Sector
Welded frames, machined parts, guards, grippers and tooling: find workshops to build your special-purpose machines, robot cells and their equipment.
A special-purpose machine builder rarely sells in volume: each machine answers a specific process, cycle rate and site. The job is to integrate off-the-shelf components (motors, cylinders, sensors, robots) into a bespoke structure, and it is this structure, with its frames, plates, guards, grippers and tooling, that is most often subcontracted.
The constraints are distinctive: parts in very small quantities, often just one, drawings that change until commissioning, precise fits between parts from different suppliers and deadlines that must be met, because a late machine holds up an entire production chain. It is therefore better to choose responsive workshops that are used to one-offs and small batches and can read an assembly drawing.
Overall compliance remains the responsibility of the machine manufacturer, not its subcontractors: risk assessment, CE marking, technical file. This page gathers what you need to specify so that the parts fit first time. To structure your file, the specification tool and the guide to writing a manufacturing specification will save you time.
Standards, regulations and practices that buyers expect from their subcontractors.
Directive 2006/42/EC governs the placing of machinery on the market; Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 replaces it from 20 January 2027. CE marking, the technical file and the declaration of conformity are the machine manufacturer’s responsibility.
The EN ISO 12100 standard structures risk assessment. It leads to guards, safety distances (EN ISO 13857) and safety functions (EN ISO 13849-1). A robot cell is also covered by the ISO 10218 series.
The control cabinet and wiring follow the EN 60204-1 standard. Electrical safety and electromagnetic compatibility form part of the machine’s compliance, including for modules supplied by subcontractors.
A machine brings together parts from different suppliers: plate flatness, rail parallelism, shaft concentricity. State these requirements and the inspection expected, rather than a single general tolerance.
Your drawings describe a process that is often confidential. Plan for a non-disclosure agreement, revision-index management and the supply of material certificates and inspection reports with the parts.
Each skill has its own detailed page: services, materials, price factors.
Base plates, shafts, brackets and adjustment parts made as one-offs, often machined on 3 or 5 axes with tight positional tolerances.
Welded frames, chassis and structures. Ask whether the workshop machines after welding to hold flatness.
Guards, covers and light-gauge sheet supports, laser-cut and folded, with openings for cable and sensor pass-throughs.
Light grippers, gripper fingers and printed sensor supports: quick to iterate and useful before committing to a machined version.
Cabinets, wiring and small control modules: attach schematics and a bill of materials, and state the standard expected.
Trial assembly, sub-assembly integration, adjustment and commissioning: some workshops deliver a station ready to install.
The machine manufacturer is the party that designs the machine, or has it designed, in order to place it on the market or use it under its own name. For a machine built for your own use, that is you. As such, it carries out the risk assessment, compiles the technical file, affixes the CE marking and signs the declaration of conformity. Its subcontractors make parts and sub-assemblies from its drawings, without taking over this responsibility.
This split has very practical consequences for the quote request:
From 20 January 2027, Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 replaces Directive 2006/42/EC. It retains the principle of risk assessment and CE marking, but adds requirements for machines with evolving behaviour and for cybersecurity, among other things. For a project that runs past this date, plan for it with your design office.
A special-purpose machine is built in an order that eases adjustment. Reference parts (base plates, frame) come first, because everything is positioned on them. Next come the moving sub-assemblies and tooling, then the covers and guards, which depend on the final result. Split your requests in this order and tell the workshops: they will plan accordingly and can offer staggered deliveries.
Then take care over tolerancing. Fits between parts from different workshops call for clear dimensioning: define the fits on functional surfaces and keep general tolerances for the others. The guide to machining tolerances and ISO 2768 and the ISO 2768 tolerance tool help you choose a consistent class.
Finally, think about file exchange, because an out-of-date drawing revision is expensive: a neutral format such as STEP avoids conversion errors between CAD packages (see the guide to file formats). On Meaflow, you post your requirement for free, workshops ask their questions by message and you compare their quotes. State the batches and delivery dates you want in the request. Post your request or browse the mechanical and assembly requests.
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Generally not. CE marking applies to the complete machine, under the responsibility of its manufacturer, who carries out the risk assessment and draws up the declaration of conformity. The workshop makes parts that conform to your drawings and can supply material certificates and inspection reports to feed into your technical file.
Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 replaces Directive 2006/42/EC and applies from 20 January 2027. It takes account of machines with evolving behaviour and of cybersecurity, and allows digital instructions. The principles of risk assessment and CE marking remain. Consult the official text for your specific case.
Yes, this is the usual situation in special-purpose machinery. The unit price is higher than in volume production because programming and setup are not spread over a batch, but many workshops are used to it. State that it is a one-off machine and say whether further units will follow.
Say so in the request: machine drawings often evolve during commissioning. Agree revision indices, a response time and how changes are invoiced with the workshop. An up-to-date drawing sent in writing with its revision index visible prevents an out-of-date version from being machined.
What a workshop needs to know to quote and make your part: a method in a few points, a ready-to-copy template and common mistakes to avoid.
ISO 2768 general tolerances, ISO 286 fits, ISO 1101 geometric tolerancing, Ra roughness: read a drawing and dimension sensibly to control the cost of a machined part.
STEP, IGES, Parasolid, DXF, STL, 3MF, dimensioned PDF, Gerber: the right file for each manufacturing process, a summary table and good practice for sending files.
Describe your needs and requirements (standards, certificates, expected documents) and compare quotes from workshops. It’s free.
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