Based in Brakpan, east of Johannesburg, QCK Metal Works is still a relatively young operation having only been established in 2016. But leveraging a combined 30 years of experience between founders Johan Squara, Glenn Squara and Trevor Leedham has proved central to the company’s rapid growth designing, manufacturing and precision machining components to OEM standards.

The days of relying on one single client or even just a handful are long gone. If you are planning on becoming a tiered supplier and targeting OEM’s as your clients, one has to be able to work through laborious tender processes – knowledge that is only gained through the experience of submitting detailed information not just about the component or components you are tendering for – but also detailed information about your company, its employee structure and how and where you will be sourcing materials and ultimately how much of that component or components will be manufactured from locally procured materials and labour.

QCK are able to offer 3-axis, 3+2-axis and full 4-axis CNC machining solutions and have been steadily upping their CNC arsenal in recent years

Trevor Leedham obtained his NQF level 4 before studying toward becoming a draughtsman at African Academy. He went on to join TD Coating where he met and worked with Johan. After the two had gained enough experience while they both worked for TD Coating, they decided it was time to start something themselves. They established the QCK Metal Works with one small lathe in a garage on a plot that Johan’s father owned and slowly began to grow their business from there while still holding down other jobs. This lathe is still in almost daily use, the co-founders say.

Johan is an automotive machinist by trade and he subsequently qualifyies as a structural draughtsman with a focus on designing large conveyor systems and components for these systems – something QCK Metal Works specialise in.

Johan also worked at Thermaspray where his skill sets were further developed and his passion for manufacturing inevitably led to him deciding to go into business with his partners.

Initially the two started off by manufacturing press tooling for the former company they had worked for – TD Coating – but quickly expanded their service offerings from the experience they had garnered over their working careers thus far.

Johan Squara and Trevor Leedham

Their combined expertise in steel selection, surface treatment, draughting and advanced manufacturing techniques has enabled them to specialise in turnkey solutions for their customers, and now QCK Metal Works offers custom, value-added manufacturing services that meet the unique requirements of each client that approaches them with a concept or idea, across a broad range of industries.

Their experience with high precision components such as punch and die sets and tool manufacturing and coating and using their 6 CNC machines has transformed the business into a high-volume machining business able to manufacture precision components like punches and dies most notably for OEM’s like Ford and Toyota.

Though the business also started off manufacturing brass ammunition cartridge cases – an aspect of the business that has just recently been sold off to one of QCK Metal Works’ customers – ammunition components supplied into the security industry as well as the sport shooting industry still form part of the company’s business today. Here QCK will manufacture multi-stage fully automated loading presses for high-volume production. One of QCK’s clients has even recently competed at the ISSF World Shooting Championships.

Amongst the new machines installed recently is a Leadwell V-50L high performance vertical machining center with a fully integrated fourth axis that is equipped with Renishaw probing and was supplied by WD Hearn Machine Tools

Component diversity sees the company manufacture pump components, valve components and piston components

Johan says: “Importing components for press lines is extremely expensive so we knew this was an opportunity and aspect of our business that we could grow by designing and manufacturing these lines and components ourselves locally. Of course we needed to understand our machines in order to do what we do so we have over the years purchased various eccentric presses both locally and from overseas. We then stripped them down and rebuilt them ourselves. Our technical knowledge means that we have also designed and made our own machines and this all helps in understanding the whole process in terms of the design and manufacture of these lines as well as the components that keep them running.”

“We still import some punches and dies, but most of the punches and dies are made here. Our focus has shifted a bit though, and we are focusing more on the machining side of the business these days.”

Machine shop versatility – from prototyping to full production
QCK are able to offer 3-axis, 3+2-axis and full 4-axis CNC machining solutions and have been steadily upping their CNC arsenal in recent years. This has seen them commission and install a number of new CNC machines in a relatively short period of time. Amongst these are a Leadwell V-50L high performance vertical machining center with a fully integrated fourth axis that is equipped with Renishaw probing and was supplied by WD Hearn Machine Tools, installed December 2023.

A new surface grinder that has been installed

A new conventional lathe has also been purchased recently to give the company turning capacity length wise

With high feed rates and rapid tool changes, a table size of 1 420mm x 610mm, the V-50L is well-suited to QCK’s tight tolerance machining requirements.

“We have also purchased a Leadwell T-7A turning center that was installed in September this year and it is also equipped with Renishaw probing and was supplied by WD Hearn Machine Tools. It is a high-speed, powerful and compact machine but packed with features suited to our operations – the majority of which require extremely tight tolerances due to the nature of the industries these components operate in.”

QCK also have a surface grinder on the shop floor as well other CNC lathes and a CNC tube and bar cutter. Their proficiency and experience allows them to make use of and manufacture from a number of different types of tool steel, stainless steel, general steel, bushing steel, aluminium, as well as specialised plastics.

QCK Metal Works have also purchased a Leadwell T-7A turning center that was installed in September 2024 and supplied by WD Hearn Machine Tools

QCK Metal Works can machine all types of materials

Component diversity
“We also manufacture pump components, valve components and piston components. Some of these we manufacture from scratch out of solid materials. We did previously finish machine some of these components from castings that were supplied to us, but unfortunately the castings just weren’t up to scratch – after finishing them we found they were full of porosity issues – you could literally see right through them – so we saw how we could do the operation quicker and better ourselves, thus reducing lead times and that’s what you see here now. We source the material from various local suppliers and machine it from block,” explains Leedham.

QCK additionally carry out work for the cement industry whereby they machine and supply components involved in the cement bag filling process. “Something else we do here is supply specialised bolt tooling for the bolts used in well-known sports utility vehicles like the Ford Ranger. Accuracies here are obviously extremely important because you’re working with OEM’s,” continues Leedham.

QCK are able to offer super polishing and tool polishing for mirror finishes on the tooling that they manufacture, and this is all done in-house in their machine shop. They offer hardness testing and shadow graph measuring to complete this area of their service offering.

The company will machine from block which has been cut-to-size by themselves

QCK Metal Works is versatile in the different types of components it machines

“We also import a range of tool and die components as well as consumable tooling and injector pins and core pins that we supply directly to clients. Often a client will supply for example a broken component that is part of a line and we are able to redraw it and have that made up for them. This was born of out the need that we saw that there was a lack of support locally for this sort of work as well as the general supply of this tooling. This is both in the automotive industry as well as general engineering industry,” says Squara.

“Turbo equipment and gassing filters are more of the kind of work we have been able to carry out for our clients recently too.”

The company offers turnkey solutions for clients

Besides the high-volume work that QCK Metal Works do, they also do low-volume work where components can number in the two or three-ofs

Building rockets
A special project that QCK Metal Works has been a part of is the 6.8 metre tall rocket. The rocket was attempting to break the South African land-height record for a locally manufactured rocket and it was commissioned by a local businessman. QCK were tasked with custom-designing and manufacturing a number of components for the rocket including internal valves and the oxygen tank that feeds the rocket its fuel.

Besides the high-volume work that QCK do, they also do low-volume work where components can number in the two or three-ofs. QCK make use of both SolidWorks and Mastercam for their operations and employ 13 staff. QCK is able to take a client’s initial design to the final product, including the reverse engineering of components, and their expert team is dedicated to ensuring that every component is crafted to the highest standards, providing exceptional performance and durability to operate in even the most demanding applications.

For further details contact QCK Metal Works on TEL: 010 746 4927 or visit https://qckmetalworks.co.za