The Precision Alternative to Fine Blanking
When your part demands the clean, full-thickness, machined-quality edge of fine blanking — but your component cost or project cost can’t absorb fine-blanking piece prices and tooling costs — Custom Industrials Company (CIC) delivers a smarter path. Our precision smooth-edge stamping process produces parts with the 100% sheared edges and precision flatness engineers specify fine blanking for, at a meaningfully lower total cost. And because CIC is a full multi-process manufacturing partner, the same team can deep draw, machine, weld, and finish your component so you source a finished part, not just a blank.
What Fine Blanking Is and Why Engineers Specify It
Fine blanking is a specialized stamping process that uses a triple-action press and a V-ring stinger to clamp material under high pressure while a punch shears the part. The result is a part with a smooth, burnished edge across nearly the full material thickness, excellent flatness, and tight dimensional control — qualities that conventional stamping cannot achieve in a single operation. Engineers turn to fine blanking for gears, levers, cams, brackets, and load-bearing components where edge quality and flatness are functional requirements, not cosmetic ones.
The trade-off is cost. Fine-blanking presses and tooling are expensive, lead-heavy, and concentrated among a limited number of suppliers, which raises both tooling investment and piece price. That is precisely the gap CIC’s smooth-edge stamping closes.
How CIC Smooth-Edge Stamping Compares
CIC’s smooth-edge stamping uses precision close-tolerance dies to shear material with controlled fracture, producing a clean edge finish — typically 32 RMS — with part flatness held within .001″ (or strip-stock limits) and tolerances to ±.0005″. For a large share of parts currently specified as fine blanked, smooth-edge stamping delivers equivalent or better function at lower piece and tooling cost, while eliminating secondary deburring and finishing operations.
Attribute | Fine Blanking (incl. GRIPflow®) | CIC Smooth-Edge Stamping |
|---|---|---|
Edge quality | Smooth, burnished, near-full thickness | Clean sheared edge, ~32 RMS typical |
Flatness | Excellent | Within .001″ or strip-stock limits |
Tolerance | Tight | To ±.0005″ |
Material range | Process-dependent | .030″ to .625″ thickness |
Secondary ops | Often eliminated | Eliminated in most applications |
Tooling cost | Higher | More economical |
Piece price | Higher | Lower for comparable parts |
Multi-process supply | Typically stamping only | Stamp, deep draw, machine, cast, forge, mold |
Technical Capabilities
- Edge finish: 32 RMS typical on sheared faces
- Tolerance precision: ±.0005″
- Flatness control: within .001″ or strip-stock limits
- Material thickness: .030″ to .625″
- Hole capability: holes as small as 30% of material thickness, positioned as close as 30% of thickness from an edge
- In-die features: chamfers, semi-pierce, weld projections, coining, drawing, offsets, countersinks
- Materials: carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass, copper, and specialty alloys
Ideal Applications
Smooth-edge stamping is the right call when edge density, flatness, and dimensional precision are functional — the same reasons a part gets specified as fine blanked:
- Precision gear and sprocket components
- Cams, levers, and mechanical linkages
- Load-bearing structural parts and brackets
- Pump and valve components
- Transmission and drivetrain elements
- Electrical contacts and components requiring clean edges
Why Source Fine-Blank-Quality Parts From CIC
- Equivalent edge and flatness performance to fine blanking for most parts, at lower piece price
- More economical tooling investment with excellent tool life
- Elimination of secondary deburring and finishing in most applications
- A single partner for the entire component — stamping plus deep drawing, machining, welding, casting, forging, and plastic molding
- Engineering-led process recommendation: CIC reviews your part and tells you candidly whether smooth-edge stamping, fine blanking, deep drawing, or machining gives you the best cost-to-function result
- U.S.-based engineering and sourcing managed from St. Louis, Missouri
Frequently Asked Questions
Is smooth-edge stamping really comparable to fine blanking?
How much can I save versus fine blanking?
What materials and thicknesses can CIC run?
Can CIC convert a part I currently buy as fine blanked?
Send your fine-blanked or smooth-edge candidate part to CIC’s engineering team for a no-obligation process and cost comparison. Call 314-567-5847 or email rfq@cic-cic.solutions.
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