If you have any questions about Harber METAL products, we are here to provide you with the information you need. You can find detailed information below. In case you cannot find the answer you are looking for, feel free to reach out to us through Facebook or email us at sales@harber-mim.com. We will be more than happy to assist you.

Browse frequently‑asked‑questions for metal injection molding projects, covering MIM materials, tolerances, costs, MOQ, lead‑time, defects, surface finishing, prototyping‑to‑mass‑production and Harbermetal manufacturing capabilities.

Below you will find answers to the most‑common technical and commercial questions for metal injection‑molding projects, collected from global OEM engineers and procurement buyers. If you cannot find your answer, feel free to submit your drawings for a free DFM manufacturability assessment and quotation.

General MIM Process Questions

What is the cooperation steps？

1: Give us inquiry by email.

2: Quote your price by our sales usually in 5-8 hours on working days. 

3: Confirm price& artwork and Sign Contact 

4: Pay first half money for making new MIM tooling

5: Make free metal parts samples to your door by DHL or Fedex freely for confirmation

6: Only get your metal parts sample approval then start to arrange mass production. 

7: When mass production is finished, we will take clear pictures for you confirmation. After you confirmed you pay balance. 

8: Shipment by sea or air depends on your requirements.

9: You get the products, deal finished. 

For whole steps we will guarantee you can get the metal parts safely and fast and in high quality. If in case any problem happened because of us in this MIM/PIM process, we promise remachining freely or refund your money. If mistakes is happened from your end, we can also reinjection if you agree to pay extra transport cost. 

You only have to make one call for customer service, project management, sales, engineering, and logistics support.

What kind of artwork do you prefer?

1. For a design expert or a big company with your own engineering team: we prefer to receive a fully RFQ pack from you including drawing, 3D model, quantity, pictures; The CAD files are helpful, but most do not include tolerances or additional notes that may apply to the part, which is why the 2D drawings are needed.

2. For a start-up company owner or green hand for engineering: just send an idea that you want to try, you don‘t even need to know what MIM process is; We would introduce for you carefully.

3. Our sales will reply you within 24 hours to confirm further details and give the estimated quote time;

4. Our engineering team will evaluate your inquiry and provide our offer within next 1~3 working days.

5. We can arrange a technical communication meeting with you and our engineers together anytime if required.

1.When can I get the price and what do I need offer?

Quotation or reply will be provided within 24 hours after we receive full production information(you need offer 2D and 3D of products). If the quotation is urgently, please tell us, we will speed up it.

Do I need to go audit a factory?

Harber will facilitate a factory visit for you if you come or ask the third audit party to see what is happening during the production in our factory of your metal project. And we could provide you PPAP before production.

What happens if I receive a bad shipment of metal parts?

Harber will quickly organize a team both in  your country and China to determine the root cause of the problem.

Harber will work to correct the problem and propose a solution to you.

Harber will issue a CAR and can coordinate local sorting if needed. 

Harber will re-produce a new correct batch for free if our parts quality problem.

How to choose shipping way and how long reaching clients? If in case the package is broken during shipment, do you compensate? 

There are two ways to delivery products from China to your door, sea and air. 

By sea is long time but cheap for large bulk order, by air is fast but expensive for small orders. 

For shipping Products by sea from Shenzhen, please allow the following amount of time for sailing, customs clearance, and inland trucking to your warehouse.

To Asia destinations: 1 to 2 weeks

To South America destinations: 5 to 7 weeks

To US/Canada destinations: 3 to 6 weeks depending on west(LA,Vancouver) or east cost(NYC,Toronto)

To Australian destinations: 2 to 3 weeks

To Africa countries: 4 to 8 weeks

To UK and European destinations: 4 to 6 weeks

If your products are needed urgently, you can also choose ship by air&express such as DHL, FEDEX or UPS. It takes about 5-7days reach your door. The shipping cost depend on the weight of your package, the cost you can consult with our sales, we will reply you correct price as per your order promptly. 

Our shipping package are strong enough, it will not be broken accidently. In cased happen any broken or lost , you also donot be worry. All your products shipping by air or sea will buy the insurance during whole delivery process, if happened any problems they will compensate the money as per your value write on the shipping invoice. 

What is your packing way?

We pay highly attention to packing quality. As we know the metal parts come out in perfect quality standard, but packages is not strong easily happen damage during delivery,so that final effects is zero. What we want is let you get our products safely fastly to give us high rates and reorder with us next time. We will control every steps very well for you.

In our company all our package must make sure strongest then picked by shipping company. The inside with waterproof plastic bag + 5AA strong carton + green wooden pallet + plastic belt wrapped outside.

What is your production time?

Normally our batch production delievry time is 25-30 days after placing orders.

If you need it urgently, I advise you tell us your lead time, such as tell us when you will have final artwork, and when you need them? Then our sales will check with factory and shipping company whether we can meet your time or not.

What kind of materials are used on your products normally ?

Iron base like MIM4605, Fe2Ni, Fe4Ni, Fe8Ni. Stailess steel such as 17-4PH, SS420,440, SS304L, SS316L. Ceramic like Al2O3 and big gravity material Tungsten Alloy and Titanium Alloy.

What is payment terms and account? 

Our payment terms is 50% in advance, rest paid after sample confirmation for tooling by bank transfer. 

If less than 2000usd in order to save bank transfer fee we advise pay in one time. 

We only accept bank transfer for mass order amount, donot accept credit cards. For sample fee less than 200usd we accept paypal. 

Our sales will make PI with all parts details and bank account for you confirmation.

In Metal Maching What is Metal Injection Molding (MIM)?

Metal Injection Molding (MIM) is a near‑net‑shape powder‑metallurgy manufacturing technology. Fine metal powder is mixed with polymer binder to make feedstock, injected into molds to form green parts, then debinded and sintered at high‑temperature to achieve high‑density complex miniature metal components. It combines the design freedom of plastic injection molding with the mechanical performance of wrought metal alloys.

What is the difference between MIM and CNC machining?

CNC is subtractive manufacturing by cutting solid metal blanks. MIM is powder‑based near‑net‑shape forming. MIM is cost‑effective for medium‑to‑high‑volume small complex parts with multi‑features, internal cavities and fine details. CNC works better for prototyping, low‑volume orders, large‑size workpieces or features requiring ultra‑tight native tolerance without secondary finishing. Hybrid MIM+CNC is widely used for many industrial projects.

Is MIM suitable for prototype‑only orders?

Traditional MIM requires custom mold investment, so pure MIM prototyping has relatively high upfront cost. Harbermetal can offer limited sampling after mold completion. For early‑stage design verification, we often recommend CNC‑machined prototypes before committing to MIM tooling.

MIM Material & Performance

What materials can Harbermetal process for MIM components?

We support stainless steel (304L, 316L,17‑4PH,440C), bronze Cu‑Sn10 / phosphor bronze, titanium CP‑Ti & Ti‑6Al‑4V, soft‑magnetic Fe‑Si / Fe‑Ni permalloy, nickel‑base superalloy Inconel 718 / 625. Our engineers will recommend suitable alloy grades based on your strength, corrosion, magnetic, temperature and budget requirements.

Can MIM reach the same mechanical performance as wrought metal?

High‑density sintered MIM parts can achieve mechanical properties close to wrought alloys. But residual micro‑porosity and impurity elements will affect ductility, fatigue and corrosion resistance. For high‑reliability cyclic‑load components, HIP hot isostatic pressing can further improve density and fatigue performance. Acceptance criteria shall adopt MIM‑oriented test standards instead of only wrought‑material datasheets.

Does MIM produce magnetic parts?

Yes. Some stainless grades are magnetic; we also manufacture dedicated soft‑magnetic MIM components for solenoid cores, sensor yokes and armatures for electronics applications. Non‑magnetic grades such as 316L can be selected if magnetic interference must be avoided.

Tolerance, Design & Defect Troubleshooting Surface Finishing & Post‑Processing

What surface finishing options are available for MIM parts?

Harbermetal supports tumbling / vibratory deburring, passivation, electropolishing, bead blasting, PVD coating, plating and laser marking. Important reminder: sintered MIM has inherent micro‑porosity. High‑density base material is required before plating to avoid blistering caused by trapped chemical solutions inside open pores.

Can I directly copy CNC surface‑finish requirements onto MIM drawings?

Not recommended. MIM sintered micro‑porosity creates special limitations for polishing and plating. Please communicate your cosmetic and functional targets with our engineers in DFM phase; we will recommend feasible and cost‑effective finishing workflows.

What are MIM design restrictions?

Avoid extremely thin unsupported walls, sharp internal corners and large‑area un‑reinforced flat surfaces. Recommended minimum wall thickness ≥1.0 mm; add transitional fillets for abrupt wall‑thickness changes. Our engineering team provides full DFM risk assessment before mold investment.

Production, Quality & Documentation (Harbermetal Factory Related)

Is Harbermetal a trading company or real MIM factory?

Harber Industrial Limited (Harbermetal) is an ISO‑certified full‑chain MIM manufacturer based in Dongguan, China. We are not a trading intermediary. We complete feedstock evaluation, mold‑making, injection molding, debinding, sintering, heat‑treatment, secondary‑CNC and surface‑finishing in‑house, without outsourcing core sintering processes to third‑party workshops.

What inspection documents can Harbermetal provide?

We can provide First Article Inspection (FAI) reports, CMM dimension measurement data, hardness / density test records, metallographic reports, salt‑spray corrosion test results and complete batch‑lot material traceability documentation upon customer request.

Does Harbermetal support hybrid MIM+CNC manufacturing?

Yes. Many projects combine MIM near‑net‑shape forming for complex geometry plus secondary CNC sizing reserved only for high‑precision mating features. Our DFM review will define proper machining allowance and datum strategy at early drawing‑review stage.

Which industries do your MIM components serve?

Our custom MIM parts are widely applied in automotive hardware, power‑tool components, security lock hardware, consumer electronics, wearable devices and non‑implant medical‑auxiliary equipment.

What files should I submit for an accurate MIM quotation?

Please provide 2D drawing with GD&T tolerances, STEP / IGES 3D CAD file, material specification, surface‑finish & heat‑treatment requirements, and estimated annual production volume.

Can Harbermetal support PPAP / APQP documentation for automotive projects?

Yes, we support PPAP‑level documentation submission for automotive‑related MIM components according to customer project requirements.

What is the economical MOQ / break‑even volume for MIM?

Normally MIM shows obvious cost advantages starting from 10 000‑20 000 pieces annually. High‑performance special alloys such as titanium and Inconel need higher volume to offset expensive powder and furnace overhead. For quantities far below break‑even, CNC machining or conventional press‑and‑sinter PM may be better alternatives.

What factors affect MIM part cost?

Key cost drivers include one‑time mold tooling cost, material feedstock price, part weight, geometry complexity, batch volume, secondary‑operation workload (CNC sizing, heat‑treatment, surface finishing), and inspection requirements. Over‑specified tolerances and unnecessary surface treatments are frequent hidden cost‑inflation sources.

What is typical project lead‑time at Harbermetal?

Standard timeline: DFM review & quotation (1‑3 working days) → mold fabrication (4‑6 weeks) → prototype sampling & validation (2‑3 weeks) → pilot‑batch process locking → mass‑production. Expedited service is available upon special request.