Many factors can play a part when it comes to making the decision to metal stamp or go with CNC machining. One of the main considerations that needs to be taken into account is price. Because CNC machining is slower it will (a good majority of the time) make the price per piece much higher than it would be than if you were to use a metal stamping process.
So what are some other factors that will help you decide on whether you should do stamping or CNC’ing?
1. Tolerances: Tolerances can be much tighter with CNC’ing. Because metal is essentially taken away or ‘shaved’ away until the part is exactly within the tolerances
2. Quantity: Lower quantity is typically more realistic for CNC’ing. A CNC machine would be hard ‘pressed’ (pun intended) to keep up with the quantity that metal stamping could produce at. Much like everything, there’s a trade off. Metal stamping doesn’t offer the same tolerances that CNC’ing could maintain.
3. Price: Price is impacted greatly by tolerance requirements and quantity. CNC is notoriously slow, but it’s also notoriously accurate. So if you need absolute precision then CNC would be the way to go. Just like most things economies of scale do apply to parts that are created by factors that impact price the most are the tolerances and quantity