McCormick Industries, an ISO 9001:2015 certified precision CNC and Swiss machining company based in Appleton, WI, is highlighting its capabilities in the manufacture of custom dowel pins for original equipment manufacturers across the aerospace, medical, defense, automotive, electronics, and industrial sectors. The company has produced precision pins since 1996 and builds each component to customer-specified dimensions, materials, and finishes.
Dowel pins serve as alignment and locating components in assemblies where two or more parts must fit together in an exact, repeatable position. In fixtures, molds, gearboxes, hydraulic housings, and electromechanical devices, a pin that is slightly out of tolerance can cause misalignment, premature wear, or assembly failure. For that reason, many manufacturers rely on custom dowel pins rather than off-the-shelf hardware when an application calls for a nonstandard diameter, length, material, or end geometry.
McCormick Industries produces these components on a fleet of Swiss-style CNC turning centers that operate on up to nine axes. The company reports that its Swiss lathes hold dimensional tolerances as tight as ±0.0001 inch, a level of precision suited to small, complex parts where concentricity and surface consistency directly affect performance.
“Customers usually come to us when a catalog pin won’t do the job,” said Gary Hermsen, CEO of McCormick Industries. “They might need an unusual length-to-diameter ratio, a specific alloy to meet a MIL-SPEC requirement, or a radius on one end and a chamfer on the other. Our team has been solving those problems for thirty years, and the equipment we run today lets us hold tolerances that simply weren’t practical when we started.”
The company manufactures pins with dual radius ends, dual chamfers, or a combination of a radius on one end and a chamfer on the other. Optional micro-finishes and customized Rockwell hardness levels are available to address wear resistance and fit requirements. Secondary features such as milled flats and internal or external threads can also be added, allowing a single pin to perform functions that might otherwise require additional parts.
Material selection is a central part of the process. McCormick Industries machines pins from aluminum, brass, bronze, carbon steel, copper, stainless steel, tool steel, titanium, plastics, and exotic alloys, including materials chosen specifically to satisfy aerospace, defense, and other industry standards. Engineers working with the company can match material properties such as corrosion resistance, strength, and conductivity to the demands of the end application.
Beyond dowel pins, the company produces clevis pins, swage pins, taper pins, grooved pins, firing pins, slotted spring pins, and bridge pins. This range allows customers to source multiple pin types from one supplier with a consistent quality system and documentation process.
Production efficiency is another factor in the company’s pin manufacturing work. McCormick Industries reports cycle times as low as 10 seconds on its Swiss-style equipment, and automated bar feeding and part handling allow machines to run unattended for extended periods. That combination supports both short prototype runs and high-volume production while helping to control per-part labor costs.
“Precision and volume don’t have to be a trade-off,” Hermsen said. “When a medical device company or a defense contractor needs tens of thousands of identical pins, every one of them has to measure the same as the first. That’s what our quality system and our automation are built around.”
Past projects illustrate how these capabilities apply in practice. The company has produced a dowel pin for a wire and cable application in the electromechanical sector, along with Swiss-machined components such as a trunnion for a military program and a mallet shaft for a surgical application. Each of these parts required tight dimensional control and careful material selection.
McCormick Industries’ ISO 9001:2015 certification governs inspection, documentation, and continual improvement across its operations. The company’s quality assurance program is designed to verify that finished components conform to customer drawings and applicable industry specifications before shipment.
Engineers and procurement teams seeking custom dowel pins or other precision-machined pins can find additional information about materials, end configurations, and secondary operations at https://mccormickind.com/precision-cnc-machining-services/custom-pin-manufacturing/.
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For more information about McCormick Industries, contact the company here:
McCormick Industries
Gary Hermsen
920-954-9648
info@mccormickind.com
1103 South Perkins Street
Appleton, WI 54914