Metal 3D Printing + Finish Machining

Metal 3D Printing + Precision Finishing

A metal part is not finished when the printer stops. That is where our part begins.

Metal additive manufacturing in stainless and tool steels, titanium, nickel superalloys, and cobalt-chrome — with the finish machining, heat treatment, coating, and inspection all in-house. We co-developed one of China’s first industrial metal 3D printers. Today the capability is ready for your program.

Send the drawing — print, machine and finish, under one roof. NDA welcome.

Why Printing Is Only Half the Part

Additive manufacturing solved geometry. It did not solve surfaces:

Printed surfaces do not meet engineering tolerances

As-built roughness is an order of magnitude off precision requirements; sealing faces, bearing seats, and thread fits must be machined after printing

Printed metal needs thermal treatment

Residual stress from the build must be relieved before the part can hold its geometry; support removal and stress relief are process steps, not cleanup

Critical features are machined features

The interface surfaces, the bores, the threads: wherever the printed part meets the rest of the machine, precision machining takes over

Two vendors, one broken chain

Send a printed part out for machining and you inherit the classic dispute: the printer blames the machinist for scrapping the print, the machinist blames the printer for the distortion. Your project pays for the argument

We run both halves under one roof — the people who print your part and the people who finish it read the same drawing in the same building.

Five-axis milling after printing — cutter working a contoured surface

The second half — finish machining, in the same building

Capability

Dimension	Capability
Materials	Stainless & tool steels · titanium alloys · nickel superalloys · cobalt-chrome
Post-processing	Full in-house chain: 5-axis finish machining, precision grinding to Ra 0.1 μm, heat treatment, coating & plating
Typical work	Research prototypes, single-piece custom parts, complex geometries that machining alone cannot reach
Documentation	Material certificates and dimensional reports available per part

Titanium and nickel-base parts on a white background

The alloys — titanium and nickel-base, machined in-house

Where This Capability Comes From

In 2013 — when metal additive manufacturing was still a laboratory subject in most of the world — Zhongnan co-developed one of China’s first industrial metal 3D printers with South China University of Technology, as a major science and technology project of Foshan.

We did it for the same reason we build our own machine tools: when a capability our parts need does not exist, we create it. The printer was built to serve machining — and a decade later, that is still how we run it: additive where additive wins, machining where precision lives, one roof over both.

Who This Is For

Research institutes and R&D teams

Single pieces and pilot parts with full documentation. Our rapid-prototyping line was built for you → Custom Manufacturing →

Programs with geometry that machining cannot reach

Send the drawing, and we will tell you honestly which features should be printed and which should be machined.

Anyone told “we print it, but we don’t machine it”

That sentence is the reason this page exists.

FAQ

Q: What materials can you print?

Stainless & tool steels, titanium alloys, nickel superalloys, and cobalt-chrome — with finish machining in the same alloys, in-house.

Q: What is your maximum build size?

400 × 400 × 400 mm build envelope. For larger parts, hybrid strategies apply — printed sections finish-machined and integrated with machined components.

Q: Can you hold machining tolerances on printed parts?

Yes — that is the point of this page. Critical features are finish-machined to your drawing, to 0.005 mm class tolerances and Ra 0.4 μm finishes where required, verified by our in-house metrology.

Q: Do you take production volumes?

Our additive capability serves research, prototype, and single-piece work; for volume programs we will tell you honestly whether printing, machining, or a hybrid route is the right answer.

Q: What file formats do you accept?

STL files, or 3D models from any major CAD software — attach them to the RFQ form (NDA first if you prefer).

Why Printing Is Only Half the Part

Capability

Where This Capability Comes From

Who This Is For

FAQ

Print the Geometry. Machine the Truth.