CNC machined prototypes are very common in China nowadays, but there are still many people think its price is too high. Well, it is not correct. Next Proto offers premium quality CNC miiled and turned prototypes. CNC machining is one of our techniques of rapid prototyping. When we review the 3D CAD data and start to estimate the price, we found the price is at the higher side due to some of the reasons below:

1, the accuracy and surface roughness requirements: if you are asking for 0.01mm tolerance requirements, then we need to assign the best machine, the best technique and the best operator for the parts. The time for machining will take much longer for tight tolerance prototypes as the risk is very high. So the cost will be relatively higher.

2, the structure and size of the processed parts: if the product structure is complex, or the overall size is large then the cost will be much higher. There might be quite a lot of undercuts, sharp internal corners or deep grooves, which are not needed and can be removed to reduce the cost.

3, material selection: if the material is difficult to machine, for example stainless steel, it is very a hard material. We would need to use tungsten hardened steel tool and the speed of machining is much slower than milling aluminum.

4, you may need many processes to achieve the final prototypes, including CNC machining, grinding, EDM spark erosion, wire cutting, laser etching, silk screening, painting etc so the price is higher.