Metal shims are one of the most important industrial components, helping keep the wheels of industry turning. We manufacture a wide variety of custom metal shims, spacers and thin washer shims which can be supplied flat or formed to your design specification.
What are metal shims?
Precision metal shims are used as spacers between mechanical parts to absorb impact, reduce ‘play’ and protect a material surface in precision applications.
Some of the typical thin metal shims we supply include:
- Precision shims for Formula 1
- Steel shims for automotive fuel injection
- Shims for nebulisers
- Ultra-thin shims for cryocoolers
- Brazing foil shims for cooling plates and heat exchangers
Economical and precise custom metal shims manufacturing
From simple spacer washers to complex steel shims for racing engines, our precision custom metal shims manufacturing service is accurate to ±0.020mm, producing flat-and burr-free shims with no rough edges that could interfere with other mating components.
The flexibility of chemical etching means complex custom metal shims can be manufactured quickly using low-cost digital tooling.
We are fully equipped to manufacture custom metal shims in low, medium and high volumes and fast, with our ability to use digital tooling to produce quality shims.
Metal shim materials
Whether you require stainless steel shim washers or aluminium shims, Precision Micro can manufacture custom metal shims no matter the material, in every shape and size. Each material offers specific benefits for each specific application such as corrosion resistance, wear resistance and more – perfect across a variety of industries.
We etch over 2,000 material types, including all grades of stainless steels, non-ferrous sheet metals, and hard to etch metals that require strength or corrosion resistance.
We produce medical steel shims for nebulisers and glucose monitoring as small as 200μm, and brazing foil shims to 1500mm long for heat exchanger plates used in photolithography cooling systems.
Metal shim thicknesses can range from 0.010mm to 1.5mm.
Metal shim forming and finishing
The tools available in-house at Precision Micro allows us to produce three-dimensional, lipped or formed shims.
We have a comprehensive range of finishing technologies available – including passivation, electropolishing and electroplating – ensuring all finished components can be supplied from one single source.
Benefits at a glance
- Over 2,000 metal types
- Lead-times in a few days
- Low-cost digital tooling
- Burr and stress-free – metal properties unaffected
- Accuracy to ±0.025mm
- In-house forming, finishing and plating

Typical Applications
- Custom metal shims
- Precision metal shims
- Thin metal shims
- Metal shim washers
- Damping shims
- Steel shims and washers
- Gaskets
- Sealing shims
Processes
Materials
- Steel and stainless steels
- Nickel and nickel alloys
- Copper and copper alloys
- Aluminium
- Full material stock list