Swiss Milling Service

Aluminum (Common Grades: 6061, 7075, 5052, 2024) is lightweight, corrosion-resistant, has excellent thermal and electrical conductivity, and is very machinable. Different grades offer trade-offs between strength, machinability, and corrosion resistance.

Good for:

• Housings and enclosures
• Jigs, fixtures, and tooling
• Automotive and aerospace components
• Heat sinks and thermal management parts
• Manifolds and fluid handling blocks
• High-speed prototypes

Why customers love it: “It provides an outstanding balance of strength, weight, machinability, and cost-effectiveness, making it versatile for countless prototyping and production applications.”

Stainless Steel (Common Grades: 303, 304/304L, 316/316L, 416, 420, 17-4 PH) is valued for its excellent corrosion resistance, strength, and aesthetic appeal. Different grades offer varying levels of machinability, corrosion resistance, and hardness.

Good for:

• Medical device components and surgical instruments (esp. 316L, 17-4 PH)
• Aerospace fittings and fasteners
• Electronic connectors and contacts
• Food processing equipment parts
• Watch components
• Shafts and valve components

Why customers love it: “It offers a superior combination of strength, durability, and resistance to corrosion and heat, making it ideal for demanding applications, including those requiring biocompatibility (316L).”

Carbon Steel (Common Grades: 1018, 12L14, 1045) is an alloy of iron and carbon, offering good strength, hardness, and excellent machinability (especially grades like 12L14). It’s a highly cost-effective option but requires protective coatings to prevent rust.

Good for:

• Shafts, pins, and dowels
• Fasteners and couplings
• General machine components
• Fixtures and mounting blocks
• Structural parts (where corrosion is managed)

Why customers love it: “It’s a strong, versatile, and highly cost-effective material for general-purpose mechanical components where extreme corrosion resistance isn’t required and cost is a major factor.”

Alloy Steel (Common Grades: 4140, 4340, 8620) builds upon carbon steel by adding alloying elements (like chromium, nickel, molybdenum) to enhance properties such as strength, toughness, hardness, and heat resistance. Many grades are heat-treatable for significantly improved performance.

Good for:

• High-strength fasteners and bolts
• Gears, splines, and shafts
• Axles and drive components
• Tooling, dies, and fixtures
• Components requiring high fatigue strength and toughness

Why customers love it: “It offers significantly improved mechanical properties like strength and toughness compared to carbon steels, suitable for high-stress or wear-intensive applications, often enhanced further by heat treatment.”

Brass (Common Grade: C360 – Free Machining Brass) is a copper-zinc alloy known for its outstanding machinability, good corrosion resistance, and electrical conductivity. It’s often chosen for high-volume, cost-sensitive parts.

Good for:

• Electrical connectors, terminals, and pins
• Plumbing fittings and valve components
• Fasteners (nuts, bolts, screws)
• Gears and bearings (low load)
• Musical instrument parts
• Decorative hardware

Why customers love it: “Its exceptional machinability allows for very fast cycle times and lower production costs, combined with good mechanical and electrical properties for many applications.”

Copper / Copper Alloys (Common Grades: C101/OFHC, C110/ETP, C172/C173 Beryllium Copper) are primarily known for their exceptional electrical and thermal conductivity. Pure copper is soft and ductile, while alloys like Beryllium Copper (BeCu) offer high strength, hardness, and spring properties alongside good conductivity.

Good for:

• Electrical contacts, terminals, and connectors
• Heat sinks and thermal conductors
• Busbars and power distribution components
• High-strength springs and contacts (BeCu)
• Non-sparking safety tools (BeCu)

Why customers love it: “Its unparalleled electrical and thermal conductivity makes it essential for electrical and thermal management applications, while alloys like BeCu add high strength and spring characteristics for demanding electromechanical parts.”

Titanium (Common Grades: Grade 2, Grade 5 – Ti-6Al-4V) is renowned for its high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistance (especially to saltwater and chlorides), and biocompatibility. Machining titanium requires specific expertise due to its properties.

Good for:

• Medical implants (orthopedic screws, dental implants – esp. Grade 5)
• Aerospace components (fasteners, structural parts)
• High-performance automotive parts
• Marine hardware
• Chemical processing equipment components

Why customers love it: “It provides incredible strength and corrosion resistance at a low weight, and its biocompatibility makes it essential for medical implants and devices where direct body contact occurs.”

Nickel Alloys (Common Grades: Inconel® 625/718, Monel® 400/K500, Hastelloy® C276) are high-performance materials designed for extreme environments. They offer excellent resistance to high temperatures, corrosion (often specific types like chemical or saltwater), and oxidation. Machining these alloys requires specialized knowledge.

Good for:

• Aerospace engine and exhaust components
• Chemical processing equipment parts
• Oil and gas industry components (valves, pumps)
• Marine hardware exposed to saltwater
• High-temperature fasteners and springs

Why customers love it: “They provide exceptional performance in extreme environments involving high temperatures, high stresses, and aggressive corrosive media where other metals would quickly fail.”

Specialty Metals (Examples: Kovar®, Invar®, Molybdenum, Tungsten) encompass a range of metals chosen for unique physical properties rather than general mechanical use. Examples include controlled low thermal expansion (Kovar, Invar), very high melting points and stiffness (Molybdenum, Tungsten), or specific magnetic properties. They are often challenging to machine.

Good for:

• Glass-to-metal hermetic seals (Kovar)
• Precision measurement instruments and tooling (Invar)
• High-temperature furnace components, electrodes (Mo, W)
• X-ray shielding, balancing weights (Tungsten)
• Specialized electronic applications

Why customers love it: “These materials are selected when a very specific, often unique, physical property (like thermal expansion, density, or melting point) is critical for the application’s success, enabling designs not possible with common alloys.”