Materials

eMachineShop offers a wide variety of materials

eMachineShop offers Aluminum, Steel, Stainless steel, Copper, Sheet metal, Brass, Bronze, Wood, Nylon, Acetal, Polycarbonate, Polystyrene, Acrylic, Plastic, Fiber Glass, Model wax and many more materials - download the software for the complete list. You can also request special materials.

Material Selection Tips

Deciding on the best material for your part can be a challenge. Generally it is best to look at the properties of each material. For example, if price is the only factor, choose the lowest cost material. If price and hardness are most important, select the material that has the best combination of those two values.

Click on a material in the sidebar for more information about a specific material - the material pages give typical uses of the material, properties, etc.

Here are a few more factors:

• Metals allow for parts of higher tolerance than plastics.
• Plastics can warp slightly over time due to moisture absorption.
  
• Designing custom parts with sheetmetal is generally lower cost than machining plate or rod.
  
• Sheetmetal parts can be formed into numerous shapes and can take simple or complex bends.
• By volume, plastics are usually much less expensive than metals.
• Materials that don't need finishing may be more economical for short runs (e.g. stainless steel, aluminum, plastics, etc.)

eMachineShop allows you to design custom parts using: Bending ... Drawing ... Blanking ... Fine blanking ... Shearing ... Turret Punching ... Investment Casting ... Pressure Die Casting ... Sand Casting ... Counter boring ... Counter sinking ...  Drilling ...  Reaming ... Threading & Tapping ... Forging ... Surface Grinding ... Honing ... Knurling ... Laser Cutting ... Milling ... Turning (lathe) ... Photochemical Milling ... Plasma Cutting ...  Band sawing ... Waterjet Cutting ... Welding ... Wire EDM ... Compression Molding ... Injection Molding ... Extrusion ... Rapid Prototyping (FDM) ... Steel-Rule-Die Blanking ... Vacuum forming.