Benefits of CNC Routing Services for Simple, Mid-Volume Parts
When should you choose CNC routing services over having your parts machined on a mill?
The Accurate CNC Services team provides expert routing and milling, and while each machining process has a distinct purpose, routing is most likely to save you time and money on simple, mid-volume parts.
Let’s examine which parts benefit from routing versus milling and explore why you should select a precision machine shop that offers both services.
The Benefits of CNC Routing Services
We frequently prefer the router over the mill when manufacturing simple parts. Routing is especially useful on mid-volume productions of 20-100 parts.
Can your parts be made with a router?
It’s true that simple parts are best suited for CNC routing services. But which parts do we consider “simple”? Parts that are simple enough for routing meet these criteria:
Flat, 2D geometry
No intricate features
Tolerances of +/- 0.005” and looser
No hollowing-out needed
Not made of steel or any material harder than aluminum
No fixturing required
Can be machined from a sheet of raw material
What makes routing a better choice than milling?
If your parts meet these criteria, routing is guaranteed to be faster and less expensive than milling. The time and cost savings are due to the ease of machining sheet material instead of pre-cut blanks.
When machining parts with our router, we place the sheet material on the machine, power up a vacuum pump to hold the material in place, then get to work. Depending on your part’s material and dimensions, we can produce between 10-100 parts per hour on the router! And with CNC routing services invoiced at less than half the cost of milling, the decision is clear.
Mini Case Study: BIG Savings with Routing vs. Milling
When an OEM customer approached us about machining their 12’ aluminum parts, we knew immediately that the parts were ideal for the router.
The customer had previously commissioned the parts from a machine shop using a HAAS VF-4—an incredible mill that we also own—but its smaller size was incompatible with the customer’s turnaround requirements. The mill could only fit 40” of the part at a time, which meant repeated starting and stopping to machine the full 12’ of each part.
A shop with a HAAS V4-12 mill could have handled the customer’s parts, but the cost of machining such simple parts on a large-frame mill was prohibitive.
Accurate CNC Services completed the customer’s job in only 20 minutes using our Multicam 7000 router with a 20’ x-axis work envelope.
If your part is simple and fits on a router table, you WILL save time and money!
When to Choose CNC Milling Services
Milling is still your best bet for complex parts that meet these criteria:
Made from any type of steel or any material harder than aluminum
Destined for an aerospace application
Multiple tapped holes
Tight tolerances
Complex stitching or complex curves
Small, one-off parts are also best machined on a mill.
Why is milling more expensive than routing?
The setup on a milling machine is much more time intensive than a router’s setup.
When milling, a pre-cut blank and job-specific vise must be set up with perfect alignment and exacting work coordinates for every part. As you can imagine, this complicated setup operation can add hours to the machining process.
Mill setup is justifiable when machining several hundred parts. But for smaller runs of, say, only 50 parts, we recommend the router whenever possible.
Finally, depending on your part’s complexity and dimensions, you can typically expect a mill to produce only 6-15 parts per run. To increase production, we can make large, custom fixtures; however, the high cost of production fixtures is only sensible when fulfilling high-volume orders.
Get Superior Routing and Milling at Accurate CNC Services
It’s clear that CNC routing services are preferred when machining simple, mid-volume parts. Milling, too, has its place for more complex, higher volume part runs. And when one process alone isn’t enough, Accurate CNC Services can leverage the power of both precision machining methods.
Reach out and request a quote today. We’ll help you determine the best approach for making your parts accurately, affordably, and quickly!