What moves the cost of CNC work
Machine time, material and the amount of detail move the price more than anything else. Post your file and compare real bids, free.
What moves the price
- Machine-hour rate — Each maker sets their own rate for router or plasma time, and it reflects the machine, the tooling, dust collection and their own hours. A bigger, faster machine can cost more per hour and still be cheaper per part.
- Material — MDF is the cheapest sheet to buy and cut, Baltic birch plywood costs more, hardwood more again. HDPE and acrylic need sharp single-flute bits and slower feeds. Steel for plasma is priced by gauge and sheet size.
- Thickness and depth — A router cuts in passes, so thicker stock means more passes and more minutes. Deep carving and pocketing remove a lot of material, which is slow even when the outline is simple.
- Cut length and detail — Machines are billed by time, and time comes from toolpath length. A V-carved sign with small lettering or a 3D relief carve can take many times longer than cutting out a panel of the same size.
- Quantity and nesting — Setup (file prep, fixturing, zeroing, test cut) is paid once. Parts that nest tightly on a 4×8 sheet waste less material, so per-part cost drops as quantity grows.
- File quality — A clean DXF or SVG at 1:1 with closed paths goes straight to CAM. A photo, a PNG logo or a napkin sketch needs drawing first, which is billed as design time.
- Finishing — Tab removal and sanding, paint-filled V-carving, stain and clear coat, powder coat on plasma art, edge banding on panels: each is labor on top of machine time.
- Rush — A short deadline means bumping other jobs off the machine. Expect a surcharge, and expect some makers to pass.
How to brief a CNC maker (paste this into your post)
- The file: DXF or SVG at 1:1 with units stated, or a sketch with every dimension marked.
- Material and thickness (e.g. 3/4 in Baltic birch, 1/2 in MDF, 1 in HDU, 14-gauge steel), and whether you're supplying the stock.
- Finished size of the largest part, so the maker can check their bed (many routers are 2×2 ft, 4×4 ft or 4×8 ft).
- What's cut through, what's pocketed, what's V-carved — and any depths that matter.
- Anything that has to fit: slots, dados, joinery, hardware holes. Say "must fit as drawn."
- Quantity, and whether a first part to approve before the batch is worth paying for.
- Finishing: raw with tabs, sanded, painted, stained and sealed, powder coated.
- Date you need it, ship-to ZIP code or 'local pickup', and a budget range.