CNC Machining: How to Control the Cost of CNC Machining?

From the invention of the last century to the present, CNC has been widely used around the world and has become an indispensable part of many manufacturing industries. As China's leading on-demand manufacturing service provider, VMT has noticed that many companies are trying to reduce CNC machining parts costs. For us, there is no fixed cost that can be applied to different machining projects. The cost of CNC machining is mainly determined by these factors. So, how can we better control the production cost of CNC machining? Let’s take a look at a few suggestions from our many years of experience:

CNC Machining Equipment

How to choose the type of CNC machining equipment: Various CNC machining operations, including drilling, boring, turning and milling, are mostly performed on CNC turning or CNC milling. High-efficiency CNC machining, highly modern CNC machining machines enable lower production costs for parts.

How to choose tools for CNC machining: The production and use cost of CNC machining tools will also affect the total cost of equipment, of which tool material, coating and geometry are all important factors. For example, carbide tools are harder, more heat resistant and can withstand extreme speeds, and cost more than twice as much as tool steel tools.

Why CNC Milling is More Expensive: More complex CNC machined parts require more complex operations and are of course harder to set up, operate and maintain. For example, the more axes a CNC milling machine has, the higher the price. 5-axis CNC machining equipment can create very complex geometries more accurately and faster, and is certainly more expensive than 3-axis CNC machining equipment.

Design Production Cost

Design costs include production costs incurred to prepare for actual CNC machining. All CNC machined parts start with a 3D model. 3D models are designed by design experts using CAD (Computer Aided Design) software. The resources required to create a 3D model to be manufactured by CNC machining account for a significant portion of the design production cost. In addition, setting up production costs also includes design optimization and preparation for the use of CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) for the model.

Material

How Material Prices Affect CNC Production Costs: The material used to produce CNC machined parts is one of the most important production cost factors. The most important is the production cost of the materials themselves, which often depends on their availability, desired properties and overall production costs. Metal materials are generally more expensive than other materials.

Material machinability: Materials with low machinability require more time and effort to CNC machine, and in CNC machining, time is money. The production cost of CNC machined parts is proportional to the time required for CNC machining. Materials that are difficult to CNC machine also consume more resources, such as metalworking fluids, electricity, and cutting tools.

Design and Geometry

Improve CAD design for CNC machining

CNC machined part design and geometry significantly affects CNC machining costs. The more complex the CNC machined part, the higher the manufacturing cost due to the need for more advanced CNC machining equipment, more CNC machining time, multiple machining process setups, more resources and closer inspection.

In CNC machining, certain features and designs of CNC machined parts inevitably increase costs, such as sharp interior corners, thin walls, deep cavities, non-standard hole sizes and lettering, etc. Cost-inefficient features including these are the right thing to do if they're not absolutely necessary. And certain design specifications (such as surface finish or tolerance options) may require multiple passes and inspections, incurring additional costs.

In addition, large CNC machined parts are logically more expensive to manufacture, after all they require more raw materials, resources, and manufacturing processing and time.

Batch CNC Machining

Reduce CNC machining costs through high-volume manufacturing

As the number of CNC machined parts increases, the unit cost of a set of identical parts is significantly reduced. This cost reduction is a result of the elimination of repetitive setup costs, where CAD design, CAM preparation and machine setup are all done in one go for all CNC machined parts to be manufactured.

The cost of each CNC machined part is inversely proportional to the number of parts manufactured. The unit cost to produce 1,000 units is approximately 88% lower than the cost of individual units.

Finishing

CNC machined parts can be used directly after machining. But some applications require parts to undergo post-processing operations such as heat treatment, surface treatment and coating to improve the function, performance and aesthetics of CNC machined parts, all of which increase the price of the part.

As a leading manufacturer of on-demand CNC machining and manufacturing services in China, VMT has always been committed to high-quality metal CNC machining parts, solving problems and creating value for customers. For more information, please visit: https://www.machining-custom.com/