Bespoke Fabrication
About Nickel-Electro Ltd.
Nickel-Electro is a well-established, family-owned, British business with over 70 years experience in design and manufacture.
Provider of a complete service from 3D design, computerised punching and forming, welding and powder painting components with extended capability of electrical and electronic assembly.
You can choose what services you need and how involved you wish to become in the design and manufacturing processes. From a concept or prototype we can work with you developing virtual 3D designs or you may have an existing product seeking its manufacture. We offer a flexible service whether small or large quantities.
The complete manufacturing solution on one site, controlling the entire production process, we guarantee that products are of the highest standards.
Based in Weston-super-Mare 2 miles off Junction 21 of the M5, we manufacture fabricated sheet metal components and assemblies.
Services
Products are designed, developed and manufactured in a ISO9001 environment.
3D Design
From your concept or prototype we would like to work with you developing virtual 3D designs or you may have an existing product design.
We use the latest 3D design tool, Solid Edge, developing products, producing photorealistic images and prototypes, allowing component fit and finish to be reviewed. The design software also has the additional capability of wire looming in the 3D model, useful for assessing clearances and cable runs for safety.
We have a number of diverse customer designs manufactured: electronic/electrical enclosures and street furniture.
Our production facility is fully networked with design exchanging data between production workcentres. For total confidence all data is stored securely onsite with full backup facility here and off site.
Punching
A Rainer Eletek punch press centre is equipped with electrically activated ram for high performance, low power consumption and is one of the most advanced precision punching machines on the market.
The 3D model designed in Solid Edge is unfolded on screen in a dedicated sheet metal module producing an accurate template. This template file is stored securely ready for Radan, a computerised component-nesting package that generates code for the Rainer punch press to accurately produce sheet metal components.
We have a number of specific deburring processes to dress and clean the flat component.
Forming
Folding on a CNC controlled press brakes, with a wide selection of tooling, combined with skilled and experienced staff produces accurate component shapes and profiles.
We regularly work with sheet metals such as mild and stainless steels, aluminium and exotic materials such as nickel.
Our tool room can also produce dedicated forming equipment and tooling where necessary, to obtain unique profiles.
We have a wide selection of fasteners such as self-clinching, surface mount, or weld technology to provide strong, reusable, (remove comma) and permanent threads and mounting points in sheet metal.
Our staff have experience with a wide range of products from brackets, cases, and electronics enclosures systems.
Welding
We have a highly skilled member of staff with many years experience in our welding department. We offer TIG welding stainless steel, mild steel and MIG welding aluminium to exacting standards and to a high visual quality finish either left raw, electro polished or dressed.
We also have spot welding plant for jointing sheet materials along with a variety of fastening systems to bind components together.
Painting
The powder paint facility produces components with a high quality and durable finish. These painted finishes can vary from smooth to a texture and we do carry a number of stock colours.
Powder paint consists of a dry powder, electrostatically applied using a spray gun, adheres to the body of an enclosure where it melts under exposure to heat in a box oven. Powder paint contains no solvents and no water and applied with minimal waste.
Before application of powder paint we pre-treat sheet materials, to remove contaminates, with water and biodegradable detergents.
Alternative or additional finishes can be applied such as anodising for aluminium and plating for steel components.
The Powder paint facility produces components with a high quality and durable finish.
We also have a silkscreen facility, able to apply text and graphics to components, or we can design and source adhesive overlays for application to your products.
Spinning
Metal spinning is a process where a disc is rotated at high speed in a lathe and formed into round symmetric component using a hand former.
Virtually any ductile metal can be formed, the diameter and depth limited only by size equipment available.
Assembly
We have a comprehensive assembly facility with technicians with electronic, electrical and mechanical experience.
Rapid Prototyping
We have on-site 3D Printing facilities to prototype parts for fit and function. The Ultimaker printer produces 3D parts by fused deposition modelling. We have a range of materials and colours available to print.
Environment
Raw Materials
We strive to maximise raw material usage with Radan sheet metal nesting. Any waste steel and alloys are collected for recycling.
Chemical
We only use water based detergents for cleaning materials prior to painting.
Energy
We invest in energy reduction by updating plant, heating and lighting.