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Written for engineers and buyers pricing stainless parts from a Japanese drawing. No product pitches, no case studies we cannot show you. Guides for the shops in our network are here.
SUS303Se and SUS303Cu Compared with SUS303: Which Free Cutting Grade to Use
SUS303Se and SUS303Cu against standard SUS303: what selenium and copper change for finish, cold forming and corrosion, and what a drawing should state.
SUS Spacers and Collars to JIS Drawings: What Drives the Price of Small Lots
How stainless spacers and collars are made from JIS drawings in small lots: length and parallelism, bore and set screw details, stack-up and price breaks.
SUS Parts for Japanese Food Machinery: Choosing Grade, Finish and Design Details
Which SUS grade and finish suit machined parts for Japanese food machinery: SUS304 or SUS316L, Ra limits, radii, burr free edges and cleaning before packing.
Machining Stainless Vacuum Flanges: ICF, NW and JIS Flange Parts Compared
How stainless vacuum flange parts are machined: ICF knife edges, NW and KF faces, JIS flange drawings, finish, flatness, leak paths and what to check.
Seisekisho Explained: What a Japanese Buyer Expects in a Stainless Inspection Report
What a seisekisho inspection report contains, how it differs from a mill sheet, what Japanese buyers check on it and how to ask for one with a stainless order.
JIS G 4303 Stainless Bar for Machining: Sizes, Tolerance and Delivery Condition
JIS G 4303 stainless bar for machined parts: hot rolled, peeled, drawn and ground tolerances, stock sizes, heat treatment condition and stock removal planning.
JIS B 0401 Fits Explained: What H7, g6 and k6 Mean on a Stainless Part
Read H7, g6, k6 and p6 callouts from JIS B 0401 on a drawing: the micrometre limits for a 20 mm fit, how stainless changes the result and what to confirm.
JIS B 0021 Geometric Tolerances on Stainless Parts: How to Read the Frames
How to read the JIS B 0021 geometric tolerance symbols and frames on a drawing, what each one asks a shop to measure, and where stainless parts struggle.
Japanese Drawing Notes Translated: The Phrases That Change a Stainless Order
Common Japanese drawing notes with reading, meaning and what a machining shop does for each, from tolerance and edge notes to passivation and inspection.
Itomen and C Chamfer Notes on JIS Drawings: What a Shop Cuts for Each
What the itomen note and C0.5 style chamfers mean on a Japanese drawing, the edge size shops cut for each, how stainless burrs change the job and how to check.
Kaeri Nashi and Burr-Free Notes: What Japanese Drawings Ask a Shop to Do
What kaeri nashi, bari nashi and the JIS B 0051 edge symbol mean on a drawing, how shops remove stainless burrs and how a burr-free edge is checked on delivery.
Passivation vs Electropolishing: Choosing the Right Stainless Finish
What each process removes, what each costs, how much material electropolishing takes off, and the service conditions that justify the more expensive option.
What Actually Drives the Price of a Machined Stainless Part
Where the money goes on a machined stainless part, in order, and the changes that reduce it without touching the function of the component.
SUS304 Machining: A Guide for Buyers Working From JIS Drawings
What SUS304 costs to machine, how to read the JIS tolerance class and finish symbols on your drawing, and what a shop needs before it can quote the part firmly.
Passivation of Machined Stainless Parts: What It Does and How to Specify It
Why machined stainless rusts without passivation, the difference between nitric and citric methods, and how to write the requirement so every shop quotes the same thing.
Stainless Machining Tolerances: What a Shop Really Holds in Production
Realistic tolerance bands for turned and milled stainless, what each band costs, where grinding becomes necessary, and how ISO fits translate to real numbers.
Deep Hole Drilling and Tapping Stainless: Where the Cost Appears
How depth to diameter ratio changes the process and the price, why taps break in austenitic grades, and the drawing changes that avoid both problems.
Thin Wall Stainless Machining: What Holds Size and What Does Not
Realistic wall thickness limits for machined stainless, why thin sections distort and work harden, and the design changes that recover most of the cost.
Work Hardening: Why Stainless Punishes a Light Cut
What happens when austenitic stainless work hardens under a tool, why a light finishing pass makes it worse, and what a buyer can change on the drawing to help.
Material Certificates for Stainless Parts: EN 10204 3.1 and the JIS Mill Sheet
What each certificate type actually guarantees, why a 3.1 and a JIS mill sheet are not interchangeable, and how to write the requirement so it is met first time.
The JIS Drawing Checklist to Run Before You Send an RFQ
Twelve checks that turn a vague enquiry into a firm quote: tolerance class, projection, finish symbols, thread class, certificate wording and the rest of the title block.
JIS Thread Callouts on Machined Parts: Pitch, Tolerance Class and Gauging
Why M6 alone is not a thread specification, how JIS B 0205 and B 0209 work together, and which tolerance class to put on a stainless part that will be gauged.
JIS Surface Finish Symbols: Reading Triangles, Ra and Rz on a Drawing
How to read the legacy triangle marks on older JIS drawings, how they map to Ra, and what each roughness level actually costs to produce on a stainless part.
JIS B 0405 and JIS B 0419: The General Tolerances Everyone Skips
The full tolerance tables for classes f, m, c and v, what the geometrical classes H, K and L add, and why the title block letter changes the price of your part.
SUS430 vs SUS304: When the Cheaper Ferritic Grade Is Enough
Where SUS430 saves real money on a machined part, why it cuts more like carbon steel, and the three service conditions that rule it out immediately.
SUS440C and SUS420J2: Machining Stainless That Has to Be Hard
How to sequence a hardened stainless part, what hardness each grade reaches, why J1 and J2 are not the same, and where grinding stops being optional.
SUS630 and 17-4 PH Machining: Getting the Heat Treat Sequence Right
Which condition to machine SUS630 in, what each H temper gives you in hardness and strength, and why the order of operations decides whether the part holds size.
SUS316 vs SUS316L for Machined Parts: Carbon, Welding and Finish
What the L actually changes, when the low carbon grade is required and when it is wasted money, plus what both cost you on the machine compared with SUS304.
How to Find a Machine Shop That Works to Japanese Drawing Standards
How to tell whether a machine shop can genuinely read a JIS drawing, the six questions to ask before you send one, and the answers that should end the conversation.
JIS to AISI Stainless Equivalents: A Reference Table for Part Drawings
Cross reference between JIS SUS designations, AISI and ASTM types, EN numbers and UNS codes, with the places where the standards do not line up cleanly.
SUS303 vs SUS304 vs SUS316: Machinability and Cost Compared
The three austenitic grades buyers switch between, compared on corrosion resistance, machinability and what each one really costs once the part is finished.
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