Micromachining
Precision Plastic Micromachining
for Prototype and Short Run Production
Micromachining Technology
LCP Micromachining Component
Micromachining from Mikrotech offers best-in-class multi-axis CNC and Swiss screw equipment for prototype and short run production. The technology enables designers and engineers to obtain precision high quality plastic components with features as small as .0008” (.020 mm) and take a solid model or CAD drawing to a finished product in three to four weeks.
Micromachining can provide an excellent cost-effective solution during the initial stages of the product development cycle. The design of a medical device for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) can often have many different design iterations before the final appearance and functionality of the product is complete. Micromachining requires little or no tooling cost during the design iterations of the device (there are some cases where micromachining cannot be used to fabricate the component and the customer must go directly to mold tooling for micromolding).
Micromachining can also be suitable for adding features to a micromolded component. Periodically the complexity of a component makes the cost of plastic injection mold tools cost prohibitive. It may also increase the complexity of the mold tool resulting in high maintenance and operating costs. One way to address this issue is micromolding as much of the geometry of the component as possible and performing secondary micromachining operations to complete the finished product. The designer can capture all features required and obtain a majority of the benefits of lower-cost micromolding.
Mikrotech has the capability of micromachining high performance plastics such as PEEK, PPS, PEI and LCP (which we extrude in our own rod diameters). To view a full list of materials we use for plastic micromachining please see our plastic micromachining material list.
Along with our micromachining capabilities, we offer precision plastic micromolding, insert micromolding, micro subassembly and design and manufacturing assistance. Contact Mikrotech to learn more about designing and manufacturing MIS devices utilizing micromolding or micromachining.
