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Meshes, filters and sieves
Where punch-perforated sheets are prone to distortion, photo etched mesh is burr- and stress-free, with zero material degradation.
Shims, gaskets and washers
Photo etched shims, gaskets and washers are accurate to ±0.025mm, flat and burr-free, with no rough edges that could interfere with other mating components.
Springs, flexures and diaphragms
Photo etching ensures burr- and stress-free springs can be manufactured with zero distortion or surface imperfections.
Labels and nameplates
Photo etching can be used to surface engrave or emboss intricate, blemish-free labels and nameplates.
Benefits at a glance
- Unrivalled industry know-how
- The low-risk option – part of a £2 billion global engineering group
- 40,000 sq ft production etching plant producing over 50 million components annually
- Repeatability levels approaching Six Sigma standards
- Added-value technologies for single source supply
- Burr- and stress-free – metal temper and magnetic properties unaffected
- Lead-times in days, not months
- Virtually any metal
- Tolerances to ±0.025mm
Whilst many metal machining companies can achieve the levels of accuracy and close tolerances demanded by a wide range precision engineering applications, only few can meet exacting specifications repeatedly, with very little variation, allowing the mass production of components virtually identical to each other.
As one of the world’s largest, oldest and most revered photo etching specialists, Precision Micro has the experience and depth of resource to meet the most stringent precision engineering challenges, in scalable volumes.
Photo etching and precision engineering
Photo etching is a cost effective alternative to stamping, punching, laser and waterjet cutting when processing thin gauge materials, such as stainless steels, aluminium, titanium and a wide range of advanced engineering alloys.
Using tightly controlled subtractive chemical erosion, fragile and complex metal parts can be machined with features smaller than a quarter of a diameter of a human hair, to ±0.025mm accuracy.
Burr- and stress-free
When component integrity is critical, photo etching is often the only suitable metal machining process.
As a non-contact, non-heat inducing process, photo etching ensures burr- and stress-free components, making it ideal for safety-critical parts which rely on zero distortion or surface imperfections.
Unique features
Using techniques honed over the past 50-years, Precision Micro can introduce a number of special features into photo etched components without cost, removing the need for additional processing. For example, various aperture shapes, bar sizes, open area ratios and profiles can be incorporated in a single mesh to control flow.
Scalable supply
As the largest sheet etching supplier in Europe, Precision Micro produces millions of components each month for a number of high-value engineering sectors in over 30 countries.
We offer a number of additional specialist post-process technologies, including forming, finishing and plating, which enable both 2-D and 3-D finished components.
Favoured supplier status
Precision Micro enjoys favoured supplier status with world leading manufacturers of measuring equipment, filtration, SMT screen printing, sensing systems, consumer goods, optical devices and photonics equipment – a testament to the versatility photo etching and flexibility of Precision Micro to meet the needs of OEMs with a wide range of precision engineering challenges.
Materials
- Steel and chrome nickel steel
- Aluminium
- Copper and copper alloys
- Titanium and titanium alloys
- High temperature alloys
- Full material stock list
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See how photo etching works
The basic principles of photo etching can be demonstrated in nine process steps.
Technical guidelines
Created to guide you through designing for the photo etching process, outlining achievable tolerances and component features.
Talk to us
With backgrounds which include CAD, machining, technical and operations planning, our sales engineers have the photo etching know-how to answer your questions.
Request samples
Component samples designed specifically to demonstrate the features and benefits of photo etching.
Request a quote
Submit your component data for technical evaluation and pricing.
