CNC machines: popularity of customised enclosures increases

As the pressure on OEMs and designers increases to keep their product ahead of the curve, the popularity of customised enclosures is increasing across all industries.

Spelsberg UK has recently invested in further CNC machining capabilities to ensure that its lead times remain the best in the business.



Since June, 2016, Spelsberg UK has offered customers a 24-hour turnaround service on samples for custom designs.

When the service was initially launched the Telford-based supplier had requests for a couple of samples a week. A year-and-half on and the service is continuing to increase in popularity as customers begin to see it as ‘the new normal’.

Of course, the samples cannot be allowed to get in the way of lead times for complete orders, so Spelsberg has recently taken delivery of a third Datron MV1500 CNC machine (its forth in-house machine overall).

The new machine will add an extra level of flexibility to production, allowing multiple orders to be machined in parallel to each other. Alternatively, should a large order with a tight deadline line occur, Spelsberg engineers have designed an interchangeable bed fixture, that allows the three Datrons to be quickly set up to run the same machine job.

Chris Lloyd, Spelsberg UK Managing Director, believes that a high quality customisation service is the key to the company’s success in the past 10 years: “We increasingly see designers and end users question the design and dimensions of standard products; rather than making changes to their drawings, they expect us to find a product that fits their precise requirements. We already offer the largest range of non-metallic enclosures ex-stock in the UK, so the best way to service this demand it to extend our customisation capabilities.

“Along with investing in improved warehousing, the last decade has seen investment in our engineering expertise. This isn’t limited to our CNC capabilities. We’ve also built an assembly line and invested in sales engineers both in the office and on the road. Increasingly we are working with customers throughout the design stage and acting as part of their design team, rather than simply selling them a commodity.”

Spelsberg’s customisation abilities include any combination of circular holes, hinge fixing points, push button holes, rectangles, countersunk holes and threaded holes on any external surface.

The customisation ensures that any size and shape of cut out and cable gland requirements can be easily accommodated without the need to employ an enclosure that is otherwise unsuitable for the application.

With its fleet of in-house CNC machines it has the capability to quickly produce one of many thousands of bespoke enclosures.

Once a design has been machined the template is saved on Spelsberg’s system and the customer is given a unique reference code for quick and simple re-ordering.