat.

Enclosure and chassis parts

Milled and sheet-metal enclosures, gasket grooves cut to your seal specification.

Materials and finishes

What these parts are usually made from

6061 for almost everything, copper and brass where conductivity decides it, stainless outdoors.

What matters on these drawings

What we watch on a telecom drawing

Milled aluminium telecom equipment enclosure with dimpled vent panels, machined at GY Machining
Telecom enclosure · 6061 · milled cover and vent panels
Pin-fin heat sink chassis for telecom equipment, milled from 6061 aluminium
Pin-fin heat sink chassis · 6061 · one piece
Typical requirements

Enclosures, cavities and heat sinks that have to seal, shield and cool

The two parts on the left are typical: a milled enclosure whose cover has to seal flat and whose vent panels are cut from solid, and a one-piece chassis with a full field of pin fins for cooling. On RF hardware the electrical performance follows the geometry, so cavity depth and wall thickness are usually tighter than anything else on the drawing. Plating thickness matters too — tell us the specification and we will hold the machining tolerance with the plating allowance already taken out.

  • Cavity depth tolerance±0.01 mm achievable
  • Wall thickness, minimum0.8 mm in 6061
  • Flatness, sealing faces0.03 mm over 100 mm
  • Achievable, milled±0.002 mm
  • Plating allowanceMachined in, on request
  • Unmarked dimensionsISO 2768-mK
Questions

What buyers in this industry ask

Do you machine RF cavity filters to a tuning specification?
We machine to your drawing dimensions, and we hold cavity depth and wall thickness to whatever the drawing calls for. We do not tune or network-analyse filters here — that stays on your side. If the drawing gives a tighter tolerance on one cavity than the rest, mark it and we will treat it accordingly.
Can you plate the inside of a filter housing?
Yes, silver and tin plating are both available through us on one invoice. Tell us the plating thickness and the specification, and whether any face must be masked, and we will take the plating allowance out of the machined dimension so the finished part is in tolerance.
What is the thinnest fin you can machine on a heat sink?
In 6061 we can hold fins down to about 0.8 mm thick with a fin gap of 1.5 mm, depending on fin height. Taller and thinner than that and the fins start to chatter and deflect. Send the drawing and we will tell you whether the fin geometry is machinable or whether skiving or extrusion would serve you better.
Processes used

How we make them

CNC Milling

Housings, plates and brackets on 2/3/4-axis centres. CNC milling →

CNC Turning

Shafts, bushings and fittings on twelve lathes. CNC turning →

Inspection

First article on the CMM before the run continues. Quality →

Send the drawing. You will have a price and a lead time in 16 hours.

STEP, IGES, X_T, DWG, DXF or PDF. Metric or inch. No minimum order.

Scroll to Top