Aerospace / UAV
Lightweight Aluminum Mounting Bracket for a UAV Platform
How we machined a thin-walled 7075-T6 bracket to ±0.01 mm and cut the customer's per-part cost by 22% through DFM feedback.
The challenge
A North American UAV startup needed a structural bracket that was light, stiff, and dimensionally stable across a wide temperature range. Their drawing called for thin 1.2 mm walls, four press-fit bearing bores held to ±0.01 mm, and a hard-anodized finish for wear resistance.
Their previous supplier struggled with two issues: the thin walls warped during machining, and the bore tolerances drifted between batches.
What we did
- DFM review first. Our engineering team flagged two pockets where a 0.5 mm larger corner radius would let us use a more rigid tool, reducing chatter on the thin walls — with no impact on the part’s function.
- Fixture strategy. We designed a vacuum fixture plus soft jaws so the part was fully supported during finishing passes, eliminating warp.
- Stress relief. We added a stress-relief step between roughing and finishing to stabilize the 7075 before final cuts.
- In-process inspection. Critical bores were measured on a CMM every 25 parts to keep the process centered.
The result
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Bore tolerance held | ±0.03 mm | ±0.008 mm |
| Scrap rate | 11% | 1.4% |
| Per-part cost | baseline | −22% |
First-article approval came on the first submission, and we’ve shipped on time every month since. The DFM changes we proposed are now baked into the customer’s released drawing.
“They didn’t just make the part — they made it better and cheaper. That’s the difference between a machine shop and a manufacturing partner.” — VP of Engineering (placeholder testimonial)