Surface Finishes Service for Metal and Plastic Parts

Our surface finishing capabilities

Use PCBWay as your one-stop solution for both manufacturing and surface finishing of your custom CNC machined parts, reducing the risk of production.

Choose the right finish for your material

Different surface finishes can be applied to different materials. Find below a quick cheat sheet of surface finish and material compatibility.

Name	Material compatibility	Rough price increase*
Smooth machining (1.6 Ra μm/64 Ra μin)	All plastics and metals	+10%
Bending	This manufacturing process uses a dies to produce a U-shape	0.5-6mm
Smooth machining (1.6 Ra μm/64 Ra μin)	All plastics and metals	+10%
Bending	This manufacturing process uses a dies to produce a U-shape	0.5-6mm
Smooth machining (1.6 Ra μm/64 Ra μin)	All plastics and metals	+10%
Bending	This manufacturing process uses a dies to produce a U-shape	0.5-6mm
Smooth machining (1.6 Ra μm/64 Ra μin)	All plastics and metals	+10%
Bending	This manufacturing process uses a dies to produce a U-shape	0.5-6mm
This manufacturing process uses a dies to produce a U-shape	All plastics and metals	+10%
Bending	This manufacturing process uses a dies to produce a U-shape	0.5-6mm

*Price increase estimates are based on one-off parts. Bulk pricing also applies to surface finishes.

Our standard surface finishes

Here is a list of standard surface finishes. For custom surface finishes such as electroplating or polishing, please contact 3dcnc@pcbway.com.

Standard (As-Milled) (Ra 125μin)

The finish option with the quickest turnaround. Visible tool marks, potentially sharp edges and burrs would be removed by default. (If you need parts with sharp edges and burrs, please remark below or note on 2D drawing). Surface finish is comparable to 125 uin Ra finish.

Bead blast + Anodized color

Anodizing creates a corrosion-resistant finish. Parts can be anodized in different colors—clear, black, red, and gold are most common—and is usually associated with aluminum. And with bead blast, the part surface is left with a smooth, matte appearance.(Note: There will be a certain color difference between the actual color after anodizing and the above color board.)

Anodized

It creates a corrosion-resistant finish. Parts can be anodized in different colors—clear, black, red, and gold are most common—and is usually associated with aluminum.(Note: There will be a certain color difference between the actual color after anodizing and the above color board.)

Electrically conductive oxidation

It creates a corrosion-resistant finish, the film produced by conductive oxidation is only 0.01-0.15 micrometers, which is not very wear-resistant, but it can conduct electricity and resist atmospheric corrosion. The color is natural.

Black oxide

Black oxide is a conversion coating used to improve corrosion resistance and minimize light reflection.

Brushed

Brushing is a surface treatment process in which abrasive belts are used to draw traces on the surface of a material, usually for aesthetic purposes. The thickness of the abrasive belts (usually between \#80-120) affects the finish. Although suitable for a handful of metals, brushing is most commonly applied to aluminum.

Bead Blast

The part surface is left with a smooth, matte appearance.

Spray painting - Matt paint

Spray painting： Using spray guns with air pressure to disperse into uniform and fine droplets and apply the painting to the surface of the object.Detail sanding would proceed for these parts in order to achieve the best surface effect after painting.Features: Good hand feel, strong surface graininess, wear resistance and scratch resistance. Application: generally used in the appearance of smart hardware, home appliances, and plastic parts.

Spray painting - High gloss paint

Spray painting： Using spray guns with air pressure to disperse into uniform and fine droplets and apply the painting to the surface of the object.Detail sanding would proceed for these parts in order to achieve the best surface effect after painting.Features: The high gloss paint is as smooth as a mirror, shiny, with high requirements for gloss, poor flatness, which will affect the appearance and easily cause scratches. Application: generally used in the appearance of smart hardware, home appliances, and plastic parts.

Powder Coat

This is a process where powdered paint is sprayed onto a part that is then baked in an oven. This creates a strong, wear- and corrosion-resistant layer that is more durable than standard painting methods. A wide variety of colors are available to create the desired aesthetic.

Chrome plating

Chrome plating is a technique of electroplating a thin layer of chromium onto a metal object. The after product of chrome plating is called chrome. The chromed layer can be decorative, provide corrosion resistance, ease cleaning procedures, or increase surface hardness. Sometimes, a less expensive imitator of chrome may be used for aesthetic purposes.

Galvanization

Galvanization is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerged in a bath of molten hot zinc.

Nickel plating

Nickel plating is a technique of electroplating a thin layer of nickel onto a metal object. The nickel layer can be decorative, provide corrosion resistance, wear resistance, or used to build up worn or undersized parts for salvage purposes.

Silver plating

Silver plating is about the method of adding a thin layer of silver to an object.

Gold plating

Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold on the surface of glass or metal, most often copper or silver.

Tin plating

Tin plating is the process of thinly coating sheets of wrought iron or steel with tin, and the resulting product is known as tinplate. The term is also widely used for the different process of coating a metal with solder before soldering.

Vacuum plating - High gloss paint

Vacuum plating mainly includes vacuum evaporation, sputtering and ion plating. They are all used to deposit various metal and non-metal films on the surface of plastic parts through distillation or sputtering under vacuum conditions. It can get very thin surface coating. Detail sanding would proceed for these parts in order to achieve the best surface effect after plating.Features: fast speed and good adhesion. Application: functional coatings for higher-end products, household appliances, and cosmetic packaging.

Vacuum plating - Matt paint

#1000 sanding

Sanding is the use of fine abrasive sand particles to rub the surface of the product to produce a diffuse, non-linear texture effect. Adhere different abrasive grit to the backing paper or the back of the board, and the abrasive grit can be distinguished by different granularities according to the size: the higher the particle size, the finer the abrasive grit, so the surface effect is better.

Silkscreen

Silkscreen generally refers to screen printing, which is the process of pressing ink through a stencilled mesh screen to create a printed design, graphics and text. Kindly note that silkscreens can be made only on flat surfaces. ONLY Ai and svg formats are acceptable and meanwhile mark the dimension and placement on the 2D technical drawings.

Laser engraving

Laser engraving is the use of laser technology to engrave text and pattern on objects. The characters engraved by this technology have no nicks, the surface of the object is smooth, and the text and pattern will not wear out. Kindly note that laser engraving can be made only on flat surfaces. ONLY Ai and svg formats are acceptable and meanwhile mark the dimension and placement on the 2D technical drawings.

Smooth machining (Ra1.6µm, 63 µin)

A finishing CNC machining operation can be applied to the part to reduce its surface roughness. The standard smoothing surface roughness (Ra) is 1.6 μm (63 μin). This can be decreased down to 0.4 μm (15.7 μin) upon request and on a case-by-case basis. Machine marks are less evident but still visible.

Chemical conversion coat (Chem film)

Non-chromic chemical conversion coating provides corrosion resistance and good conductivity properties. The film is colorless and transparent. Adds very little thickness, about 0.00001”-0.00004”. Chem film will conform to MIL-DTL-5541, TYPE II. It contains no hexavalent chromium, a substance which became regulated under RoHS directive in Europe and so forth as an environmentally hazardous substance.

Electrophoresis

Electrophoresis is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric field. The technique applies a negative charge so proteins move towards a positive charge. It is ultimately caused by the presence of a charged interface between the particle surface and the surrounding fluid.

Passivation

Improves corrosion resistance for 200 and 300 series and precipitation hardened corrosion-resistant steels. Thickness is negligible, about 0.0000001”. Conforms to ASTM A967, AMS-QQ-P-35, MIL-STD-171, ASTM A380, or AMS 2700.

Etching

Laser etching, also called laser engraving or laser marking, is used to create a visible mark on the surface of many substrates, including metal, plastic, stone and glass. The process involves the use of a high-heat laser to modify the surface of the substrate.Electrolytic etching has the same goal as laser etching: to create an aesthetic mark on an object. However, this type of etching can only be done on metal.The first step in chemical etching is to laminate a sheet of metal, or the substrate, with a layer of light-sensitive resist. Once the photoresist is exposed to UV light and a positive image of the product is produced, the masked sheet is exposed to an etching solution. Unmasked areas of the sheet are removed by the etchant, and the masked areas stay protected, creating a part. The photoresist is removed from the finished part, or sheet of parts.

Electropolished (Ra0.8µm, 32µin)

An electrochemical process cleans steel parts to reduce corrosion and improve appearance, by making the metal brighter. Removes about 0.0001”-0.0025” of the metal. Conforms to ASTM B912-02.

PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition)

Physical vapour deposition (PVD) is a process used to produce a metal vapour that can be deposited on electrically conductive materials as a thin, highly adhered pure metal or alloy coating. The process is carried out in a vacuum chamber at high vacuum (10–6 torr) using a cathodic arc source.

Pickling

Pickling is a metal cleaning process that uses very strong acids to clean the metal of certain types of surface conditions. These conditions include mill scale, oxides, impurities and stains. The solution of acid used when pickling is called the pickling liquor. During the process, the metal is submersed in the pickle liquor for a set amount of time and then removed.

Others

When the surface finish you need is not listed above, or you have special requirements for the surface treatment of the part, please describe it clearly below.

Dyeing

Dyeing is done in a special solution containing dyes and particular chemical material. Dye molecules are fixed to the fiber by absorption, diffusion, or bonding with temperature and time being key controlling factors. Usually the result of dyeing will have a certain color difference.

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Materials

Our surface finishing capabilities

Choose the right finish for your material

Our standard surface finishes