To guarantee maximum precision while at the same time minimizing weight and radiation length, the main support body for the FTPC is machined out of a single tube of aluminum. More than 90% of the material in the tube is machined out. This keeps the weight of the fully equipped detector with electronics and cooling at less than 200 Kilograms. The design goal for the production is to keep the overall deformation of the more than 1 Meter long detector smaller than 100 microns.
The machining was done by a small company in the Oberpfalz area and was said to have been the most challenging task their workshop had ever done.