Wexmar provides custom adapter machining for OEMs, integrators and maintenance teams that need to connect two components that were not designed to fit together. From our shop in Canastota, New York, we produce CNC machined adapters of every kind: thread adapters, shaft adapters, motor and gearbox adapter plates, sensor adapters and bore reducers, built to your drawing.
What adapters do and who buys them
An adapter bridges a mismatch in thread, bore, bolt pattern or pilot. A thread adapter joins an NPT port to a metric fitting. A shaft adapter steps a motor shaft up or down to fit a coupling or pulley. A NEMA-to-IEC adapter plate mounts a motor to a gearbox. Instrument adapters fit a sensor into an existing port. Adapters are often the part that makes a retrofit or product revision possible. Buyers include fluid power and instrumentation companies, pump and motor integrators, machinery OEMs, test lab and research groups, and defense programs adapting legacy equipment.
How we machine CNC adapters
Most adapters are turned. Round adapters up to 32 mm diameter run on our four Maier MLK-32 Swiss-type machines with FMB bar feeders, which cut both threads, bores and seats in one cycle. Larger adapters run on our Mazak and Doosan CNC lathes. The Multiplex 6300Y twin-spindle lathe finishes both ends in one cycle, which keeps the two interfaces concentric. Live tooling and Y-axis add wrench flats, bolt circles, cross ports and anti-rotation slots without another setup. See CNC turning.
Adapter plates and block-style adapters, such as motor-to-gearbox plates, manifold sub-plates and mounting adapters with bolt patterns on several faces, run on our six Mazak horizontal machining centers with pallet changers and 4th-axis rotaries. Many adapter plates also need a turned pilot, which we cut on the lathe first and then use as the datum on the horizontal. See horizontal CNC milling.
Adapter materials
- Steel: 12L14, 1018, 1045 and 4140 for structural and high-pressure adapters.
- Stainless: 303, 304, 316 and 17-4 PH for process and corrosive service.
- Brass and bronze: C36000 brass for fluid and instrument adapters.
- Aluminum: 6061-T6 and 7075 for adapter plates and light mounts.
- Others: Monel, Inconel, Hastelloy, titanium and engineered plastics.
Critical adapter features and how we hold them
- Thread pairs: any combination of NPT, UN, metric, BSPP and BSPT, each gaged to its standard.
- Pilot and register fits: motor and gearbox pilots bored or turned to the mating component's fit, typically H7/h6 or tighter.
- Coaxiality between interfaces: both ends or both pilots cut in one setup or on a twin-spindle.
- Bolt patterns: each pattern located from the pilot datum and verified on CMM.
- Face parallelism: mounting faces finished in one setup or surface ground when the stack requires it.
Typical tolerances and finishes
| Feature | Typical tolerance | Tighter on request |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot / register diameter | ±0.0005 in | ±0.0003 in |
| Coaxiality between ends | 0.002 in | 0.0005 in |
| Bolt hole true position | 0.005 in | 0.002 in |
| Face parallelism | 0.002 in | 0.0005 in |
| Threads | 2A / 2B, NPT L1 | 3A / 3B, NPTF |
| Surface finish | 63 Ra | 32 Ra |
Secondary operations
Anodizing, plating, black oxide, passivation and heat treat are performed through qualified outside processors. When an adapter needs to match an existing component and no drawing exists, we can machine from your sample and dimensions, with the critical fits confirmed with you before production.
Quantity patterns
Adapters are often one-off or low-volume parts for retrofits and test setups, 1 to 25 pieces. When an adapter becomes part of a product, orders move into production runs of 100 to several thousand, which our Swiss and twin-spindle lathes handle efficiently.
Inspection
Threads are verified with calibrated go/no-go gages, pilots with bore gages and micrometers, and bolt patterns and coaxiality on our Brown & Sharpe CMMs. Seat and profile geometry is checked on our Mitsubishi optical comparator. AS9102-format first articles, material certs and lot traceability are available. See inspection and quality.
Getting a quote
Send a drawing, or describe the two interfaces you need to connect with their specs, plus material and quantity. You can upload a drawing for an instant estimate, and an estimator will confirm pricing. Or call (315) 400-2654. Related: custom fittings and flanges.