In today's challenging marketplace, the fabrication of plastic materials can add value for your customers. Following is an overview of the various fabrication techniques for stock shapes.

Machinability
Plastic stock shapes may be easily machined. However, the tool geometry and speed must be adjusted for optimum performance with a special material. The tolerances for machining plastics usually should be larger than those applied to metals. The tolerances must be larger because of thermal expansion and the shape changing from the relaxation of internal stresses within the material. In critical applications, it may be necesssary to premachine the part slightly oversize and stress relieve or anneal the part before taking the final cuts.