From Parts to Production: Finding the Right Secondary Operations for CNC Machining

Machining gets much of the attention when making CNC parts. But once you’ve properly carved your components, it’s secondary operations that provide the fit and finish of a final product.

Our experts discuss some of the most common secondary processes after machining, including heat treating, finishing, and assembly.

Watch and learn how:
- Metal properties change with heat
- Anyone can master press fits & threaded inserts
- To beautify and protect your parts by anodizing and plating them

Here’s a breakdown of the webinar, so you can get right to the parts most useful to you:

0:00 Welcome
1:05 Introduction to Fictiv and presenters
3:15 Presentation Agenda and poll
4:59 What are Secondary Operations in Manufacturing?
6:00 Types of secondary operations: heat treating, finishing, and hardware installation
6:30 Heat treating overview
7:25 Precipitation and case hardening
8:46 Annealing, stress relieving, and tempering
10:12 Pros and Cons of heat treating before and after machining
12:09 Heat treated steel options
13:05 Protective and cosmetic finishing overview
13:23 Choosing a finish
13:48 Anodizing and Alodine
15:07 Nickel plating, media blasting, powder coating, and tumbling
17:10 Black Oxide and passivation
18:18 Zinc plating and electropolishing
19:17 Combining multiple finishes
20:27 Masking before finishing
21:29 Reducing post-processing costs
22:40 Hardware installation overview
24:07 Threaded inserts vs. tapping holes
26:15 Tanged vs. tangless and regular vs. locking threaded inserts
29:10 Using adhesives with fasteners
30:00 Dowel pin types and uses
33:15 Secondary processes with Fictiv
34:17 Key Takeaways
35:10 Audience Q&A
36:04 How do you account for how different finishes affect part dimensions?
37:16 How does Fictiv onboard its manufacturing partners to ensure quality?
38:10 Where can you find info on threaded insert hardware?
39:10 Are finishing processes governed by international standards?