How To Reduce CNC Machining Costs?

How To Reduce CNC Machining Costs

 

 

How to reduce CNC machining costs?

Even with the development of manufacturing today, 3D printing technology has become one of the mainstream processing industries, but the production cost of manufacturing still needs to be considered. Compared with 3D printing, CNC machining is still one of the cost-effective methods of on-demand production. Due to practical considerations, many customers are still difficult to calculate the cost of CNC machining. If you are this type of customer, then we will take you to understand the cost factors of CNC machining and tips on how to reduce the budget.

What is the cost of CNC machining?

When starting a new project, some factors must be considered. We have prepared the following components for you: materials, labor costs, process costs, and other costs.

1. The cost of material formation

Material is often an important factor that needs to be considered in determining the cost of CNC machining. Usually, CNC machining is a process for material reduction, so when using materials, we usually consider the materials that need to be consumed. When considering the use of materials, engineers will calculate the price and cost of each material. This time we will talk about the required price cost from metal and plastic.

Metal material cost

Common metal types include aluminum 6061, stainless steel 303, and brass C360, which are common materials processed by CNC. The most common material for engineers is not 6061 aluminum, which has both economical practicality and processing plasticity. As stainless steel 303 and brass C360 have higher machinability, it can be seen that the cost is higher. If you need to know more about the processing cost of the material, please contact us, we will calculate the CNC processing cost for you as soon as possible.

Plastic cost

Although bulk materials are cheap and cheap materials, they are easy to process and generally short in processing time. However, the practicality and corrosion resistance is not as good as CNC processed metal materials. Even such bulk CNC processed plastics are still cheaper than bulk 3D printed plastic materials. (The bulk cost of materials such as ABS, POM (Delrin), and nylon 6 is equivalent to that of aluminum 6061.) Note: Plastic materials such as PEEK are very expensive, so please don’t use them unless necessary.

Labor cost

The CNC machining process involves a lot of automation, so you don’t need to pay for personnel. The main labor cost is used for design and digitization. Basically, it can be divided into design programming, processing settings, later product processing, and others.

 

Design and programming: This is the cost of product digitization. You can outsource the process from design to drawing to an engineering designer to make CAD design drawings for you. Then the manufacturing engineer will check the design feasibility of the drawing for you and provide you with professional modification suggestions. Finally, the CNC programmer converts your CAD file into a CAM file to assist the CNC machine tool to input the correct design code. The main production knowledge cost here.

Processing settings: This involves personnel costs and requires the time for the machine operator to set up the CNC operations to ensure that the product can proceed smoothly and in a good combination. If it is mass production, then the cost will be spread over more parts.

Post-product processing: After the product is produced, it often requires some assembly and transportation to a designated location, so corresponding personnel assembly and handling costs will be incurred.

Other costs

In the process of product customization processing, special processing and production are required, then specific tools and cutting tools are involved. Although the tool will eventually be kept in the production workshop, it will still incur part of the cost of machine consumption. This is because the difference in materials will cause certain frictional damage, such as high-hardness material processing. What’s more, surface treatments that need to improve aesthetics, practicability, and wear resistance after processing will also incur certain processing costs.

How to reduce CNC machining costs

For higher requirements, in most cases, the cost of the preliminary budget for CNC machining tends to increase after CNC machining, especially when mass production is not possible. The following are the methods we provide you with suitable for reducing the budget of CNC machining costs:

1. Optimize the choice of materials

 

The material selected for the product is an important factor in determining the cost of CNC processing. Therefore, we should first consider the material and the performance of the processed material during production, so as to effectively reduce the processing time and efficiency cost.

 

2. Design optimization

 

The process design of the product is also one of the factors that determine the cost of CNC processing because the complexity of the design is related to the length of the processing time and thus affects the processing cost. You can contact us to reduce complexity, and our engineers will provide you with professional suggestions and solutions

Conclusion

Xintianjian Precision Manufacturing provides a one-stop service from product design to manufacturing. All you have to do is design, and we will turn your concept into a physical product in the most cost-effective way. Send us your RFQ now