Fintek marks 40 years of surface finishing

Surface finishing specialist Fintek is celebrating its 40^th year of trading on a high note.

Land acquisition for expansion, new machine ranges from partners OTEC and AM post processing machines from RENA Technologies, see the company continue its mission to bring the most advanced surface finishing technologies to the UK.

Founded by Jonathan Dean in July 1981, originally as Finishing Techniques, the company quickly established itself in the UK as expert in metal surface finishing. From aerospace to F1 components, through medical devices, to mass finishing small and thin parts, the company has attained cross-industry experience.

In the 90s, OTEC launched its first surface finishing machines. Fintek now supply exclusively in the UK the full range of OTEC disc, drag and stream finishing machines and offer extensive subcontracting services.

Mr Dean added: "We have been day-one OTEC suppliers, starting in 1996. Very special to have been there at the beginning. It was clear that their new machines were going to lead the market and that Fintek should bring them to the UK. I was also there for the first machine switch-on.”

Fintek has grown significantly with OTEC. All the CF and DF machines have been received well in the UK. However, the biggest game-changer came with the SF range. Stream finishing has opened-up many high-end applications, where increased controllability and precision are essential. This has driven machine sales and rapidly expanded Fintek's subcontract services.

"As a machine seller, our wealth of knowledge gained from real world subcontract projects means we understand the challenges faced every day by engineers,” Mr Dean continued. “We currently run 16 OTEC machines, eight of which are newer stream finishing systems, some with their patented Pulsfinish and step-processing. This gives us tremendous insight in any machine sales situation.”

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a maturing technology and surfacing finishing is advancing to meet the post processing needs of 3D printed metal parts. Removal of support structures, powder cakes, partially melted grains, and penetrating extreme geometry complexity and small diameter holes, requires a new approach.

Fintek formed a new partnership in January this year to bring RENA Technologies H-series machines to the UK. This allows the company to offer manufacturers the RENA Hirtisation process for post processing AM parts as a subcontracting service or machine sale.

Fintek www.fintek.co.uk