MIM Tolerances

Metal Injection Molding tolerances are nominally ±0.3%-0.5%, although tighter tolerances can be achieved in some cases if deemed essential. MIM component production ranges over a large size range, making it difficult to address tolerances directly over such a wide range. In some instances, the choice has been to create a table of tolerance versus size, showing capabilities as follows: These MIM tolerances can be obtained within a single batch but wider variation is usually observed over time.

  • ± 0.03 mm (0.0012 inch) for features below 3 mm (0.12 inch)
  • ± 0.05 mm (0.002 inch) for features between 3 and 6 mm (0.12 to 0.25 inch)
  • ± 0.08 mm (0.003 inch) for features between 6 and 15 mm (0.25 to 0.6 inch)
  • ± 0.15 mm (0.006 inch) for features between 15 and 30 mm (0.6 to 1.2 inch)
  • ± 0.25 mm (0.01 inch) for features between 30 and 60 mm (1.2 to 2.4 inch).
featurebest possible ±nominal or typical ±
absolute dimension0.025 mm (0.001 inch)0.05 mm (0.002 inch)
Angle0.05°
density0.2%1%
dimension0.05%0.3%
flatness 0.1%0.2%
hole diameter0.04%0.1%
hole location 0.1%0.3%
parallelism0.2%0.3%
perpendicularity0.1% or 0.1°0.2% or 0.3°
roundness0.3%0.3%
surface roughness0.2 µm (8 µ inch)0.8 µm (32 µ inch)
weight0.1%0.4%
corner radius0.1 mm (0.004 inch)0.15 mm (0.006 inch)