My lead guy told me to run a 0.005 inch finish pass on this aluminum part.

I was making a small bracket and thought a 0.015 inch pass would be fine to save time. He said the thinner cut would give a better finish and stop chatter. I tried it his way and the surface came out perfect, no marks at all. Anyone have other tricks for clean finishes on thin walls?

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3 Comments

perry.jessica7mo ago

Gotta ask though, is a perfect finish always that big a deal? For a bracket that gets hidden or painted, who even sees it. Sometimes chasing that mirror look just eats up machine time for zero real gain. Seen guys burn hours on a part that gets covered in grease and bolted down forever.

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ericnguyen6mo ago

Right? @perry.jessica, it's like some shops have a weird pride thing about finish specs even when it makes no sense. Could be making real parts instead of polishing stuff that gets hidden.

7

wright.luna6mo ago

Reminds me of the time we polished an entire engine mount that got painted flat black.

3