We’ve got an exciting new addition to our plastic fabrication shop – a new coordinate measuring machine! Today I want to share some of the benefits of this new equipment, and explore how it can help you realize your product design dream.

I had a great conversation this week with a machinist who was an expert with metal materials, but had reservations about attempting plastic fabrication for the first time. After all, these two bearing materials are completely different. Metals remain secure and stable throughout machining, while plastics expand, chip and even melt as they are fabricated. Today we share some tips for avoiding common machining challenges. 

Have you ever fabricated plastic components? 

For many traditional machine shops, metal is an easy and familiar material to work with, but plastic fabrication presents a whole new set of challenges. Metal is a solid material and predictable to machine, while plastics are a hybrid of different materials, and change shape as they are machined. Simply stated, the basic principles of machining metals do not apply when machining plastics. And any mistake in plastic fabrication can also result in expensive scrap loss. 

How can you master the art of plastic fabrication? We have 4 must-follow rules to success.

Plastic fabrication is completely unlike metal fabrication; a fact that we covered indepth in our recent Machining Plastics technical white paper. After all, plastics melt and chip as you machine them, plus they can expand 5x or more beyond their original shape. Machining requires skill, experience and proper tooling in order to achieve the best value for your material investment. 

Given all the variables, when does it make sense to consider moving your plastic fabrication from in-house to outsourced? What criteria should you consider when making this important decision?

We’ve prepared 4 top signs to help you review. 

When it comes to plastic fabrication, there is not one simple, one-size-fits-all solution to creating your ideal custom part. Plastics machining offers many advantages (as we covered in our new technical paper), yet injection molding also has offers unique benefits.

In a recent post we explored how to choose the right composite bearing, but what if you’ve found the right material and now need to have it custom fabricated ― and quickly?