Balford has extended the machining guidance on its valve body page with a size-band view of the work. The new section sets out how the controlling problem changes as bodies get larger — from seats, threads and ports at the smaller end, through flanges, sealing faces and through-holes, to cast bodies and large flat faces — and pairs each band with the way it is checked: coordinate measurement and a leak test, surface roughness and sealing-face flatness, or in-machine verification with a dimensional report.
A second addition covers special materials. Bodies are machined from bar, forging, casting or a near-net preform depending on the route, and the practical limit is machinability rather than size; stainless 304 and 316L, carbon steel, nickel alloys and brass each change cutting data and, in some cases, the sequence. The page notes one point that is easy to miss on forged stainless bodies: the machining allowance has to be fixed on the drawing before the forging is ordered, because that decision is what determines whether the part finishes to size.
The re-clamping point
On a large body the volume of metal removed is rarely the difficulty. Holding the geometry between setups is. Every time a part is moved to a second fixture it gains that fixture's error, so work is grouped into as few setups as the part allows, and datum references are defined before the first part rather than after it.
- Seats, threads and ports, through flanges and sealing faces, to cast bodies and large flat faces
- Checking matched to the band: coordinate measurement, roughness, sealing-face flatness, in-machine verification
- Machined from bar, forging, casting or a bought near-net preform
- Machining allowance fixed on the drawing before a forging is ordered
At a glance
Valve body guidance now separates the work into size bands with the matching inspection method, and adds a special-alloy section. Bodies are machined from bar, forging, casting or a near-net preform; batch heat treatment, slow-wire EDM, passivation, electropolishing, plating, phosphating and painting are outsourced and disclosed as such.
About Balford
Balford (Zhejiang Balford Mechatronics Co., Ltd.) is a metal forming and machining manufacturer in Zhuji, Zhejiang, producing deep drawn, stamped and machined metal components for automotive, sensor, solenoid valve, HVAC and industrial customers. Capabilities include deep draw metal stamping, progressive die stamping, precision stamping, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication and tube bending, with in-house tool design and build. ISO 9001:2015 certified, with quality controls aligned to IATF 16949 requirements. Website: https://balford.net/
Media contact: shawn@balford.net · balford.net