Greater Manchester-based Fintek (www.fintek.co.uk) has invested in a ‘state of the art’ German-built stream finishing machine (from OTEC Präzisionsfinish GmbH) to meet growing demand for ever more precise surface finishing in the aerospace sector.

Operations manager Jamie Phillips said: “The new machine is particularly important for our aerospace work to ensure that the precise profile tolerances now demanded for turbine blades are met.

"For example, the control provided by the new step motor technology allows us to repeatedly change and lock the angle of the blades as they pass through the process media to carefully manage the finishing effect on leading and trailing edges.”

The AS9100 and ISO9001 accredited company has six other stream finishing machines, plus drag finishing and centrifugal finishing systems, so it can provide a comprehensive range of surface-finishing services, including deburring and mirror-finish polishing and edge rounding.

Its aerospace services cover not just turbine blades but also complete blisks, gear wheels, cutting tools, fasteners
and extremely thin parts.

Mr Phillips added: “Problem-solving is integral to our service. We work closely with our aerospace customers’ engineers — including those in R&D — to create better parts by applying surface-finishing techniques that meet their commercial objectives.

"We are often able to achieve a quality of surface finish in minutes (sometimes seconds) that cannot be matched by hand or other traditional methods.

“Furthermore, our processes are precisely repeatable to ensure total quality consistency and the confidence to achieve surfaces with values of up to Ra 0.01.”