Brass CNC Machining, Machining Brass vs Aluminum

Brass: CNC machining custom parts

3Q MACHINING is a professional cnc machining manufacturer whom is capable of machining parts to customer specification (conventional and 3-4-5 axis cnc machining). We can machine based on your drawings with the most common file formats including: .dwg .dxf .iges .step .sat as well as .pdf files. If you don’t see your file format here let us know. Please send us files to: sales@3qmachining.com We can accept both small and large orders of custom machined parts. Have a look and check out how we use 3-4-5 axis cnc machines to manufacture brass material parts. We provide CNC Turning and CNC Milling, CNC LATHE, 3 axis , 3+2 axis & continuous 5 axis machining).

We accept both small and large orders, Minimum quantity for order is 1 pcs.
Short lead times are often available 2-3 days.
Standard lead time is 2 weeks.

Can we CNC Brass?

Brass alloy is a metal material which mainly made of copper and zinc; it has higher malleability than bronze or zinc, widely used for different fields.

Brass parts and components are durable, cost-efficient, and even create a tighter seal for fittings and have a high heat and corrosion resistance. It has many good characteristics but can we cnc machine the brass parts?

Brass cnc machining is used in a wide variety of industries, including medical, electrical, plumbing, and even consumer goods. Companies prefer small brass turned parts and components because it’s one of the easiest materials to be machined. Brass fittings are often used in electronic hardware because of its low stregnth and weight properties and in precision engineering for manufacturing cylinder parts.

360 Brass Free machining brass , produced from a combination of copper and zinc, has the highest machinability of all copper alloys, and is the standard against which all the others are compared to. Free Machining brass is the most commonly used of the brass rod and bar items. 360 Brass, known for its strength and resistance to corrosion with properties closely resembling that of steel, is one of the most popular copper alloys used today.

It can be precision machined easily. Although ductile in its softened state, it is a strong material to work with and maintains its strength even under some of the most demanding conditions. 360 Brass forms a thin protective “patina”, which, unlike steel and iron, will not rust when exposed to the atmosphere. As a high-density material is ideal for heavy industrial parts.

Alloy 230 red brass. Unlike yellow brass, red brass has a warmer and richer color and is much stronger. A highly versatile alloy, red brass is notable for its natural golden color and ease of finishing. Widely used for costume jewelry, pen and pencil parts, and many other decorative items, it also is the strongest and least expensive of those copper-zinc alloys that are highly resistant to stress corrosion cracking. Highly corrosion resistant and readily deep drawn and otherwise formed, it is used for a multitude of products ranging from ferrules, light fixtures and lipstick cases-to steam iron parts, sprinklers and weatherstripping.

Is Brass expensive to machine?

Brass alloy raw material price is keep increasing since 2006, therefor brass is expensive to machine when we looking at the material prices, but the brass alloy is easy to cnc machining with its soft hardness and great machinability to be any custom parts, less tools wearing and easy to be machined by CNC Milling, CNC Turning, CNC Lathe, WEDM, EDM, Engraving; Brass is the best option and cost-effective for a part which require good conductivity and corrosion resistance.

Is brass easy to machine? Yes, that’s why it is a cost effectively metal material to be machined.

Machining Brass Vs Aluminum

Machining brass and aluminum materials are both very common and widely use for different products, both aluminum and brass material are easy to be machined by CNC Milling, CNC Turning, CNC Lathe, CNC Engraving etc.; buth they do have different characters that suitable for different products.

Brass is a copper alloy with zinc as the main additive element, which has a beautiful yellow color. Copper-zinc binary alloy is called ordinary brass or simple brass. Brass with more than three yuan is called special brass or complex brass. Brass alloys with a zinc content of less than 36% are composed of solid solution and have good cold working properties. For example, brass with a zinc content of 30% is commonly used to make bullet shells. Brass alloys with a zinc content between 36% and 42% are composed of solid solutions and the most commonly used is the six-four brass with 40% zinc. In order to improve the performance of ordinary brass, other elements such as aluminum, nickel, manganese, tin, silicon, lead, etc. are often added. Aluminum can increase the strength, hardness and corrosion resistance of brass, but reduce its plasticity. It is suitable for marine condensers and other corrosion-resistant parts. Tin can improve the strength of brass and corrosion resistance to seawater, and is used as thermal equipment and propellers in ships. Lead can improve the cutting performance of brass; this kind of free-cutting brass is often used as a watch part. Brass castings are often used to make valves and pipe fittings.

Aluminum alloys are the one of most widely used non-ferrous metal materials,it is low density, light weight, easy processing and diversified surface treatment effect. About 80% of the rapid prototypes are made from aluminium alloys.The density of aluminium alloy is 2.7 kg/m that only one third of the density of steel (7.85 kg/m). Aluminum alloy is good forming ability by numerical control processing, bending, stretching,it enables this material to be used in a wide range of applications,such as auto parts,medical devices,engine parts etc

Machinability: aluminum has great machinability and easy to be machined than brass alloy; brass alloy has good machinability than other metal material like steel, titanium.
Corrosion resistance: aluminum has normal corrosion resistance, easy to do surface treatment such as plating to acquire good corrosion resistance; brass alloy has great corrosion resistance than aluminum, no need surface treatment but still have high corrosion resistance.
Cost of brass vs aluminum: aluminum alloy raw material is one of the cheapest metal material for machining, brass alloy raw material cost is higher than aluminum and steel, but cheaper than titanium.
Conductive: The electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity of copper brass alloy is second only to silver, and it is widely used in the production of electrical and thermal equipment; The electrical conductivity of aluminum alloy is 61.8% of the most commonly used benchmark material copper brass alloy, and the current-carrying capacity is 79% of copper brass.
Welding: aluminum alloy can be welding by different technique but it is not easy to meet high quality welding requirement; brass alloy is easy to be welding with different welding equipment.