Wexmar provides custom flange machining for OEMs and fabricators that need non-standard flanges, adapter flanges, mounting flanges and blind flanges built to print. Our Canastota, New York shop turns and mills CNC machined flanges in carbon steel, stainless, nickel alloys and aluminum, with bolt circles, sealing faces and O-ring grooves held to the drawing.
What flanges do and who buys them
A flange joins two components with a bolted, sealed connection or mounts a motor, pump, gearbox or sensor to a frame. Catalog flanges cover standard pipe sizes, but many assemblies need special bolt patterns, pilots, spigots, bore sizes or sealing geometry. Our flange customers include pump and valve manufacturers, fluid power and process equipment builders, instrumentation companies, vacuum and test equipment OEMs, and defense programs that require build-to-print hardware.
How we machine custom flanges
Flanges are primarily turned parts. We face, bore, turn the OD and pilot, and cut sealing grooves on our Mazak and Doosan CNC lathes. The Nexus 450-II and Nexus 250 handle larger diameters, and the Nexus QT200 and Lynx 2100A units run smaller flanges efficiently. With live tooling and Y-axis, the lathe drills and taps the bolt circle in the same chucking as the bore, so hole position is referenced directly to the flange centerline.
When a flange has features that are not radial, such as side ports, off-axis mounting holes, slots or a square body, we finish it on one of our six Mazak horizontal machining centers. The 4th-axis rotary on these machines lets us reach several faces in one setup, and pallet changers keep spindle time high on production lots. Small instrument flanges under 32 mm can run complete on our Swiss machines. Learn more about our CNC turning and horizontal CNC milling.
Flange materials
- Carbon steel: A105, 1018, 1045 and A36 plate.
- Stainless: 304/304L, 316/316L, 17-4 PH and Nitronic 50.
- High-nickel alloys: Inconel 625, Monel 400 and Hastelloy C-276 for corrosive process service.
- Others: 6061 and 7075 aluminum, brass, bronze, titanium and engineered plastics.
Material certifications and heat-lot traceability are available with every order.
Critical flange features and how we hold them
- Bolt circle position: drilled with live tooling or on a horizontal from the same datum as the bore, and verified on a CMM.
- Face flatness: controlled by stress-relieved material, balanced stock removal and light finishing passes.
- Sealing face finish: smooth or serrated finishes, including concentric or spiral serrations, cut to the specified Ra or AARH range.
- O-ring and gasket grooves: width, depth and diameter held to the gland design, with groove surfaces finished for static seals.
- Pilot and bore concentricity: cut in one setup to keep the pilot, bore and bolt circle on a common axis.
Typical tolerances and finishes
| Feature | Typical tolerance | Tighter on request |
|---|---|---|
| Bore and pilot diameter | ±0.001 in | ±0.0005 in |
| Bolt hole true position | 0.005 in | 0.002 in |
| Sealing face flatness | 0.002 in | 0.0005 in (surface ground) |
| O-ring groove width and depth | ±0.002 in | ±0.001 in |
| Face finish, smooth | 63 Ra | 32 Ra or finer |
| Face finish, serrated | 125 to 250 AARH | As specified |
These are typical values for flanges of moderate thickness. Thin, large-diameter flanges may need a stress-relief step or a surface grind, which we will note in the quote.
Secondary operations
Galvanizing, plating, black oxide, passivation, painting, stress relief and welding to pipe or fabrications are handled through qualified outside processors. Our in-house surface grinder is available when a sealing face calls for flatness beyond what turning alone will hold.
Quantity patterns
Flange orders range from one-off adapter flanges for test stands to production runs of hundreds of mounting flanges released through the year. We keep programs and fixtures on file so repeat orders move quickly.
Inspection
We check bores with bore gages, flatness on a surface plate with indicators, and bolt circle position on our Brown & Sharpe CMMs. Groove profiles and serrations are checked on our Mitsubishi optical comparator or with profile gages. First article inspection in AS9102 format and CMM reports are available. See inspection and quality.
Getting a quote
Send a drawing with material, face finish, bolt pattern and quantity. You can upload a drawing for an instant estimate as a PDF or STEP file, and an estimator will confirm price and lead time. Or call (315) 400-2654. Related: custom adapters.