BALFORD.Metalworking engineering answers

Focus processes: fine blanking and thinning deep drawing

Fine blanking vs laser cutting vs machining for a flat functional part?

Reviewed by: pending engineering reviewStatus: draft6 cited sources

Answer

Thickness runs from 0.05 mm to 3 mm. Below roughly 0.20 mm the material is hard to handle and hard to keep flat, which is why thin adjustment shims are normally supplied as laminated sets. Above about 3 mm the part stops behaving like a shim and is usually better specified as a machined spacer. Balford runs presses from 25 t to 350 t and deep draws to a maximum diameter of 250 mm, so shim profiles are well inside the tooling envelope.

Sources

  1. Custom Metal Shims & Shim Washers Made to Drawing | Balford
    Thickness runs from 0.05 mm to 3 mm. Below roughly 0.20 mm the material is hard to handle and hard to keep flat, which is why thin adjustment shims are normally supplied as laminated sets. Above about 3 mm the part stops behaving like a shim and is usually better specified as a machined spacer. Balf...
  2. Custom Metal Shims & Shim Washers Made to Drawing | Balford
    Double-disc grinding. Applied when the thickness is the controlled dimension. Both faces are ground at once, which holds thickness and parallelism far better than blanking from coil. Balford has this carried out by a qualified subcontractor, and the subcontractor is named on request and bound by the...
  3. Laser Cutting Services China | Tube & Sheet Parts
    Which cutting process does your part need? Method Best for Tooling What it gives you Laser cutting Complex contours, protos and one-off parts, tube and sheet None Clean edges without a die; parts nest to save material Shearing Straight cuts and rectangular blanks None Fastest and cheapest route when...
  4. Sheet Metal Cutting Services China | Blanks & Profiles
    Precision stamping feed Coil and blank preparation for progressive and precision stamping lines. Related Case Studies Projects where blanking and cutting were the first step of the route. 65Mn Spring Steel Shim Blanking Material: 65Mn spring steel Process: Blanking + heat treatment + plating Key req...
  5. Fine Blanking Operations in Precision Stamping | Balford
    Fine Blanking Operations in Precision Stamping Published: September 18, 2024 Fine blanking is a core process for producing metal components used across automotive, medical, electronics, industrial, and furniture sectors. This advanced metal forming method has changed how we approach high-precision m...
  6. Laser Cutting Services China | Tube & Sheet Parts
    Do you offer laser cutting as part of tube assemblies? Yes. Laser-cut tube can feed bending, end forming, welding and assembly at Balford, so the finished tubular part arrives documented from one supplier. How is laser cutting priced? Price follows material, wall thickness, cut length, feature compl...

What an engineer still needs from you

  • material and material condition (grade, temper)
  • material thickness, plus the key diameter, height and wall thickness
  • tolerances, burr direction and the visual acceptance standard
  • annual volume - it decides whether tooling is single-hit, progressive or transfer
  • surface finish, and any secondary machining, annealing or plating
Next step. Send the drawing for a manufacturability review, or send the part data for a process and cost route.
Submit a drawing / RFQDFM review

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This page is an engineering answer, not a quotation and not a dimensional acceptance. It is generated from Balford's published material and held to the verified company fact sheet.