The material used is 17-7PH (precipitation-hardened) stainless steel. Due to the expansion of the stainless steel material after the hardening treatment, the machining process for this part becomes a little tricky.
To ensure that the pitch of the through holes and to prevent any deviation caused by material expansion, we have devised the following advanced machining process with hardened stainless steel:
✓ Initially, we machine the through hole and outer dimension using a 3-axis CNC Milling.
✓ Afterward, we subject the part to a vacuum hardening treatment.
✓ Next, we continue with the grinding process to get the perfect surface.
✓ Finally, we perform wire-EDM process for the through hole, but only after measuring the hardened stainless steel component with a CMM. Since adjustments are necessary to align the pitch with the required dimensions, we adjust the wire-EDM parameters. Additionally, we designed a special jig to hold the part securely and achieve a thickness of 0.33mm for the spring mechanism.
We were able to successfully manufacture this hardened stainless steel component with strict tolerances because of our dedicated and skilled engineers at Tonasco!
WITH US