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Any time you need to make a custom metal part, there’s a wide range of manufacturing methods available. The challenge can be selecting the right one that best fits your needs—including quality, cost, turnaround time and manufacturability. In many cases, chemical etching (also known as photo chemical machining) offers clear advantages over other processes.
Whether your part is flat or formed, here are three common situations where chemical etching is the way to go.
3 Situations that Call for Chemical Etching
1. When You Have a Revolutionary Design
The good news: your design breaks the mold. The not-so-good news: it’s so unique that you’re not quite sure how to actually make it.
That’s where chemical etching comes in. Fast, flexible and precise, the process is ideal for rapid prototyping. Plus, you can produce multiple iterations on a single tool, saving both time and money.
2. When Your Design Has Specialty Features
Chemical etching is the go-to process for thin (approximately 0.030” or less), complex and intricate parts. Since your CAD file is essentially printed on the metal with a photosensitive sheet, virtually any type of feature you can draw can be realized. We can quickly determine if your part aligns with our process capability, and turn a challenging design into a tangible part.
3. When You Need to Scale Production
You can count on chemical etching throughout the development process. During the prototype phase, small quantities can be made in a cost-efficient way—making it feasible to tweak and test multiple designs in a fraction of the the time required by traditional methods. Once your design is locked in, Switzer can scale production with demand, economically producing thousands and millions of units to keep you on-time and on-budget.
These are just a few of the many reasons to choose chemical etching for your high-quality metal parts. At Switzer, we combine this advanced process with the right people, the right partners and the right supplemental capabilities to take your project from start to finish.
Why wait? Start your project today.
