Aluminium Enclosures for Automotive Electronics and E-Mobility

Automotive housings have to survive what consumer electronics never sees: continuous vibration, thermal cycling from cold start to full load, road salt, and a service life measured in years rather than upgrade cycles. On top of that, anything the passenger can see has to match the interior trim in colour and texture. We build these to your specification and validation plan — and we are straightforward about what we do and do not certify.

What makes this enclosure difficult

These are the failure modes we see most often in this application — and the ones we design against from the first section drawing:

• Vibration and thermal cycling. A housing that passes bench testing can still crack at a screw boss after thermal cycling if the section has a stress concentration.
• Visible parts must match interior trim. Anodised colour consistency across batches and across different components in the same cabin is a real acceptance criterion.
• Sealing against moisture and salt. Machined seal faces and groove geometry decide whether the IP rating holds after thermal cycling.
• Documentation expectations. Automotive programmes expect dimensional reports, material certificates and traceability that consumer programmes often do not.

How we handle it

Section design that avoids stress concentrations

During DFM review we look specifically at boss roots, wall transitions and corner radii — the places where a vibration-tested part actually fails. Suggested changes at this stage cost nothing; the same change after tooling is cut does not.

Colour matching treated as a specification, not a finish

We work to an agreed colour reference and control the anodising bath and sealing consistently across batches. Our polish-free 6063 process helps here: because the substrate surface is uniform from the billet stage onward, there is less batch-to-batch variation to begin with.

Machined seal faces and grooves

Gasket grooves and mating faces are CNC-machined for flatness and positional accuracy, which is what makes an IP rating achievable after thermal cycling rather than only on a fresh build.

Documentation to your validation plan

Dimensional reports, material certificates and inspection records can be supplied with each batch. We are transparent that we hold ISO 9001 rather than IATF 16949 — if your programme requires IATF-certified supply, we will tell you at the start rather than at PPAP.

Volume capacity with stock holding

For production programmes we can hold extruded profile at our 3,000 m² warehouse and release machined batches against your call-off, which is how most automotive schedules are actually run.

Capability that matters here

Parameter	Typical capability	Why it matters
Inner / outer diameter tolerance	±0.04 mm	Fit and sealing under thermal cycling
Wall thickness tolerance	±0.02 mm	Consistent section stiffness
Machined seal face flatness	Around 0.05 mm	IP rating retention after cycling
Cut-to-length accuracy	±0.005 mm	Repeatable line assembly
Anodise colour control	To agreed reference standard	Interior trim matching
Documentation	Dimensional reports, material certificates	Programme traceability

Typical parts we make for this industry

• On-board charger (OBC) and DC-DC converter housings
• ECU and domain controller cases
• Centre console and instrument display frames
• Auxiliary lighting and light-bar profiles
• Battery management and distribution boxes
• Charge port and junction enclosures

Material and finish

6063-T5 covers most visible and heat-dissipating automotive housings. Where the part is structural, threaded under load, or sees higher mechanical stress, we specify 6061-T6 or 6082 and re-quote the section for the changed extrudability.

Our polish-free 6063 route runs primary billet from a state-owned mill through ceramic filtration, degassing and homogenising, so the profile goes straight to 180# blasting and anodising with no polishing stage — typically around 15% less finishing cost. We deliberately do not take high-pressure die-casting work; all capacity goes into extruded profile and precision machining.

Questions buyers in this industry ask

Are you IATF 16949 certified?

No — we hold ISO 9001, and we prefer to be upfront about that rather than have it discovered late in your supplier qualification. We can supply dimensional reports, material certificates and inspection records to support your validation, and many customers use us for enclosures where the programme does not mandate IATF-certified supply. If yours does, we will say so at the start.

How do you keep anodised colour consistent across batches?

By controlling the substrate as well as the bath. Our polish-free 6063 route uses primary billet that is ceramic-filtered, degassed and homogenised, so the starting surface is uniform; the blasting and anodising parameters are then held consistently and checked against an agreed reference. For visible interior parts we recommend approving a physical colour standard before production starts.

Can you support prototypes before production tooling?

Yes. CNC-machined prototypes from solid bar let you complete fit, thermal and vibration validation before a die is cut, and we move you to extrusion once the design is frozen. This is the normal path for automotive programmes.

Where we ship these

Other industries we serve