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Photo Etching vs. Traditional Metal Machining

The below table gives an overview of how Photo Etching and Electroforming compare with more tradionally methods of metal machining.

	Photo Etching*	Laser Cutting	Stamping	Wire EDM	Water Jet Cutting	Electroforming
Sampling	Low cost	Low cost	High cost	Low cost	Low cost	Medium cost
Metals	Nearly all metals	Nearly all metals	Nearly all metals	Carbon steel and most metal alloys	Nearly all metals	Predominantly nickel
Hardness	No restriction	No restriction	Problems with very soft, hard or brittle metals	Hardness is a consideration	Hardness is a consideration	Generally 200-670 HV
Stress	No stress	Thermal stress on the cutting edge	Stress at the cutting edge and close to it	Deformation, tempering and structural changes may occur in the material	Limited stress on the cutting edge	Low stress
Burrs	No burring	Micro burring	Partial burring	Micro burring	Micro burring	No burring
Design changes	Quick, easy, cost effective	Quick, easy, cost effective	Very costly & time consuming	Quick, easy, cost effective	Quick, easy, cost effective	Quick, easy, cost effective
Typical lead times	48 hours	48 hours	Several weeks	48 hours	48 hours	5 days
Tolerances as % of material thickness	±10%	±5%	±10%	±10%	±15%	±5%
Can be supplied in sheets for easy counting & handling	Yes	Yes	Not easily	Yes	Yes	Yes

*Other benefits of parts produced by Photo Etching are the ability to half etch through the metal, this can be used for logos, ident numbers and bend lines. The table above is an illustrative general guide to the capability of each process - this can vary significantly depending on the process supplier.

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