Surface Finishing

The standard as-milled finish retains the natural CNC machining surface with visible but controlled tool marks. It is a practical choice for functional prototypes, internal components, fixtures, and production parts where appearance is secondary to dimensional accuracy and performance.

Bead blasting creates a soft, uniform matte texture before anodizing adds a durable colored oxide layer. The combination provides a refined appearance while improving corrosion resistance and surface durability, making it suitable for housings, enclosures, consumer products, and precision aluminum components.

Anodizing forms a controlled oxide layer directly on the aluminum surface, improving corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and overall appearance. A wide range of colors can be achieved while maintaining the dimensional precision required for CNC-machined components.

Electrically conductive oxidation applies a thin conversion layer to aluminum while retaining good surface conductivity. It is commonly selected for electronic housings, grounding components, communication equipment, and other parts requiring corrosion protection with low electrical contact resistance.

Black oxide creates a thin dark conversion layer that gives metal parts a uniform black appearance with minimal dimensional change. It is often used on precision mechanical components, fasteners, tooling, fixtures, and hardware, typically with oil or sealing treatment for additional corrosion protection.

Brushing produces a consistent directional grain across the metal surface, giving parts a clean and refined industrial appearance. It also helps reduce the visibility of minor surface marks and is widely used for panels, covers, decorative components, housings, and consumer-facing metal parts.

Bead blasting uses fine media to create a uniform, non-reflective matte surface while preserving the overall geometry of the part. It is ideal for reducing machining marks and producing a consistent finish on housings, brackets, structural components, and visible CNC-machined parts.

Matte spray painting provides an even, low-gloss surface with a soft visual texture and broad color flexibility. It is suitable for housings, covers, brackets, equipment components, and consumer products where both appearance and surface protection are important.

High-gloss spray painting creates a smooth, reflective finish with strong visual depth and a premium appearance. It is commonly used for decorative housings, consumer-facing parts, display components, covers, and products requiring a polished surface presentation.

Matte powder coating forms a durable protective layer with a consistent low-gloss texture. It offers good resistance to wear, scratching, and corrosion, making it well suited for brackets, frames, enclosures, machinery components, and other metal parts used in demanding environments.

High-gloss powder coating applies a dry powder to the metal surface and cures it under heat to form a smooth, durable coating. It provides excellent wear and corrosion resistance while creating a bright, glossy appearance suitable for housings, brackets, frames, and visible metal components.

Chrome plating deposits a thin chromium layer onto the part to create a bright, reflective metallic surface. In addition to its decorative appearance, the finish can improve surface hardness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and ease of cleaning.

Zinc plating forms a protective zinc layer over steel or iron components to help prevent oxidation and rust. It is commonly used for fasteners, threaded parts, brackets, fittings, and other functional components requiring economical corrosion protection.

Nickel plating creates a smooth metallic coating with good corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and surface hardness. It is suitable for precision components, hardware, connectors, housings, and decorative parts that require a clean and consistent metal finish.

Silver plating deposits a thin layer of silver onto a metal component, providing excellent electrical conductivity together with a bright decorative surface. It is often used for electrical contacts, connectors, precision components, and parts where conductivity and surface quality are important.

Gold plating applies a thin gold layer over a prepared metal surface to provide excellent corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity, and a premium decorative appearance. It is commonly used for electrical contacts, connectors, precision hardware, decorative components, and high-value applications.

Tin plating creates a thin, silver-white protective coating that offers good corrosion resistance and solderability. It is widely used for terminals, contacts, connectors, small mechanical components, and electronic parts requiring a reliable conductive surface.

Vacuum plating forms a thin metallic layer on the component and is combined with a high-gloss coating to create a highly reflective decorative finish. It is suitable for cosmetic housings, decorative covers, consumer products, accessories, and other parts requiring a premium metallic appearance.

Vacuum plating with a matte topcoat creates a metallic appearance with a softer, low-gloss surface. It provides a refined visual texture with less reflection than high-gloss finishes and is often used for housings, handles, decorative components, and consumer-facing products.

#1000 sanding uses fine abrasive material to smooth the part surface and reduce visible machining marks, scratches, or minor imperfections. It produces a fine, uniform texture and is commonly used as a final cosmetic finish or as surface preparation before painting, plating, or other secondary treatments.

Silkscreen printing transfers ink through a patterned mesh onto the part surface to create logos, symbols, scales, instructions, or decorative graphics. It is suitable for flat or gently curved housings, panels, covers, and control components that require clear, repeatable markings.

Laser engraving uses a focused laser beam to create permanent markings directly on the part surface. It is ideal for serial numbers, logos, QR codes, identification marks, and technical information that must remain legible without using inks or labels.

Smooth machining uses controlled CNC finishing passes to reduce tool marks and achieve a more refined surface than a standard as-machined finish. A typical surface roughness of Ra 1.6 μm provides a clean functional appearance while maintaining dimensional accuracy and tight tolerances.

Chemical conversion coating forms a very thin protective layer on aluminum to improve corrosion resistance while maintaining good electrical conductivity. It is commonly used for aerospace, electronics, communication housings, grounding surfaces, and precision aluminum components.

Electrophoretic coating uses an electrical field to deposit a uniform paint film onto conductive metal parts. The process provides consistent coverage, including recessed areas and complex geometries, while improving corrosion resistance and giving the component a smooth, durable finish.

Passivation chemically removes free iron and surface contaminants from stainless steel, helping restore and strengthen its natural corrosion-resistant oxide layer. It is widely used for medical, food-processing, chemical, and precision stainless-steel components where cleanliness and corrosion resistance are important.

Etching selectively removes or alters a thin surface layer to create permanent patterns, identification marks, textures, or detailed graphics. Depending on the application, chemical or electrochemical methods can be used for nameplates, scales, decorative patterns, and functional surface features.

Electropolishing removes a controlled microscopic layer from the metal surface through an electrochemical process, reducing peaks and improving smoothness. It produces a cleaner, brighter finish with improved corrosion resistance and is especially useful for stainless-steel medical, food, and precision components.

PVD deposits a very thin, strongly bonded coating onto the component in a controlled vacuum environment. It can improve surface hardness, wear resistance, corrosion performance, and appearance while adding minimal thickness, making it suitable for precision, decorative, and high-wear parts.

Pickling uses a controlled chemical solution to remove oxide scale, heat tint, rust, and other surface contamination from metal parts. It is commonly used after welding or heat treatment to restore a clean metal surface before passivation, coating, or further finishing.

Dyeing introduces color into compatible plastic parts by allowing the dye to penetrate the material surface rather than forming a separate coating layer. It provides a uniform, lightweight finish and is commonly used for nylon and other suitable engineering plastics where color customization is required without significantly changing part dimensions.