The mechanical process begins when the electrodes are cleaned or trimmed. Before graphiting, the electrode is freed of encrustation on the circumference and its faces are milled off.

Graphiting is followed by the actual finishing process. This machining is performed on a system with several stations. The number of stations is determined both by the desired production capacity and by the requirements on quality and material testing. The largest fully-automated system comprises ten stations.

The nipple machining system also consists of several stations. The nipple rod is first sawn to length. This is followed by the various machining stages: centring, rough turning, thread machining, polishing, groove milling, drilling. After these steps comes the quality inspection, with all that this entails. How the phases are split will depend on the required production capacity.