Click to EnlargeEquipment in aerospace, defense, and medical applications depends on components that maintain tight dimensional stability under continuous vibration and mechanical stress. Precision metal shims are thin spacers that take up unwanted play between mating surfaces and maintain critical axial alignment, provided they are manufactured to strict engineering tolerances.

Accubeam Laser fabricates custom shims at our Sarasota, Florida facility to the tolerances machine builders and OEMs need for demanding assemblies. We hold AS9100D certification, ITAR registration, and Joint Certification Program (JCP) certification, and our team brings over 40 combined years of industry experience to shim design and fabrication.
Below, we cover our shim capabilities, the shim types we produce, the materials we use to match each application, and what a properly fitted shim can do for your equipment.

Accubeam’s Advanced Custom Metal Shim Capabilities

We use laser cutting, precision surface grinding, and secondary finishing to deliver tight-tolerance custom shims made to your specifications.

Our shim capabilities include:

Laser cutting and laser etching. Our high-power laser systems, up to 6,000 watts, make clean, precise cuts and add intricate etched designs or part identification marks to the material surface.

Precision grinding and shearing. Surface grinding and Blanchard grinding bring ferrous shims to flat profiles and specified thickness tolerances after initial profile cutting.

Heat treating and plating. Plating and thermal processing options extend shim life in harsh operating environments.

Passivation and surface treatments. Chemical passivation removes free iron and restores corrosion resistance in stainless steel components.

Traceability and packaging. Custom barcoding, part serialization, and specialized packaging streamline inventory control and line integration.

Our precision Blanchard and surface grinding equipment and industrial metal finishing services round out these capabilities for projects that need a finished, ready-to-install part.

Common Types of Custom Metal Shims

We produce custom shims in several configurations to resolve specific clearance, leveling, and tolerance stack-up challenges.

Common custom shim types include:

Slotted (U-shaped) shims. Designed for rapid installation around existing bolts or shafts without disassembling the full mechanical stack.

Tapered shims. Precision-ground angled shims designed to align non-parallel mating faces and compensate for angular misalignment.

High-tolerance shims. We produce these for applications that need a precise fit and supply documented inspection data with each one.

Shim stock. We cut this material to custom dimensions for leveling and fit adjustments.

Each type suits a different fit or clearance need, and we recommend the right one after reviewing your application.

Materials Used in Our Custom Shims

We make shims from both metals and non-metallic materials, so we can match the material to each application in defense, aerospace, medical, electronics, and transportation. Our shim materials include:

• Copper
• Aluminum
• Brass
• Stainless steel
• Carbon steel
• Titanium
• Hastelloy, Monel, Inconel, and other exotic alloys
• Rubber and nylon
• Kapton® and Cirlex® polyimide materials

If your project needs a specific alloy or a custom rubber gasket instead of a shim, we can source and fabricate it.

Benefits of Custom Metal Shims

Precision custom shims can reduce the risks and assembly delays that come with hand-trimming standard stock.

Specifying custom shims provides distinct engineering and procurement advantages:

Less tolerance stack-up. Custom thicknesses let assembly technicians reach precise alignment without layering multiple thin shims.

Material matched to your environment. We select a shim material that suits your operating conditions, which can help prevent premature corrosion, galling, and thermal deformation.

Reduced maintenance downtime. Direct-fit components reduce the need for field modifications, which speeds up equipment overhaul and routine preventive maintenance.

Manufacturers in military, aerospace, medical, and electronics production look for this level of fit and finish in parts that must hold up in the field.

Discover Precision with Accubeam: Request Your Custom Shim Today

Demanding applications need shims made to your specifications. We make custom shims for machine builders and OEMs across military, aerospace, medical, electronics, and transportation industries, and we include documented inspection data with every precision shim we ship. Put our custom metal shim capabilities to work on your next project. Request a quote today.