Mechanical manufacturing · Free

Find how any part is made

Search any part made by a mechanical process, casting, forming, machining, joining or finishing, and get the full route to make it, raw material to finished part, with the real tolerances, tooling and costs. Electronics are out of scope.

56processes
11process families
Thousandsof parts covered

1 What do you want to make?

Type any part, shape or product made by a mechanical process. We show the processes that can make it, their benefits, and how they stack up. This covers mechanical manufacturing, not electronics, so a circuit board or chip returns nothing.

2 Or browse by what the part needs

Set what you know, leave the rest on Any. Matching processes glow amber and the ones that cannot do your part drop out.

Process family
Material
Production volume
Tolerance need
How to choose: volume and tolerance usually decide it. High volume rewards processes with tooling you amortise (molding, stamping, forging); tight tolerance rewards machining and grinding; one-offs reward no-tooling routes (machining, additive). When several fit, the cheapest at your volume wins.
You know the process. Now run the numbers.
The finder tells you how a part is made. The Manufacturing & Operations toolkit helps you cost and plan it: OEE, capacity, cycle time and quality, the same decisions with the maths done for you.
Browse the toolkit →
This finder is a guide to the typical way each part is made. Many parts can be produced by more than one process depending on volume, material, size and design, so treat the result as the common route, not the only one. Reference values follow Kalpakjian & Schmid, Manufacturing Engineering and Technology, and are typical ranges for comparison. Always confirm the process, tolerances and costs with a qualified manufacturing engineer and your supplier before committing a design or a quote.