What’s on the Surface Finish poster
A 5-row table: Process · Ra in micrometres · Feel.
Ra is the average roughness, in micrometres.
- Flame cut, sand cast — 12 to 25 — Rough
- Rough milling, turning — 3.2 to 6.3 — Machined
- Finish turning — 0.8 to 1.6 — Smooth
- Grinding — 0.2 to 0.8 — Fine
- Lapping, honing — 0.02 to 0.1 — Mirror
Specify the roughest finish that works. Each step finer roughly doubles the cost of that surface.
Questions about the Surface Finish poster
- What’s on the Surface Finish poster?
- A 5-row table: Process · Ra in micrometres · Feel. Ra is the average roughness, in micrometres. Flame cut, sand cast — 12 to 25 — Rough; Rough milling, turning — 3.2 to 6.3 — Machined; Finish turning — 0.8 to 1.6 — Smooth; Grinding — 0.2 to 0.8 — Fine; Lapping, honing — 0.02 to 0.1 — Mirror. Specify the roughest finish that works. Each step finer roughly doubles the cost of that surface.
- Who is the Surface Finish poster for?
- Surface Finish belongs to the Mechanical Engineering section rather than to a school year, because engineering is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning manufacturing can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Surface Finish poster?
- Deciding what finish to call up, and on which surfaces it is worth paying for. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Surface Finish belongs on the wall where that engineering work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Surface Finish?
- Additive Processes, Casting Processes and Speed & Feed sit alongside Surface Finish in the Mechanical Engineering section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Additive ProcessesCasting ProcessesSpeed & Feed
- Is the Surface Finish poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Surface Finish downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Mechanical Engineering section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Surface Finish poster print at?
- Surface Finish is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Surface Finish loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Surface Finish on the same wall.
Additive Processes
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Casting Processes
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Speed & Feed
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Design for Manufacture
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Heat Treating Steel
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Designing for Moulding
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Process Families
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Selecting a Material
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