Request an estimate: one part number, one drawing.
Tell us which stock part, what has to change, and how many. An estimate comes back within 48 hours, and if the honest answer is "buy the configurable version from the vendor", you get that answer instead.
When modifying beats making, and why it is usually cheaper
A machined part from solid pays for programming, fixturing, material, every cutting operation and inspection. A catalogue part has already paid for all of that at volume, in a factory built for it. When the standard part is 90 percent right, the missing 10 percent is normally one or two operations: a pair of tapped holes, a cut to length, a keyway, a bore opened to a bearing fit. You pay for those operations and the stock part, not for the whole part.
Two more things come free with the catalogue part. Its material and rating are already documented by the vendor, which is more than most one-off machined parts can say. And it is repeatable: the next batch starts from the same stock item, not from a drawing someone has to re-interpret. The exceptions are real and we say them plainly: if the vendor already sells a configurable version with your holes or length, buy that, and if the modification would void a safety rating on lifting gear, pressure parts or fasteners, it needs engineering sign-off before anyone cuts it.
What we modify, and from where
| Modification | Typical parts |
|---|---|
| Add or thread holes | Brackets, plates, angle, enclosures, flanges |
| Cut to length | Shafts, linear rails, extrusions, tube, bar, leadscrews |
| Mill flats, hexes or slots | Shafts for grub screws, spanner flats on fittings, adjustment slots |
| Counterbore, countersink, keyway | Plates, hubs, couplings, pulleys, gears |
| Bore, ream or turn to size | Bearing housings, bushes, spacers, sleeves |
| Cross-drill | Pins, shafts, clevis parts, split-pin and lubrication holes |
| Finish after modification | Re-passivation of stainless, anodising or plating of the modified area, or the whole part |
Source parts come from any UK-available vendor: RS Components, Farnell, Misumi, Accu, Bolt and Nut, Fabory, Cromwell, Zoro, Swagelok, Parker and others. TrueNorth buys the stock part in its own name, so the whole job sits on one contract. Or free-issue the parts you already hold, which is common practice and entirely welcome.
How it works, in four steps
- Send the part number and a marked-up drawing. A vendor PDF with red pen on it is enough; a STEP file and a proper drawing are better. Say what the part does and how many you need.
- Estimate within 48 hours. Our engineer checks the modification is sensible for the part, flags anything that would affect a vendor rating, and confirms the route. If a configurable catalogue version does the job, we say so.
- We buy the stock part, or receive yours. Ordered the day you confirm. Free-issued parts are checked for quantity and condition on arrival, and any scrap allowance for a tricky operation is agreed before work starts.
- Modified, inspected, shipped. The work is placed with the right shop in our vetted UK network, dimensionally inspected before dispatch, and shipped in 5 to 10 working days from the stock part arriving. The vendor's certification travels with the part; our inspection report covers the modification.
Why this is a managed supply job
The awkward part of modifying a catalogue item has never been the machining. It is the handling: someone has to order the right part, chase the vendor, get it to a shop willing to touch a small job, make sure the mod does not wreck the rating, inspect it, and take responsibility if it comes back wrong. Small buying teams end up doing all of that themselves, for a bracket.
TrueNorth Engineering is a manufacturing coordinator, the model we call managed supply, and this service is that model at its smallest scale: one contract, we buy the part, we place the work, we inspect it, and non-conforming parts are replaced at our cost. The same terms apply as everywhere on this site: an estimate within 48 hours, quotes valid 14 days, one firm price for the delivered, inspected part. If the modified standard part turns out to be the first of many, the call-off structure applies to it like any other repeat part, and if the part you actually need does not exist in any catalogue, the route becomes machining from solid or reverse engineering from a sample, which we will tell you at the estimate stage.