In this study a thermo-mechanical numerical simulation of the machining operation is presented. The purpose of the simulations is to obtain the residual stresses. The FE-simulations are compared to measurements of a machined axis. The reason for this work is to see if residual stress calculations have reached a level where it could be performed on a daily basis. Therefore, the simulations were performed with the software package DEFORM which has a re-mesh function that, for practical reasons, is necessary when forming chips. The large deformations will make the FE-analysis to costly otherwise. The work includes a parametric study of machining parameters in order to foresee the impact on the residual stresses. These simulations have also been compared to measurements. The FE-simulations has proved to predict the residual stresses in principle. However, even though the stress gradient in the vicinity of the surface is captured the exact stress level on the surface could not be foreseen. This effect was attributed to the re-mesh function. The parametric study showed that residual stresses can be foreseen, but not all the way up to the surface. Simulated results are only valid from approx 0.05mm-0.1mm below the surface. However, even with this restriction the FE-analysis can be used for optimising the cutting parameters with respect to residual stresses. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V.