Capabilities
Inspection, traceability and finishing
Every part BELL Machine Works ships carries a documentation package: material certifications with lot traceability, dimensional inspection against the drawing, and a digital traveler recording what was done to the part and who checked it. This page exists because "we do quality" is not a claim anyone can verify. Below is what actually happens to a job.
The traveler
Every job runs to a digital traveler with in-process checks built into the operation sequence. The traveler is not paperwork generated after the fact. It is what the machinist works from, and inspection results are recorded against it as the part moves.
ProShop ERP is our system of record. Travelers, inspection results and certificates stay attached to the job number, which means a question about a part we ran eighteen months ago is answerable in minutes rather than a search through email.
The shop floor is paperless
There are no paper travelers here, no printed drawings on the bench, and no filing cabinet. Operators work from a digital job packet at the machine: setup sheets, work instructions, tool lists and inspection plans, with results and sign-offs recorded against the job as the part moves rather than transcribed afterwards. Three things follow from that.
Revision control is automatic. ProShop holds current and historical versions of every work instruction, with the change history attached to the job. A machinist cannot be working from a superseded revision, because there is no print to be superseded.
It is what makes the export-control boundary real. A printed controlled drawing lying on a bench is uncontrolled technical data. A shop floor with no printed drawings on it is one where the control boundary is enforced by the system rather than by everyone remembering to shred.
An audit becomes a query rather than an afternoon. The quality system is compliant with AS9100D and ISO 9001, and third-party certification audits are scheduled for Q1 2027.
Dimensional inspection and material traceability
Inspection is performed in-house on a coordinate measuring machine. Critical features are measured against the drawing and reported with actual values, not a pass/fail stamp. Surface finish is measured on a profilometer, not estimated. First article inspection is available on request, with the full dimensional report and CMM data on critical features.
Material certs and lot traceability on every order. Mill certs ship with the parts: not on request, not for an upcharge, and not only on jobs that ask. For regulated programs, it means the record exists from the first prototype instead of being reconstructed when someone asks for it two years later.
Where your drawings live
BELL is ITAR registered, and we run two separate environments. Commercial work runs in ProShop ERP. Defense and ITAR-controlled work runs in a separate, isolated environment on Microsoft GCC High, on U.S. soil, under U.S.-person administration. These are two environments, not one system with different permissions: controlled technical data does not enter the commercial system at all. Full posture on the Compliance page.
We sign NDAs as a matter of course and treat every design as confidential by default.
Status
| ITAR | Registered and current. CAGE 18MB0. |
| ISO 9001 | Compliant. Third-party certification audit scheduled for Q1 2027. |
| AS9100D | Compliant. Third-party certification audit scheduled for Q1 2027. |
| What you receive | Dimensional inspection report · material certifications with lot traceability · process logs and setup documentation · photographs of critical features · first article inspection report on request · expanded data packages with batch-specific records for programs that require them |
Finishing
Finishing and plating
We coordinate anodizing, chem film, passivation, electropolish, plating and blast finishing through an ITAR-registered finishing house, to MIL, AMS and ASTM specifications. Certificates come back with the parts, and you receive one consolidated package rather than managing multiple vendors.
Anodize, Type I, II and III per MIL-A-8625 / MIL-PRF-8625. Type I (chromic) where fatigue life and thin buildup matter. Type II (sulfuric) for general corrosion protection and color. Type III (hardcoat) where wear resistance and surface hardness govern.
Chem film, Type I and II per MIL-DTL-5541. Conversion coating on aluminum for corrosion resistance while preserving electrical conductivity. The standard answer for grounded aluminum hardware.
Passivation and electropolish, AMS 2700, ASTM A967, ASTM B912. Removes free iron and restores the passive layer on stainless. Electropolish where cleanability or particle shedding matters: semiconductor, medical and vacuum service.
Plating, electroless nickel · nickel sulfamate · gold · silver · copper · tin. For conductivity, solderability, wear resistance, corrosion protection and RF performance.
Blast and preparation, bead blast · sand blast · bright dip · precision masking · hydrogen de-embrittlement bake after plating on high-strength steel, which is a specification requirement rather than an option on parts that carry load.
Why this runs through an ITAR-registered finisher
Finishing is where a lot of shops quietly lose control of an export-controlled part. The machining stays in a compliant environment and then the part ships to whichever anodizer was cheapest that week. Ours doesn't. The finishing house is ITAR registered, certificates return with the parts, and the traceability record stays continuous from mill cert through finish. That matters for defense and flight programs, and it costs nothing extra for everyone else.
Specifying a finish
Say which specification and which type. "Anodize" is not a specification; "Type II per MIL-A-8625, black, sealed" is. Tell us what has to stay bare. Threads, bearing bores, ground paths and mating surfaces usually should. Precision masking is available, but it needs to be on the drawing. Account for buildup. Anodize adds thickness, hardcoat meaningfully so, and it grows into the hole as well as onto the surface; tolerances on plated and anodized features need to state whether they're before or after finish. Tell us about mixed assemblies. Aluminum and stainless in the same assembly usually need different processes.
Single part families run in multiple anodize colours are routine, a masking and scheduling problem as much as a chemistry one, planned at quote rather than discovered at the finisher. Finishing adds time on top of machining; we quote the finished part with a single date rather than machining time plus a vague adder.
Engineering plastics are not chemically finished. Where a plastic part needs a surface change, it's a bead blast or a machined finish, which is exactly what an optical polycarbonate part often wants.