CNC machining, vacuum brazing and friction stir welding for liquid cold plates used in data center and power electronics cooling. Prototype quantities through production, in copper and aluminum.
What we make
- Machined liquid cold plates — serpentine, parallel and pin-fin channel geometries in aluminum (6061 / 6063) and copper (C11000 / C10200). See our aluminum cold plate machining page for 6061 and 6063 builds.
- Copper cold plates — where heat flux justifies the cost and the machining difficulty.
- Low-volume and prototype work — single pieces through a few hundred, without tooling investment.
- Machined heat sinks and related thermal management parts.
Sealing by O-ring and bolted cover, vacuum brazing, or friction stir welding — selected to suit the geometry and the quantity, not the other way round.
Manufacturing
ThermalKerf operates from a manufacturing base in China. Machining, vacuum brazing and friction stir welding are carried out on our own equipment, which is what makes low quantities practical — there is no outside job shop to schedule around and no minimum batch imposed by a subcontractor.
Site visits by video call can be arranged for customers evaluating us as a supplier. Quality documentation is available on request once a project is under discussion.
How we work
Every drawing is reviewed for manufacturability before it goes into production — not after a part comes back out of tolerance.
That review is the step that usually gets skipped. A quote desk will price what is on the drawing. It will not tell you that the R1.0 internal corner you specified is impossible in a 4 mm channel, or that a 6:1 depth-to-width ratio is why three suppliers came back with three wildly different numbers. We check that first, and we tell you what we found.
We respond to every enquiry within one business day. A request sent during your business day is normally answered before your next morning.
Technical reference
We publish what we know rather than what sells. These pages are written for the engineer specifying the part.
- Cold Plate Channel Design: Manufacturability Constraints — depth-to-width limits, why internal corner radius equals tool radius, rib thickness, layout trade-offs, and a DFM checklist to run before you send a drawing out for quote
In preparation: cold plate machining cost drivers · MOQ by process · vacuum brazing vs friction stir welding · copper vs aluminum · leak testing methods · RFQ checklist.
Send a drawing
Send a 3D model (STEP preferred) with a 2D drawing showing critical tolerances, plus material, quantity, coolant, working pressure and any leak test requirement. If something is still undecided, say so — we would rather discuss it than guess.
If you want a manufacturability review before pricing, ask for one. We will flag what would cause a re-quote and explain why.