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
- 44,000 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 properties unaffected
- Lead-times in days, not months
- Virtually any metal
- Tolerances to ±0.025mm
Materials
- Steel and stainless steels
- Aluminium
- Copper and copper alloys
- Nickel and nickel alloys
- Titanium
- Full material stock list
Downloads
As one of the world’s largest and longest-established photo etching specialists, Precision Micro has the experience and depth of resource to meet the most stringent precision engineering challenges.
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 photo etch special features without cost, removing the need for additional processing. For example, various aperture shapes, bar sizes, open area ratios and profiles can be incorporated into a single mesh to control flow.
Scaleable 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 metrology equipment, filtration, screen printing, sensing systems, consumer goods and optical devices — a testament to the versatility of photo etching and flexibility of Precision Micro to meet the needs of OEMs with a wide range of precision engineering challenges.
