Vertical machining centres for production of tooling and finishing of parts
Machining
Composite materials do not machine in the same way as other conventional materials and require specific techniques and tooling. We have over 15yrs experience of machining composites and are leaders in this field. We are trusted by our customers to provide part and fully machined composite components.
Our capabilities include:
Bonding
CFT are leading experts in the interfacing of components, both composite-composite and composite-non-composite.
We regular work with composite-specific mechanical fixings however the preferred method of assembling parts with composites is bonding.
From an early stage in our customers’ projects we are often able to input into the design of such interfaces, and recommend design changes to maximise the strength of the joint.
Our years of experience have provided significant feedback and empirical test results which inform and validate our joint-designs. Furthermore, we can assist with adhesive selection, factoring in different substrates and operating environments.
We stock a range of adhesives including structural epoxies, methyl acarates and cyanoacrylates.
In scenarios where we are not performing in-house assembly operations, we are happy to offer advice and guidance to enable our customers to do this themselves, and develop their own processes resulting in strong and repeatable joints.
Assembly
As well as supplying product assembled from in-house manufactured composite parts, CFT regularly produce assemblies from an alternative range of components and materials. Using our in-house machining capability, we can produce machined components from conventional materials such as aluminium, steel and engineering plastics.
In addition to this, we often work with more exotic materials like Super Duplex, Iconiel and titanium.
We have developed specific expertise in working with titanium and frequently hold stock of this. Our titanium components are regularly used in conjunction with composites due their close chemical compatibility and inert properties.
CFT are also able to work with customer free-issued components or rely upon an established network of trusted suppliers for parts in high-volume, or those that are out with our in-house capabilities.
All sourced components are fully integrated into our quality assurance process and therefore we can offer customers full traceability and control as per standard quality management systems.
