What Is Swiss CNC Machining?
Swiss CNC machining (also known as Swiss screw machining or sliding headstock turning) feeds bar stock through a stationary guide bushing directly adjacent to the cutting tool. Because the material is supported right where the cut happens, deflection and vibration are eliminated — allowing ultra-tight tolerances, micro features, and length-to-diameter aspect ratios over 20:1 that conventional CNC lathes cannot achieve.
Bar Stock Feeds Through Guide Bushing
The raw bar feeds through a carbide-lined guide bushing, providing zero-clearance support right next to the cutting insert.
Sliding Headstock Moves Along Z-Axis
Instead of moving the cutting tool along the part, the headstock advances the bar past fixed gang tooling, maintaining maximum rigidity.
Live Tooling & Sub-Spindle Dual Machining
Cross-milling, axial drilling, threads, and back-side features are completed in a single setup before parting off the finished part.
A Century of Aerospace Identity in Goodyear, AZ
Few Phoenix suburbs can trace their name to a manufacturing company, but Goodyear can. Goodyear Tire and Rubber planted cotton here in 1917 for tire cord, and by World War II Goodyear Aerospace was turning out airship components and aircraft assemblies beside what is now Phoenix Goodyear Airport. That footprint never really left. Lockheed Martin operates on the old Goodyear Aerospace site today, and the surrounding supplier base still leans toward flight hardware, radar and defense electronics work feeding programs across the Valley, including F-35 training operations at nearby Luke Air Force Base.
The newer chapter of Goodyear manufacturing is scale and automation. An Amazon robotics fulfillment center, a Microsoft data center campus and a major Sub-Zero appliance plant have made the city one of the fastest growing industrial corridors in Arizona, and every one of those operations runs on small precision turned components: sensor housings, dowels, standoffs, ferrules and hydraulic fittings that wear out or get designed into new tooling.
Swiss turning is the right process for almost all of it. A sliding headstock lathe supports the bar in a guide bushing right at the cut, so slender parts with length to diameter ratios past 20 to 1 come off straight, concentric within 0.0002 inches TIR and finished near Ra 16 microinches without grinding. Ground freight from our Union City, CA shop reaches Goodyear in about 1 to 2 business days, faster than many local shops can even open a work order.
Engineered for Micro-Precision & High Volume
From single medical prototypes to automated 100,000+ piece production runs — built for zero defect manufacturing.
±0.0001" Micro Tolerance
Holding ultra-precise concentricity, diameter, and thread pitch tolerances on slender pins, shafts, and medical implants where standard lathes fail.
Single-Setup Completion
Multi-axis live tooling and sub-spindles handle turning, off-center milling, cross-drilling, hex broaching, and thread whirling with zero secondary setups.
Superior Ra 16 Surface Finish
Rigid guide bushing support eliminates chatter and micro-vibration, consistently producing mirror-smooth Ra 16 µin (0.4 µm) turned surfaces as-machined.
Lights-Out Production Savings
Automatic bar feeders and continuous chip management allow 24/7 un-attended operation, dramatically lowering unit costs for mid-to-high volume orders.
Swiss Machining Services Suite
Sliding headstock capabilities engineered for challenging small-diameter components.
Micro-Miniature Turning
Machining small-diameter components down to 0.020" (0.5 mm) with tight features, internal bores, and miniature threads for medical instruments and micro-valves.
Down to 0.5 mm barHigh L/D Ratio Slender Shafts
Turning long, slender shafts and pins with length-to-diameter ratios up to 20:1 without chatter, taper, or deflection.
L/D up to 20:1Multi-Axis Live Tooling
Up to 12 axes with motorized driven tools for off-center milling, keyways, cross-drilled passages, hex flats, and helical thread whirling.
Up to 12-axis liveDual-Spindle Sub-Machining
Synchronized pick-off sub-spindle finishes the back end of the part—chamfering, counterboring, and tapping—delivering 100% complete parts off the line.
100% finished partsMedical & Implant Machining
Precision turning of Titanium Ti-6Al-4V ELI bone screws, dental implant posts, orthopedic pins, and endoscope tips with ISO 13485 quality control.
Titanium & 316L medicalHigh-Volume Bar Fed Runs
Automated 12ft bar loaders, high-pressure coolant (2,000 PSI), and automated part catchers support fast production runs from 500 to 100,000+ pieces.
500 to 100,000+ pcs
Titanium Grade 5 Dental Implant Post & Bone Screw
Swiss turned for a medical device manufacturer requiring intricate thread geometry, micro-cannulation through-holes, and tight hex drive features. Machined in a single operation with zero hand deburring required.
tolerance held
surface finish
turnaround
2,500-piece run
- Optical comparator & CMM dimensional inspection report
- Mill test certs (EN 10204 3.1) with heat lot traceability
- Passivation certs per ASTM A967 / ASTM F86
- Certificate of Conformance per medical purchase order
Swiss Turning vs. Standard Lathe vs. CNC Milling
Choose the right manufacturing method based on geometry, tolerances, and batch size.
Stocked Materials for Swiss Turning
Precision ground round bar stock in metals, medical alloys, and engineering plastics.
Titanium Alloys
Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5), Ti-6Al-4V ELI (Grade 23), Commercially Pure Titanium (Grade 2). Ideal for biocompatible implants, dental screws, and aerospace pins.
Stainless Steels
303, 304/304L, 316/316L, 17-4 PH, 440C, Custom 455. Excellent corrosion resistance, high tensile strength, and medical compliance.
Copper & Brass Alloys
C36000 Free-Cutting Brass, C17200 Beryllium Copper, Tellurium Copper C14500. Perfect for gold-plated electrical contacts and probe tips.
Specialty & Superalloys
Inconel 718, Kovar, Nitronic 60, Hastelloy C-276, Nitinol. High-temperature and controlled-expansion applications for aerospace and energy.
Medical Plastics
PEEK (Unfilled & 30% Glass Filled), Delrin (POM-H), PTFE (Teflon), Ultem 1000, Torlon 4203. Biocompatible, autoclavable, and dimensionally stable.
Alloy & Tool Steels
4140, 4340, A2, D2, M2 tool steel. High wear resistance and toughness after vacuum heat treating for mechanical shafts and dowels.
DFM Tips for Swiss Turned Parts
Optimize your 3D CAD models and drawings for maximum Swiss machining efficiency.
1. Precision Ground Bar Stock
Because the bar slides through a guide bushing, use h8 diameter tolerance precision ground bar stock to prevent binding or loose play.
2. Thread Relief Grooves
Provide a thread relief necking groove at thread shoulders (minimum 1.5x thread pitch) to allow clean single-point thread tool retraction.
3. Corner Radii & Chamfers
Specify internal corner radii of at least R 0.010" (0.25 mm) and external 45° lead-in chamfers to ease automated tool engagement and deburring.
What Goodyear Teams Send to Our Swiss Lathes
What Goodyear buyers actually order, sector by sector.
Aerospace & Defense
The Goodyear Aerospace lineage, Lockheed Martin's local operation and the F-35 ecosystem around Luke Air Force Base keep West Valley suppliers busy with flight and ground support hardware. Those programs consume turned components in exactly the sizes Swiss lathes excel at: contact pins for connectors and test harnesses, clevis pins, fuel system fittings and antenna hardware. RivCut turns them from 303 and 17-4 PH stainless, 2024 and 7075 aluminum and Ti-6Al-4V with full material traceability, first article inspection reports and ITAR-capable handling on controlled work.
Automation, Data Centers & Appliance Production
Amazon's robotics fulfillment center, the Microsoft data center campus and the Sub-Zero plant represent thousands of motors, actuators, cooling loops and conveyors that need small turned parts on both the OEM and maintenance side. Robot end effectors use dowel pins and precision shafts. Liquid cooling and refrigeration lines use ferrules, valve spools and fittings. Facility teams and the machine builders who serve them order these in anything from 5 piece emergency replacements to 50,000 piece bar fed runs, and Swiss machining prices both ends of that range competitively because setup happens once.
Medical Devices
Goodyear sits inside one of the fastest growing medtech corridors in the country, with Abrazo West Campus anchoring clinical demand locally and device firms scattered across the Phoenix metro. Swiss turning built its reputation on this work: bone screws, dental implant bodies, cannulated pins and luer fittings under 0.5 inches in diameter, machined from 316L, titanium and PEEK. Guide bushing support holds thread pitch diameters and cannulation concentricity that conventional turning struggles to repeat across a validated lot.
Common Questions from Goodyear Teams
How Swiss turning, quoting and shipping work for Goodyear teams.
Swiss Machining in the Goodyear Region
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