Robotics and Automation

Lightweight structures, machined joints, motion components and fixtures for robot builders and automation integrators.

A robot is mostly brackets, links, housings and motion parts, and they change with every design revision. We make them in carbon fiber, machined aluminum and titanium, or 3D printed plastic and metal, from a single prototype set to production batches.

What we make

• Arms, links and frames in carbon fiber tube, plate and molded sections, with bonded or bolted metal inserts. See pultruded vs roll-wrapped tubes.
• Joint housings, gearbox cases and motor mounts, CNC machined from 6061 and 7075 aluminum, steel or titanium.
• Covers, shells and cable guides, 3D printed in nylon while the design moves, then molded once volumes justify a tool.
• End-of-arm tooling: grippers, fingers, vacuum cup mounts and tool plates.
• Motion components: bearings, ball screws and linear guides, and remade screws when the original is discontinued.
• Assembly and test fixtures for building and checking robots in production.

Carbon fiber where it moves, metal where it bolts

A robot arm spends much of its energy moving its own weight. With most of the fiber running along the arm, a carbon fiber tube can be as stiff as an aluminum tube at around half the weight, so motors get smaller and moves get faster. Quasi-isotropic plate gains much less, which is why the layup matters.

Carbon doesn't belong everywhere. Bearing seats, threads and precise datums still want metal. Most good designs combine both, and the joint between them decides how well the part works. See bonding carbon fiber and bolts and inserts in carbon fiber.

Proof in Our Own Products

• SSD Enclosure 1 and the V1 laptop stands put controller boards and fans inside carbon fiber and machined metal bodies: the same mechanical and electronics integration a robot joint or sensor housing needs.
• Ski Pole 1 bonds machined titanium hardware to a hollow carbon fiber shaft, the same kind of joint used in carbon fiber robot links.

From prototype to production batch

• First builds: 3D printed and machined parts while the design is still changing.
• Pilot batches: machined and molded parts once the design settles, with fixtures to keep them consistent.
• Production: molded carbon fiber parts, injection molded covers and machined parts in batches, with spares from the same run.

Robotics Guides

• Carbon fiber vs aluminum
• Pultruded vs roll-wrapped carbon fiber tubes
• Bolts and inserts in carbon fiber parts
• Ball screw accuracy grades: C3, C5, C7 and C10
• Linear guides vs box ways
• How to choose a bearing
• FDM vs SLA vs SLS vs MJF: which process to use

Send the CAD or the assembly and tell us which parts you'd like lighter, stiffer or cheaper. We'll quote them as a set.