Process notes from a shop that runs thin-wall turning, deep grooves, and microfabrication every day. Use these pages to pick tools, feeds, and deburring methods before you quote or cut.
Most scrap in thin-wall and micro work comes from a handful of repeat mistakes. Check these before the next setup.
A 0.8 mm aluminum wall deflects under a standard finishing pass. The bore measures oversize at the chuck and undersize at the free end. You scrap the part after four hours of turning, or you re-cut it and lose the tolerance band entirely.
Hand files and wire brushes round the edge but leave a rolled lip inside a cross-hole. The part passes visual check and fails at assembly, or the burr breaks loose later and contaminates a fluid path. Rework cost lands on the shop, not the customer.
A lathe with a single spindle and a single chuck spends most of its cycle time loading and unloading. If the fixture holds one blank, spindle uptime drops below 40 %. Multi-part fixturing is the fix, and it has to be designed before the first cut.
A generic surface-speed table does not know your holder, your coolant, or your depth of cut. Wrong numbers show up as chatter on a deep groove, short tool life, or a finish that misses Ra 0.8 μm. The part is fine on the bench and rejected on the CMM.
Every job starts with a DFM pass and a decision on how the part will be held, not on how fast the spindle can spin.
Thin-wall shells, arc-groove tracks, and flat deep grooves fail for the same reason: the workpiece moves more than the tool does. We fixture from the inside where the geometry allows, add a sacrificial web, or split the operation across two setups with a soft-jaw bore cut to the finished diameter.
For aluminum cylinders down to 0.8 mm wall, finishing passes stay light and the feed per tooth stays constant. For stainless and titanium, we slow the surface speed and raise coolant pressure instead of raising depth of cut. The goal is a stable chip, not a fast one.
Cross-holes, thread exits, and slot corners all produce a burr that a brush cannot reach. We pick the deburring method from the feature, not from habit: abrasive flow for internal cross-holes, thermal energy for complex cast or machined bodies, and controlled tumbling for edges that only need a 0.05 mm break.
The wrong method removes material where the drawing does not allow it. A wire brush on a 0.6 mm slot edge rounds the corner past the profile tolerance. Abrasive flow does not. That is the kind of choice this page exists to make.
Use the feature geometry as the first filter. The material and batch size come second.
| Feature | Method | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Wall under 1.5 mm, aluminum | Light finishing pass, soft jaws | Low radial force, low deflection |
| Flat deep groove | Stub tool, high-pressure coolant | Chip evacuation without tool push-off |
| Internal cross-hole burr | Abrasive flow finishing | Reaches intersections a brush cannot |
| Thread exit burr | Thermal energy or controlled tumble | Uniform edge break, no thread damage |
| Titanium micro-feature | Subtractive first, additive for internal channels | Better surface and tolerance on outer form |
| Arc-groove track | Interpolated turning on a mill-turn center | One setup, no re-chuck error |
The process advice on this page comes from machines we operate in-house, not from a catalog.
Sixteen simultaneous 5-axis centers for parts that need one setup and no re-chuck error.
Milling and turning under one roof, including mill-turn work on 16 centers.
First-article parts before a production run, with the same inspection standard.
Additive for internal channels and lattice features that subtractive tools cannot reach.
Anodizing, plating, bead blasting, and laser marking, with a 1.5 mm minimum character height.
Brackets, panels, and enclosures that pair with machined components in one build.
If your part falls outside these numbers, say so early and we will tell you before quoting.
| Item | Range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum part size | 4,000 mm | Largest travel 4,000 × 400 × 150 mm |
| Standard tolerance | ±0.005 mm | ±0.0002 in for inch drawings |
| Fine finish | Ra 0.2–0.8 μm | As-machined baseline is Ra 1.6–3.2 μm |
| Rotary table | Ø400 mm | For 4-axis indexing and mill-turn |
| Batch size | 1 to 10,000+ | No minimum order quantity |
| Materials | Aluminum, stainless, steel, titanium | Includes 6061, 316L, 17-4PH, TC4 |
Six facts that decide whether a job ships on time and in tolerance.
Founded in 2011, three wholly-owned plants, 7,600 m² of floor space.
Held on production parts, not just on a first article.
Quotation and free DFM analysis within 12 hours of receiving a drawing.
Production can begin within 24 hours after the order is released.
Raw material check, in-process monitoring, and final inspection on every lot.
ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949:2016, ISO 13485:2016, ISO 27001:2022.
Thin ribs and pocketed faces with tight flatness calls.
Stainless screws and housings with burr-free internal paths.
Hub and drivetrain parts that need repeatable cycle times.
Multi-part fixtures and brackets that shorten load time.
Down to 0.8 mm on a part with a stable length-to-diameter ratio, using soft jaws and light finishing passes.
Below that the wall deflects under normal cutting force and the roundness call becomes a coin toss. Send the drawing and we will tell you if the geometry is workable.
Abrasive flow reaches internal cross-holes and blind intersections in a defined path. Thermal energy suits a body with many burr sites at once, such as a manifold or a complex housing.
If the edge only needs a small break, controlled tumbling is faster and cheaper. The feature geometry decides, not the batch size.
Subtractive first when the outer form needs a tight tolerance and a good surface finish. Titanium cuts cleanly at reduced surface speed with adequate coolant.
Additive earns its place when the part has internal channels or a lattice that a tool cannot reach. Some parts use both: print the blank, then machine the critical faces.
Yes, and on a lathe it is often the difference between a viable cycle time and an unviable one. A multi-part fixture on a mill-turn center cuts load and unload time per part.
It has to be designed before the first cut. Retrofitting a fixture after the process is set usually costs more than the cycle time it saves.
Start from the tool maker's surface speed for the material, then reduce it until chatter stops. On a flat deep groove, a stub tool and high-pressure coolant matter more than the feed number.
We log the setting that worked and reuse it. A chart copied from a catalog does not know your holder rigidity or your coolant pressure.
Every lot gets a raw material check, in-process monitoring, and a final inspection before shipment. Reports are available on request.
If a drawing calls for a specific dimension to be documented, list it on the drawing so it goes into the inspection plan from the start.
Yes. Uploads are secure and confidential, and an NDA is available on request before you send files.
Many customers send a simplified model for the first DFM pass and the full drawing after the NDA is signed.
No minimum. We run from one prototype to 10,000+ part runs on the same equipment and the same inspection standard.
The process notes on this page apply at both ends of that range. A one-off prototype and a production lot fail for the same reasons.
Upload a model or a 2D drawing and we will return a quotation with a free DFM analysis within 12 hours.
12-hour quote100% inspectionNo minimum order quantityNDA on request
Trusted by engineers and manufacturers worldwide
Upload your 3D model or 2D drawing and get a quotation with a free DFM analysis. Maximum processing size 4,000 mm.
CNC Metals 13 grades
CNC Plastics 10 grades
Machines & processes 12 options
Surface & post-processing 10 options
Material: not selected Machine: not selected Post-process: not selected
Fill in this short form and we'll open WhatsApp with your message ready to send. We only use these details to reply to you.
Nothing is sent until you press send inside WhatsApp.
