Plastic Machining Services
- Custom plastic prototypes & low-volume production
- Tight Tolerance
- Ship Worldwide
Our Facility
RpProto provides plastic machining services with tight tolerance, quick turnaround times, and reasonable price. We have hundreds of state-of-the-art 3-axis, 4-axis, and 5-axis CNC milling machines to manufacture precision parts with complex geometries.
We have rich knowledge of thermoset and thermoplastic-engineered materials. We can fulfil complex orders for prototypes and low-volume production runs in various plastics and surface finish options.
CNC plastic machining can reduce setup time and cost since it enables us to make complex parts in a single setup. RpProto has been delivering CNC plastic machining and fabricating plastic components for global customers at competitive pricing for more than 20 years.
Companies Served
Parts Manufactured
Years in Business
Counties Served
Upload your CAD files and provide further project details.
We'll analyse your design and send you a quotation.
We'll begin the manufacturing process after you accept our quote. We also offer finishing options.
The manufacturing process will be finished very soon, and Your custom parts will be shipped to you.
Machined Parts
Tight Tolerances
| Dimension | Tolerances |
|---|---|
| 0.5 – 6.00 mm | ± 0.10 mm |
| 6.00 – 30.00 mm | ± 0.20 mm |
| 30.00 – 120.00 mm | ± 0.30 mm |
| 120.00 – 400.00 mm | ± 0.50 mm |
| 400.00 – 1000.00 mm | ± 0.80 mm |
| Angular: ±0.5° | |
| Surface Roughness 3.2μm Ra | |
With drawing: Tolerance quality equivalent to IT11 can be achieved.
Without drawing: ISO 2768 medium
Example of application of tolerances:
Advantages of Plastic Machining
Fast Turnaround
Because there’s no need to make a mould to build the prototypes, for a customer who needs plastic parts manufactured rapidly, CNC machining is the best option. The lead time is much shorter.
Economical Process
Plastic CNC machining does not require moulds, which reduces costs and startup times. Moulds must be built for injection moulding or vacuum casting, which takes significant time and resources. Plastic CNC machining, on the other hand, does not. As a result, the cost of prototype manufacturing is lower than that of other processes.
Tight Tolerances
Plastic CNC machining can achieve tight tolerance measurements. As a result, it's a fantastic method for producing parts that require tight tolerances. For prototypes that will be employed in high-precision industries, this is critical.
Corrosion Resistance
Compared to metal parts which can easily rust after extended use, plastic parts are more resistant to corrosion.
Surface Finishes
There are many finishing processes for machining plastic parts. Painting involves spraying paint onto the surface of the plastic part. It helps to improve the aesthetic appeal of a plastic part. It also offers protection to the plastic surface.
Nylon, PP and other plastic materials have high surface crystallinity and low polarity. When spraying ordinary paint, rubber paint, PU paint and other paints, due to the poor interlayer adhesion between the substrate and the paint, the surface of the material will fall off. question. To solve the phenomenon of paint peeling on the surface, flame treatment or corona treatment can be performed on the spray material, or a layer of adhesion promoter can be sprayed between the substrate and the paint to disrupt the molecular arrangement on the surface of the substrate and solve the adhesion problem.
Inspection Capabilities
After manufacturing, machined plastic components should be inspected to ensure they are qualified and precise. Precision parts, which frequently have complex structures and unique shapes, must be measured in multiple steps.
- Incoming material inspection (IQC) prevents unqualified materials from entering the production process.
- Inspection with 3D CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine)
Plastic Materials for Machining
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What is CNC Plastic Machining?
CNC plastic machining is a subtractive process for creating complicated plastic components. Using sophisticated 3, 4, and 5-axis CNC machines allows the plastic to be machined from multiple sides, and end parts with complex geometries can be achieved using this process.
Including CNC drilling, Plastic CNC turning, or Plastic CNC milling, CNC plastic machining can quickly create thousands of precise parts with incredibly tight tolerances.
CNC plastic machining can achieve tighter tolerances than 3D printing or vacuum casting. Further, it is more cost-effective than injection molding for low-volume manufacturing. It is the most efficient and economical technology for rapidly manufacturing plastic prototypes.
3-axis CNC Machines: Produce the most common geometries and are best suited for designs that do not require multiple workpiece rotations. 3-axis machines are typically used to drill holes, mill slots, or machine previse edges.
4-axis CNC Machines: Allow access to another side of the workpiece, allowing the milling of holes, slots, and other features to the side of a part.
5-axis CNC Machines: Provide the highest precision and use multidimensional rotation to access all sides of a workpiece, allowing the creation of intricate details and complex designs. These CNC machines are widely used for aerospace and medical products and industrial and consumer goods.
CNC Plastic Machining FAQs
Plastic machining is a manufacturing process that involves cutting a piece of raw plastic until a final desired shape or object remains. With CNC plastic machining, unwanted geometry is cut from a raw block of plastic, bit by bit, with a computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling tool very precisely. It allows complicated parts to be produced with great accuracy.
The plastic CNC machining cost depends on the complexity and size of the part as well as the type of plastic used. These variables will influence the kind of machine that is required, the time it takes to produce the part, and the cost of the raw material.
We use machine learning algorithms to calculate the exact cost of any machinable part directly from a CAD file based on millions of CNC machining orders we’ve previously processed. Upload a CAD file to generate a quote: Get an instant CNC machining quote.
ABS is an excellent general-purpose plastic for CNC machining as it has good machinability and dimensional stability. POM would make a great choice for applications requiring low friction and high stiffness. Other plastics can be good choices for applications that have more particular requirements, such as specific mechanical or aesthetic properties.
Finishes suitable with CNC plastic machining include bead blasting and brushing.
It is very cost-effective and offers turnaround time due to the absence of mold