Under the circumstances of fast development of Big Data, when operating a business, numbers or specifically costs are moving to the top consideration issue. Material cost become the basic issue for operating in all fields. How material influences the business costs? In CNC machining, how will different materials influence CNC machining Cost?
Material Cost of CNC Machining
Material is the basis of CNC machining. In all the cost components of CNC machining, the cost of materials is used as the basis for evaluation. Common CNC processing materials include plastics and metal.
CNC Plastics
In the field of CNC machining, the plastic used is engineering plastic, which is different from the granular form used in the mass production, but in the form of block and bar. Engineering plastics mainly meet the needs of industrial parts, and have a wide range of applications, including various types of housings, plastic gears, optical materials, gaskets and so on. Engineering plastics usually has good physical and mechanical strength, and can maintain good mechanical, electrical, chemical and wear resistance, heat resistance and dimensional stability at high and low temperatures. It can replace traditional metal materials as structural materials for engineering. Commonly used such as ABS, PC, PMMA, Nylon, POM (Derlin), PA / Nylon, PP and so on.
Among all the commonly used plastic materials, the cost of ABS is the lowest, and POM and PC and imported PMMA are slightly higher. In transparent parts processing projects, Wayken has always preferred the use of imported high-quality PMMA materials, which is one of the reasons why we are more perfect than our peers in processing PMMA products. Ordinary plastic materials are roughly the same in terms of cost, except for special materials such as fire-retardant grade, food grade or specified imported materials. The material cost of CNC processing of plastic products is based on weight. Because it is a subtractive processing technology, estimate how the part to be positioned, and some space need to be reserved for each length, width and height. The formed area is the volume of the material need to be used for machining. According to the corresponding density, material unit price there comes out material cost.
CNC Metals
The metal materials for CNC machining can be divided into aluminum alloy, steel, and other metals. Among them, aluminum alloys have become the most widely used metal materials because of its light weight and relative low cost. Thus, CNC aluminum is a more popular way of CNC machining, and compared with ordinary plastic machining cost, the cost of metal processing will be relatively high. Because the metal materials cost is higher than plastic materials, and the scrap rate of metal processing is also higher. When processing some complicated part, the error deviation is extremely difficult to repair and needs to be redone. Like plastics, CNC metal materials are also divided into block and bar. The way of calculate material cost is consistent with the cost calculation of the plastic material described above.
Taking aluminum alloy as an example, the most commonly used alloys are as follows:
6 series-AL6061/6063, mainly containing magnesium and silicon two elements, of which 6063 is the best for anodizing and electroplating, followed by 6061.
7 series – mainly contains zinc element, representing as alloy AL7075, belonging to aviation series, super hard aluminum alloy, with good wear resistance. However, the effect of anodizing and electroplating is not as good as that of the 6 series alloy, and the surface is prone to grain and sand holes.
5 series – AL5052, the most commonly used sheet metal material
In terms of price, the cheapest cost is AL1024/5052/6082, but these materials are generally only suitable for part without surface treatment requirements, except for painting, other surface treatments such as anodizing, passivation effect is poor, mechanical properties are also relatively poor.
As an expert in the field of CNC machining, WayKen has the quality consciousness that goes beyond the peers and skillful technicians team to provide the best machining solutions and services for customers around the world.
