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Industrial Hardware F-11: Forged Aluminum Flanged Sleeve
Industrial Hardware F-11 is a forged aluminum flanged sleeve consisting of a larger-diameter flange ring above a cylindrical body with a through bore. Flanged sleeves of this type serve as bearing housings, locating bushings, pipe fittings or seats within mechanisms, with the flange face providing axial location and a clamping surface.
Al Forge Tech (AFT) evaluates cold or hot forging for this part according to wall thickness, flange proportion and volume. Forging keeps a continuous grain flow through the corner between flange and body, avoiding the waste of machining from solid bar or the weld of a flange added to tube stock. Bores, outer diameters and faces are then finished on AFT's in-house lathes, with anodizing available.
Key Features
- Flange and body formed in one piece with continuous grain flow at the corner
- Less material removal than turning from solid bar
- Bore, OD, end faces and flange face turned to fit tolerances
- Repeatable dimensions suited to volume production
Industrial Hardware F-11 Specifications and Manufacturing Capability
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Product category | Aluminum Forging Industrial Hardware |
| Product No. | F-11 |
| Application | Bearing housings, locating bushings, pipe fittings, mechanism seats |
| Primary process | Hot or cold forging, selected by geometry, wall thickness and volume (hot 600T–8,000T / cold 260T–2,500T) |
| Material | Selected to customer specification; 2xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx series aluminum alloys available (e.g. 2014, 6061, 6082, 7075) |
| Heat treatment | In-house T4 solution treatment (8 units) and T6 artificial aging (7 units), set by alloy and strength requirement |
| Secondary machining | CNC machining (52 machining centers, 30 lathes), deburring, vibratory finishing |
| Surface finish | Anodizing (including hard anodizing), shot blasting, e-coating or painting, as required |
| Inspection | Zeiss CMM (4 units), hardness testers, spectrometer, fluorescent penetrant inspection line |
| Dimensions and tolerances | Per customer 2D/3D drawings |
| Quality system | IATF 16949:2016, ISO 14001:2015 |
Industrial Hardware F-11 Manufacturing Process
- Drawing review and DFM: we confirm alloy, load direction and critical dimensions, then run QForm simulation to predict metal flow and defect risk.
- Die design and manufacturing: the number of die sets (for example, blocker and finisher dies) is planned around part complexity, and die contours are checked with a portable 3D scanner.
- Cold forging: cold forming on 260T–2,500T presses, suited to thin-walled, tubular and dimensionally repeatable parts.
- Heat treatment: T4 solution treatment and T6 artificial aging are performed in-house, with parameters set by alloy and strength requirement.
- CNC machining and finishing: holes, threads and mating surfaces are machined, followed by deburring, vibratory finishing, shot blasting or anodizing as required.
- Inspection and shipment: dimensions, hardness and chemical composition are verified with CMM, hardness testers and a spectrometer, with lot traceability kept under IATF 16949.
FAQ
Why forge a flanged sleeve instead of welding a flange to tube?
Welding a flange to tube adds a process step, and the heat-affected zone near the weld can lose strength and distort. A one-piece forged flanged sleeve has no weld; the corner between flange and body is made of continuous grain flow, which better resists axial clamping loads and makes dimensional consistency easier to hold in production.
How are the bore and OD tolerances of the F-11 achieved?
Forging produces a near-net flange and body contour, and the bore, OD and faces are then finish-turned to the drawing tolerance. AFT runs 30 lathes, 14 of them with robotic loading, which suits sleeve-type parts in volume. Concentricity, parallelism and other critical features are verified on CMM and gauges after machining.
Can the Industrial Hardware F-11 be anodized or given other surface finishes?
Yes. Al Forge Tech offers anodizing (including hard anodizing), shot blasting, vibratory finishing, e-coating and painting, plus pickling and ultrasonic washing lines to clean parts after machining. Please note the finish type and film thickness on the drawing so machining allowances and cosmetic standards for the Industrial Hardware F-11 can be evaluated together.
How do you keep the Industrial Hardware F-11 consistent from lot to lot?
Al Forge Tech runs incoming (IQC), in-process (IPQC) and final (FQC) inspection under IATF 16949:2016, supported by 4 Zeiss CMMs, hardness testers, a spectrometer and a fluorescent penetrant inspection line. First, middle and last pieces of every lot are checked against the die; when wear causes dimensional drift, the die is reworked to keep the Industrial Hardware F-11 stable across lots.
How are MOQ and lead time for the Industrial Hardware F-11 determined?
MOQ and lead time depend on part size, number of die sets, alloy and machining scope, and are confirmed in the quotation after drawing review. The typical sequence is die development, forged samples, sample approval and then mass production. Sharing your annual volume and call-off schedule helps us plan dies and capacity for the Industrial Hardware F-11.
Request a Quote for the Industrial Hardware F-11
Developing a new Industrial Hardware F-11 or converting an existing part to aluminum forging? Send us your 3D/2D drawings, alloy and temper, annual volume and finishing requirements. Our engineering team will reply with a feasibility review, die plan and quotation.
- Online inquiry: Contact Us
- Email: aft@aft-forge.com.tw
To compare similar parts, browse Aluminum Forging Industrial Hardware and our industrial hardware forging applications, or visit About Us for our equipment and certifications.