Our Surface Finishing Options
When a part has been manufactured, adding a surface finish can be beneficial in numerous applications. For example, surface textures can be smoothed to enable adhesives to bond more effectively, while polished surfaces can create highly aesthetic parts ideal for luxury and high-end industries. Other applications can take advantage of anodising to protect metal from corrosion or electrical charge.
Different surface finishes are also available depending on the material to ensure the best result. For instance, wood and other organic materials benefit from clear coats, while metal parts can take advantage of polishing and burnishing. Some surface finishes can even be used for specific color schemes, such as powder coating which can be coloured in a wide range of hues.
Our extensive range of surface finishes includes polishing, UV printing, deburring, burnishing, and engraving. These options allow for parts to be made smooth, detailed, and professional looking, and can even be used for directions and warnings. A finished part can see applications in any industry thanks to the wide range of materials and capabilities offered by our manufacturing service.
Overview of Our Surface Finishing Process
As our sheet metal fabricated parts are produced in our own manufacturing facilities, we are able to offer a multitude of finishing options to provide engineers with a completely custom service.
When choosing a material for their parts, customers will be presented with a range of surface finishes that can be applied to the design to help achieve the desired outcome. Whether a part is to be used in an industrial, aerospace, or medical application, our range of surface finishes allows engineers to ensure that their design conforms to all relevant regulations as well as providing a professional finish.
Additionally, many of our surface finishes can be applied to both prototypes and mass-production runs, allowing engineers to maintain consistency throughout all stages of product development. Finally, because our finishes are integrated into the production process, engineers can rely on the high precision and accuracy offered by Ponoko services.
Simply put, our surface finishing capabilities combined with our cloud manufacturing enable engineers to rapidly prototype and deploy custom sheet metal designs.
Why Use Our Service?
When it comes to the manufacture of high-precision sheet metal parts, there is no room for compromise. Whether a part is being used in a prototype or a full-scale production run, the quality of that part can never be sacrificed.
At our sheet metal fabrication service, this is a mantra that we adhere to, having developed and honed our manufacturing capabilities over the past decade to provide engineers with the world’s most advanced and rapid sheet metal fabrication solution.
By leveraging our in-house software tools and unique workflow process, we have been able to significantly decrease the time taken to manufacture sheet metal parts, all while retaining the same degree of precision and accuracy. This means that engineers can expect the same high degree of quality whether one part is being manufactured or ten thousand. And it is this ability to scale quickly and easily that makes our services ideal for both prototypes and full-scale production runs.
The benefits of using our sheet metal fabrication service are further enhanced when considering our wide range of engineered materials. This, combined with our ability to rapidly manufacture parts, allows engineers to quickly react to changes in the market and unexpected situations that arise.
But at the heart of our services lies our 365-day guarantee on all parts, with no questions asked. Simply put, if a sheet metal part we manufacture doesn’t make the cut, we will replace it entirely, no questions asked. This guarantee is a testament to our confidence in the parts we manufacture, having now manufactured over 2 million parts for 33,000 customers. To see how our precision part accuracy of 99.3% translates into real-world benefits, ask any of our 33,000 customers who have collectively utilized our services to help realize their projects.
Alternatives to Surface Finishing
When looking for alternatives to surface finishes, one rarely finds mechanical and structural solutions as surface finishes are generally aesthetic. However, there are very few applications that call for no surface finish at all, meaning that engineers should consider alternatives to surface finishes that provide some level of protection.
One such option available to engineers is powder coating which provides an excellent layer of corrosion and oxidation protection. Unlike paint, powder coating uses a powder that is melted and then sprayed onto a workpiece which, once cooled, becomes a hard solid layer. This makes powder coating far more resistant to impact and abrasion compared to paint, and the high-temperature melting point of powder allows for powder-coated parts to be heated without damaging their finish.
But powder coating is not without its drawbacks, and one of these is that it is generally more expensive than paint due to the need for specialized ovens and the use of metal powder. As such, parts that do not expect to undergo significant corrosion or oxidation may find paint a more suitable choice.
Another option available to engineers is to use ceramic coatings which, like powder coating, provides exceptional corrosion and oxidation resistance. A ceramic coating also has the added benefit of being able to withstand high temperatures without impact on its surface finish, something that both powder and paint cannot do. However, ceramic coatings are also more expensive than powder and paint, and the application of ceramic coatings can be complex.
Overall, surface finishes are not just important for aesthetics; they also play a critical role in protecting parts from the environment. Engineers should carefully consider which surface finish is right for their part, taking into account the expected conditions that the part will experience, as well as the budget for that part.
