Plastic and metal, engineered together
API added a complete metal fabrication capability so that customers could source a finished product — not a bag of parts from four vendors — from one engineering team. A sheet-metal chassis, a punched and formed insert, and the housing that snaps over them are designed in the same CAD session, toleranced against each other, and built a few hundred feet apart in Central Islip.
Capabilities
| Process | Typical work |
|---|---|
| CNC turret punching | Amada Vipros 255 and Pega 255 turret punch presses: flat patterns, louvers, and formed features in sheet steel, stainless, and aluminum, for short runs and production quantities |
| Press brake forming | Two Amada FBD8025NT 80-ton press brakes for brackets, chassis, panels, and enclosures |
| Shearing and sawing | Amada M2545 8-foot shear and a FOM Industrie Panda 499 up-feed blade saw for blanks and extrusions |
| CNC machining | Haas VM-6 and VM-3 vertical machining centers for plates, housings, fixtures, and precision metal components; three Forsun 3-axis CNC routers for panels and non-metallics |
| Welding and hardware | Tecna spot welding, Miller MIG welding of aluminum and steel, Haeger PEM hardware insertion, and slip rolling |
| Secondary operations | Tapping, deburring, and finishing coordinated with assembly; custom corrugated packaging made in-house on an Autobox boxmaker |
Where metal meets plastic
- Insert molding: punched, formed, or machined inserts produced in-house and over-molded in a single cycle — see injection molding
- Enclosures and housings: molded covers, lenses, and bezels fitted to fabricated chassis and panels
- Metal replacement: when a metal part should become plastic, the same engineers evaluate the conversion — see the metal replacement case study
- Assemblies: fasteners, gaskets, electronics, and labels integrated in our assembly cells
Quality
Fabricated and machined components are inspected under the same ISO 9001 Certified quality system as molded parts, with CMM and gauge inspection to the drawing and documentation retained electronically. See quality systems.
Frequently asked questions
What metal fabrication processes does Autronic Plastics offer?
Amada CNC turret punching, press brake forming, and shearing; Haas CNC machining and CNC routing; spot and MIG welding; PEM hardware insertion; and related secondary operations, all in the Central Islip, NY facility alongside injection molding.
Can you supply a complete assembly with both plastic and metal parts?
Yes. API designs, molds, fabricates, and assembles plastic and metal components as one product, under one quality system, and ships the finished unit.
Do you make the metal inserts used in insert molding?
Yes. Punched, formed, and machined inserts can be produced in-house and over-molded in the same facility, which keeps tolerances and schedules aligned.
Related
Have a product that mixes metal and plastic?
Send a model or a sketch — an API engineer will review it and tell you how we would build it.