Author: Rumiko (Rumi) Inoue (sales and marketing leader)
As you might expect from a CNC machining shop, most of our products have an as-machined surface finish, meaning the surface is machined with no additional surface treatments. You might think that all as-machined surface finishes are similar, but in fact, we can achieve different appearances and surface roughness based on the machining method and tooling used. In this blog article, we will introduce one standard surface finish: face milling finish.
Face milling finish is a standard surface finish produced using a face milling tool and only applicable to materials with flat surfaces. The surface roughness is generally below Ra 6.3 µm, and the thickness tolerance is +/-0.1 mm. This type of finishing is suitable for products that serve a functional purpose and are not intended for aesthetic applications. Surfaces may show some light scratches and visible tool marks in the form of large arcs.
All plastic and metal materials are suitable for face milling.
Our local material suppliers can also provide face milling finishes for different types of steel materials including SS400, SCM440, S45C, SUS304, and more.
You may have heard the terms 2F (2-face), 4F (4-face), and 6F (6-face) milling finish when purchasing materials. These refer to face milling finishes applied to block materials:
Below is a photo of SS400 materials (6F milled) purchased from our local material suppliers. As shown, the surface is relatively rough with visible large arc-shaped tool marks. The surface roughness is generally below Ra 6.3 µm.
At Yumoto Vietnam, our customers require high-quality machined surface finish, so we rarely deliver products with only a face milling finish. Most of our products undergo additional machining processes to achieve finer surface quality. However, for cost-sensitive projects, we can consider using face-milled surfaces and perform additional operations such as drilling or tapping.
We also have a face milling machine at our factory, which is primarily used for material preparation before CNC milling. By face milling the material surfaces, we achieve stable dimensions and ensure flatness of 0.05 mm or less, allowing the material to be securely clamped on the machining table.
Below, you can see our pre-processing and post-processing team preparing aluminum material blocks using our face milling machine for an order quantity of 300 units.
After face milling, the team carefully deburrs the edges to prevent injuries when engineers handle the material during machining.
Explore our related content to learn more about:
- Yumoto Vietnam’s CNC machining service
- Another type of surface finish, “as-received surface finish,” which retains the original material surface
- Our available surface treatment options
Our sales representatives are happy to suggest the most suitable surface finish for your machined component. Contact us here for quotations or specific questions about our capabilities.
Copyright ©2023 Yumoto Vietnam Co., Ltd.
