Shallow and small width Groove on the surface

[msolmaz]

I am in need of 0.001" deep, 0.003" wide grooves in any material. I assume a non-metal would work better but I am not sure. The application is for optical fiber grooves. The fibers are around 0.005" in diameter and will seat on the grooves without touching the bottom. Normally v-grooves work very good, I know this because there are products made from aligning fibers into these grooves. This is for a unique application that I am designing.

Are v-grooves (suppose a depth of 0.008") easier to manufacture with a mill? or are there mills with an end this small?

Thanks,
Matt

[Tech2]

A metal would work better like 6061 aluminum. Endmills that small are extremely fragile. A V-groove would be more practical.

[msolmaz]

hmmm, how smooth can the 6061 surface be? I wasn't sure about the texture of the aluminum. Also the software chose ABS material instead of any other.

[Tech2]

Aluminum can be as smooth as you want - you specify this in Job | Settings. The software chose other materials due to the unusually small channel width but in fact aluminum would be better for this design so you should override the material choice using Comments To Machinist.

[msolmaz]

just got a reply from the EmachineShop folks, saying that they are not able to make such as part. I will look into laser micromachining, that seems to be optimistic solution.