Peerless Precision Achieves Tight Tolerance Manufacturing for Top Quality Performance

What it Takes to Produce Extremely Tight Tolerances

What do landing gear for an airplane, an aerospace fuel engine, and a medical device have in common?

They’re all delicate pieces of equipment that perform vital functions—and they have no room for error.

From a manufacturing standpoint, no room for error means that these parts need extremely tight tolerances to function properly.

Technically, a part has a tight tolerance if its permitted variance is plus or minus .002-.001 inches. A variance of even .005 inches causes the part to fail, which can cause serious damage. At Peerless Precision, we’re able to achieve tolerances ranging from .0001”-000005,” which industries like aerospace, aeronautics, and medicine often require.

How to Achieve Extremely Tight Tolerances

When it comes to parts that require the utmost precision, here are some things you should consider in order to achieve the tolerance that works best for your machined parts.

1. Request a tolerance analysis. Manufacturers love to say that adding another decimal point to your tolerance adds another zero to your cost. If you think there’s (literally) wiggle room, submit your design to your manufacturer for review. At Peerless Precision, we can work with your engineering and quality team members to analyze whether or not you can loosen your tolerances to create a more practical, replicable design at a lower cost.
2. Check out the manufacturing environment. It’s natural for material to contract and expand with changes in temperature, but those changes can throw off tolerances in the millionths of an inch. In our MA machine shop, we thermally stabilize our workspace to prevent any issues.
3. Look for a shop with manual machining experience. A CNC Machine can only go so far toward achieving high tolerances. Peerless Precision has 30+ years of manual machining experience with expert machinists who know what true precision means: how the material “feels” when the part is ready.

The Magic Behind Peerless Precision’s Manual Machining

At Peerless Precision, our talented team has something they don’t teach at school: the craft and experience to learn tolerances by machine and by hand. Our customers call it “magic.” We call it expertise.

In addition to CNC machine services, we offer grinding, honing, and lapping. These capabilities have a slower rate of manual material removal, allowing us to shape a part up to the exact tolerance required. The expert hands of our machinists perfect what a machine can’t. You can’t automate artistry.

At Peerless Precision, we’re proud that we can achieve tolerances ranging from .0001”-000005,” while maintaining our top-notch quality standards.

Have a part that needs an extremely tight tolerance? Contact us for a quote!

P.S. We are ITAR-certified for defense machining in MA (and 49 other states too)!