The Hidden Complexity of Small Part Manufacturing
Have you ever looked at a small part and thought, "That looks easy to make"? At Athena Manufacturing, we specialize in complex parts that are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But don’t let the size fool you. These parts aren’t quicker, easier, or cheaper to produce than their larger counterparts. In fact, smart part manufacturing requires more time, greater skill, and highly specialized tooling.
Because in many cases, the smaller the part, the harder it is to machine.
What Makes Small Part Manufacturing So Challenging
Not every machining facility is well-equipped to handle small part orders successfully. Even with the right multi-axis machining services, these parts bring several challenges that require expertise to overcome:
Fixturing Issues: The smaller the part is, the more difficult it is to grip securely. Proper fixturing ensures these parts can be machined precisely and prevents them from becoming dangerous projectiles that could shoot across the facility.
Tolerance Requirements: A tolerance of ±0.001" is the same whether the part is 6 inches or 0.6 inches. On the smaller parts, that tolerance represents a much larger percentage of the total size, which leaves much less room for error.
Slow Machining Speeds: It may seem counterintuitive, but smaller parts require slower, more precise machining than larger, less precise parts. By managing the cutting speed, we help prevent small tools from breaking, as well as part ejection from the fixture and loss of tolerance control.
No Perfect Size Machine: Screw machines are our go-to equipment for small features. But if the features are too large for a screw machine, but too small for standard precision machining services, we need to think creatively to come up with an approach that works.
These small part manufacturing challenges add up to more labor, machine time, specialized tooling, and quality control. While the cost of material certainly does impact the price of the part, it doesn't affect it as much as you think. Generally speaking, material only accounts for 15-20% of a part's cost. The other 80-85% is the time we spend creating it.
Why Small Part Precision is So Important
The time and attention we give to small, complex parts directly impact everything from scrap rates to shop safety. All it takes is one wrong move to ruin the part, break a tool, or cause a machine crash. A high level of precision protects our equipment, our team, and the quality of every order.
For our aerospace contract manufacturing clients, that level of precision is critical. In an industry with zero margin for error, all it takes is one tiny part failure to ground an aircraft or one missed tolerance to create a non-functional assembly.
Athena’s Comprehensive Approach to Small Part Manufacturing
With a 15-year average tenure on our programming team, our precision machining shop has seen (and solved) many small part challenges. This deep experience, combined with our in-house processes and commitment to quality, makes us an ideal partner for this type of work.
This commitment begins before we start cutting metal by prioritizing early design for manufacturability conversations and gathering key stakeholders from engineering, programming, and quality to align on the best approach for the project. This level of communication helps ensure we catch and address issues early in the process before they become costly mistakes.
Once it's time to begin the precision machining services, we have the capabilities in place to create small parts successfully:
hyperMILL CAM software simulates every tool movement before cutting, preventing costly collisions and optimizing precision.
Custom in-house fixturing solves the "how to hold it" challenge with specialized fixtures for each part.
Automated cells with tool breakage detection enable consistent quality during extended production runs.
Our inspection process differs from traditional approaches. Instead of overwhelming operators with "inspect everything," we use operation-specific inspection with each machinist checking only the features they just created, with visual cues highlighting exactly what to measure.
Combined with Statistical Process Control (SPC), which tracks trends before parts drift out of tolerance, we proactively catch and correct issues through tool adjustments and scheduled replacements.
Partner with Athena for Small Parts
Successfully manufacturing small parts requires understanding the unique challenges they present and having the right combination of technology, processes, and people to address them.
At Athena, we've built our aerospace contract manufacturing capabilities around this understanding. From our early design reviews to our step-by-step inspection process, every aspect of our approach recognizes that smaller usually means more complex, not less.
The next time you're examining a tiny part and wondering why it costs what it does, or why lead times seem long for something so small, remember, the cost extends beyond the material. What you’re investing in is the expertise, precision machining services, and attention to detail that ensure it works perfectly when it matters most.
If you're facing the challenge of manufacturing small parts, our team is ready to help. Request a quote to get started.