Brightwater Machine Works
(603) 555-0142Send a drawing

Precision CNC machining - Nashua, NH

Parts that measure right the first time.

Five-axis milling, Y-axis turning and a climate-controlled inspection room, running two shifts for aerospace, surgical and semiconductor customers since 1987.

Send a drawingSee the machine list
Close-up of a metal rod being turned in a lathe chuck by a cutting tool
1987
machining in Nashua since
+/-0.0002 in
held on ground and turned featuresCMM-verified in a 20 +/- 1 C room
24 h
quote turnaround on drawings in before noon
19
machinists, programmers and inspectors

What runs here

  1. Five-axis milling

    A DMG Mori DMU 50 and a Haas UMC-750 trunnion: 20,000 rpm on the DMU 50, envelopes to 30 x 20 x 20 in. on the UMC-750. One setup wherever the part allows it, because every reclamp is tolerance you give away.

  2. Y-axis turning

    Live tooling and a sub-spindle, bar to 3 in., chuck work to 12 in. diameter. Most turned parts come off the machine complete, cross-holes and flats already in them.

  3. Inspection

    A Zeiss Contura on an isolated slab in a 20 +/- 1 C room. First article, in-process and final, with the dimensional report in the first box rather than posted a week later.

  4. Prototypes through production

    One piece to 2,500 per release. Repeat work goes back on the machine it ran on, same fixture, same offsets, which is most of why the second order measures like the first.

Five-axis CNC mill spraying coolant while cutting an aluminum block

Inspection

The quiet room decides whether a part ships

The inspection room sits on its own slab at 20 +/- 1 C, away from the coolant and the compressor. A Zeiss Contura lives in it with a granite plate, a gauge crib audited every quarter, and Ken, who measures a first article twice before anyone else sees the number.

That room is why we quote +/-0.0002 in without hedging, and why a nonconformance gets written up here whether or not you would ever have found it.

See the machine list

On the floor this week

  • CNC mill cutting a toothed gear from round metal stock
  • Close-up of a lathe chuck and coolant nozzle turning a metal shaft
  • Milling machine spindle cutting a round aluminum part
CNC mill cutting a toothed gear from round metal stock
Five-axis cell, 6061 housing

What engineers say afterwards (sample quotes)

  • ★★★★★

    We sent a print with a datum scheme that did not close, and Brightwater called before they cut anything. The revised print came back with their notes on it. Six hundred pieces, every one in tolerance, and the CMM report was in the first box.

    Dana LindqvistQuality engineer, aerospace subassembly builder
  • ★★★★★

    Our old shop quoted in a week and shipped late. Brightwater quotes the next morning and tells us the real date, not the date we want to hear. That is worth more to me than a lower unit price.

    Marcus FeldPurchasing manager, surgical instrument maker
  • ★★★★★

    They machined a 17-4 manifold with eleven ported faces in two setups. We had budgeted five. The first article measured better than the drawing needed and we have released it four times since without a single question.

    Priya RaghavanDesign engineer, semiconductor equipment

Registrations

  • ISO 9001:2015 registeredQuality management system, registered since 2004 and surveilled every year since.
  • AS9100DAerospace quality system. Registered to AS9100 since 2009, currently rev D. AS9102 first articles on request.
  • ITAR registeredControlled work stays in the building. No drawing and no model leaves Nashua.

Send a print. We will send back questions, then a number.

Drawings in before noon are quoted the next morning. Anything that needs a conversation about datum structure gets a phone call first.

Send a drawingCall (603) 555-0142