Aluminum Junction Box

Solutions Manufacturing was approached by a customer to make this custom aluminum junction box for a military application. These junction boxes had intricate features that would require precise machining inside and out, as well as several secondary operations held to strict specifications.

Made from certified 6061-T6 aluminum alloy, the overall dimensions of this part were 3.150″ in length, 1.772″ in width, and 1.063″ in height. This part contained complex features all around, such as an inside blind pocket and a three dimensional contour on the inside vertical wall, as well as outside flanges, 45° chamfers, critical squareness specifications, and counter-bored holes that required a tolerance of +.008/-0″.

The blank part was first saw-cut to a tolerance of +/-.010″. The sophisticated CNC milling process was accomplished through our ultra-high precision Kitamura Mycenter Vertical Machining Center, which boasts a full stroke 1 micron positioning repeatability. After the O-ring slot was milled, we counter-bored the side hole diameters and CNC drilled and tapped the remaining 4-40 holes. Along with first article inspection, we performed in-process dimensional and visual inspections at set sample rates to ensure consistency.

While quality precision machining is something our customers have grown accustomed to, it was our full service from a single source that would be key to the success of this order. As a value added service, we installed 9 each 4-40 helicoils, backed by an epoxy primer, as well as a meticulous paint specification which included precision masking, a paint wash primer 7-10 microns thick with primer 25 microns thick, followed by 2 layers of polyurethane each 50-60 microns thick, all while adhering to 4 different MIL specifications.

Throughout this and all projects at Solutions Manufacturing, our staff provided invaluable assistance with manufacturability, process development, quality planning, and more. To learn more about this project or how Solutions Manufacturing can help you with your CNC machining needs, see the table below or contact us directly today.