From Raw Material to FlightReady Components: The Manufacturing Processes Behind NRC Aerospace

At NRC Aerospace, precision isn't just a goal — it's the baseline. Every component we deliver, whether it's a complex flightcritical bracket or a large structural housing, passes through a carefully selected manufacturing process (or a chain of them) to meet exacting tolerances, material specifications, and airworthiness requirements.

In this post, we're taking you behind the shop floor to walk through the full range of manufacturing capabilities we deploy to achieve our components — from multiaxis CNC machining to certified welding and fabrication.

1. CNC Milling — 4th & 5th Axis

Multiaxis CNC milling is the backbone of our complex geometry work. With 4thaxis capability, we machine parts that require rotation around an additional axis — think cylindrical features, helical slots, and multiface components in a single setup. Our 5thaxis capability takes it further, allowing us to machine intricate contours, undercuts, and angular features with minimal fixturing and fewer setups.

Why it matters: Fewer setups mean tighter positional accuracy, reduced stackup error, and shorter lead times — critical when you're producing complex aerospace geometries.

2. CNC Turning

For rotationally symmetric components — shafts, bushings, pins, adapters — CNC turning delivers consistent concentricity and surface finish. Combined with live tooling where required, we can turn, drill, and mill in a single operation, keeping tolerances tight and handling time down.

3. Vertical Turning Lathe (VTL)

When part diameter grows beyond what a standard lathe can handle, the VTL takes over. Large rings, flanges, discs, and housings are turned on the vertical configuration, where gravity works with us rather than against us. This is essential for oversized components that still demand precision face and diameter control.

4. Jig Boring

Jig boring is our goto for highprecision hole location — the kind of accuracy demanded by tooling, fixtures, and components with tightly toleranced hole patterns. Where position tolerance is critical and holetohole accuracy can't be compromised, jig boring delivers.

5. Wire Cut EDM

Wirecut electrical discharge machining lets us cut hard materials and intricate profiles with exceptional accuracy — without mechanical cutting forces. It's ideal for complex contours, sharp internal corners, and precision dies or profiles in hardened materials where conventional machining falls short.

6. EDM (Sinker/DieSinking)

Our sinker EDM capability handles complex cavities, sharp internal corners, and features in hardened materials that would be difficult or impossible to machine conventionally. Using precision electrodes, we burn intricate detail into the workpiece with excellent repeatability.

7. EDM Drilling

EDM drilling (holepopping) lets us drill smalldiameter, deep, or difficultangle holes in hardened materials — including features that would break or deflect a conventional drill. This is particularly valuable for cooling holes, starter holes, and features in heattreated alloys.

8. Surface Grinding

For flatness, parallelism, and fine surface finish, surface grinding is the finishing process of choice. Whether it's a precision plate, a mating face, or a hardened detail, grinding brings parts to final tolerance with the surface integrity aerospace components demand.

9. Broaching

Broaching delivers precise, repeatable profiles — keyways, splines, internal contours — in a single pass. It's a highly efficient process for producing complex internal or external geometries with superior surface finish and dimensional consistency, batch after batch.

10. Honing

Honing refines internal bore geometry — improving roundness, cylindricity, and surface finish after drilling or boring. For hydraulic cylinders, bushings, and precision bores, honing is the final step that ensures the bore performs as designed.

11. Planar Milling

For large flat surfaces and heavy stock removal on prismatic parts, planar milling provides efficient material removal and reliable flatness. It's a workhorse process for preparing large components before finish machining.

12. Sheet Metal

Our sheet metal capability covers cutting, forming, and bending for brackets, panels, enclosures, and lightweight structural components. Combined with our machining and fabrication capabilities, sheet metal work integrates seamlessly into complete assemblies.

13. Metal Fabrication with Approved WPS & PQR

This is where NRC Aerospace's certification really stands out. Our fabrication team works to approved Welding Procedure Specifications (WPS) supported by qualified Procedure Qualification Records (PQR) — the documented backbone of weld integrity.

We are certified to weld at 3 mm thickness across the following materials:

Aluminium EN8 EN24 Mild Steel Stainless Steel

Every weld procedure is backed by documented qualification, meaning our fabricated assemblies aren't just built — they're certified. This is essential for aerospace and defence customers who need full traceability and confidence in joint integrity.

Why This Breadth Matters

No single process solves every manufacturing challenge. A typical NRC Aerospace component might start as a CNCmilled blank, receive jigbored hole patterns, get EDMdrilled features, be surface ground to final flatness, and then be joined to a certified fabricated assembly — all under one roof.

That integrated capability means:

Fewer handoffs and shorter lead times Consistent quality control across every process Full traceability from raw material to finished component Certified processes — including 3 mmthickness welding to approved WPS/PQR

The Bottom Line

At NRC Aerospace, achieving components isn't about having machines — it's about having the right combination of processes, certifications, and knowhow to match the requirement. From 5axis milling to EDM drilling, from jig boring to certified fabrication in aluminium, EN8, EN24, mild steel, and stainless steel, our shop floor is built to deliver precision at every step.

Have a component that demands multiple processes and certified quality? Talk to NRC Aerospace — we'll build it right, and we'll document it every step of the way.

NRC Aerospace — Precision manufacturing, certified processes, aerospacegrade quality.