Tolerance is key – finish machining

… Method used for example on very small metal parts of thin material. Allows for highly precise contour shaping or surface texturing. Some etching processes allow making very deep but also extremely narrow channels (micrometre range) in metals.

… Application that allows removing the minutest of irregularities and burrs, for example from complex 3D shapes. Also used where delicate components need to be protected from mechanical and thermal loads.

… Method for particularly hard metals. Utilises electric discharges between two electrodes (workpiece and tool electrode).

… One of the special grinding methods; used on drilled holes and shafts. The method uses a honing tool that simultaneously performs rotating grinding motion and back-and-forth or up-and-down movements to polish a surface.

… The gentlest machining form among the grinding processes, which can be seen from the component’s final surface appearance: lapping does not leave any surface finish marks on metal, instead producing a burnished, uniform surface completely free of furrows. Minute grinding tips are suspended in lapping fluid between a workpiece and the lapping wheel – the disc’s rotation causes material to be removed from the component’s surface. Because mechanical and thermal load is minimal, lapping is considered a cold machining process.

… Milling method with speeds reaching up to around 8,000 m/min. One of the high-speed method’s focuses is reduced tool wear. It touches on the fields of minimum lubrication and dry machining.

… No longer frequently encountered today, this is a chip-cutting process with geometrically defined blade. Back before lathes and milling machines were able to achieve today’s levels of precision, scraping was used to work races, mating surfaces or oil chambers into sliding surfaces.

… To this day, remains the method of choice in industrial workshops for manual or machine grinding surfaces in preparation for subsequent work or to apply the final finish.