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.
Turned Hardware for the Air Capital Supply Chain
One industry cluster defines Wichita manufacturing, and its supply chain runs deeper than any other aviation city in America. Spirit AeroSystems builds Boeing 737 fuselages and 787 forward sections, Textron Aviation turns out Cessna and Beechcraft aircraft, Airbus runs an aerostructures engineering center and the Learjet legacy still supports a business jet aftermarket. Feeding all of it is a dense network of Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers, and those suppliers consume turned hardware by the barrel: clevis pins, rivet-adjacent fasteners, hydraulic fittings and the drill bushings that guide automated fuselage assembly.
Swiss turning fits this work because the guide bushing supports the bar right at the cutting zone. A 3 inch long control linkage pin at 0.125 inch diameter comes off straight and concentric to 0.0002 inches TIR, something a conventional lathe struggles to repeat across a 10,000 piece bar-fed run. That matters when the part disappears into a Spirit fuselage panel or a Textron flight control assembly and can never be reworked again.
The demand does not stop at commercial aviation. McConnell Air Force Base flies the KC-46 tanker wing, Koch subsidiaries build refinery and combustion equipment and NIAR at Wichita State pushes automated drilling and inspection research. Each of those programs specifies its own flavor of small precision turned component, and RivCut ships all of them from our California shop in about 3 to 4 days by ground.
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.
How Wichita Industries Use Swiss Turned Parts
Three local sectors, three very different turned parts. Here is what we machine for Wichita teams.
Aerospace & General Aviation
Spirit AeroSystems fuselage programs and Textron Aviation's Cessna and Beechcraft lines sit atop a supplier pyramid that orders turned hardware in steady, repeating volumes. Robotic drilling cells need hardened drill bushings with H7 bores, wing and control assemblies need clevis pins and terminals, and fuel systems need fittings that seal on the first try. RivCut Swiss turns these from 2024 and 7075 aluminum, 303 stainless, 17-4 PH and titanium with full material traceability, mill certs and AS9102-style first article reports for Tier 2 quality systems.
Defense & Military Aviation
Wichita's defense demand runs through Spirit's military fuselage work, Textron's T-6 and AT-6 trainer programs and the KC-46 Pegasus wing at McConnell Air Force Base. These programs need DFARS-compliant material, MIL-spec finishes on parts exposed to jet fuel and hydraulic fluid and delivery dates that hold, because a late pin can stall a pilot training pipeline. We Swiss machine contact pins, valve spools and hydraulic fittings from domestically melted bar with the traceability and ITAR-aware handling that military aircraft supply chains require.
Industrial & Process Equipment
Koch Industries headquarters its process equipment empire in Wichita. Koch-Glitsch builds mass transfer internals for refineries, John Zink Hamworthy builds combustion systems and Cargill's Kansas grain operations keep conveyors and elevators running around the clock. That equipment wears out small precision components on its own schedule: spray nozzle bodies, instrument fittings, gauge pins and ferrules. We turn replacements from 316L, brass, 4140 and 17-4 PH to print, often working from a worn sample and a sketch when the OEM part number is obsolete.
Swiss Machining FAQ for Wichita Buyers
Lead times, tolerances, materials and shipping for Wichita orders.
Swiss Machining Near Wichita
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