We machine C27400, C28000 and C36000 brass into valve bodies, fittings, bushings and electrical contacts. Free DFM analysis with your quote in 12 hours, tight tolerance work held at ±0.005 mm, and 100% inspection before the parts leave the floor.
Brass is easy to cut. It is not easy to cut consistently. These are the failures we see most often when a buyer moves a brass part to a new shop.
C36000 turns freely, so some shops push the feed and skip the right coolant. Threads come out torn, minor diameter drifts, and the mating nut will not start by hand. The part passes a visual check and fails at assembly.
Brass burrs are soft and easy to roll over instead of cut. A shop that deburrs by hand only at the bench leaves a lip inside a Ø3 mm cross hole. The valve spool sticks, or a wire will not pass. Nobody finds it until the leak test.
Brass expands with heat from the cut. Run a batch on a warm afternoon without in-process checks and the last 500 pieces sit outside the ±0.05 mm band the drawing calls for. You eat the rework or the scrap.
C36000 is not C27400. A free-machining leaded grade is not acceptable in a potable water fitting. When the certificate of conformance does not match the callout, the whole shipment is quarantined and the schedule slips.
Leaded grades, non-leaded grades and the ones in between each want a different tool, speed and coolant. We set the process to the alloy, not to the calendar.
C36000 is the reference point for machinability. It machines at 100 on the free-cutting scale, throws short chips, and takes a deep cut without loading the tool. That speed only helps if the spindle matches it and the coolant reaches the shear zone.
Non-leaded grades such as C27400 and C28000 are tougher and gummier. They need sharper edges, higher rake angles and a feed that gets under the work-hardened skin. On a fitting with a fine thread, that difference decides whether the part gauges.
A brass valve body usually has a turned bore, a cross port, a mounting face and a thread. Move that between three machines and the datum shifts each time. We run those parts on mill-turn centers and 5-axis machines so most of the geometry comes off in one setup.
For a brass part up to 4,000 mm long, the large-travel machines take it in one pass. Smaller electrical contacts and bushings run on the compact cells, where a Ø400 mm rotary table keeps position repeatable across a long batch.
Pick the grade from the service condition first, then the machinability.
| Grade | Typical use | Where it stops working |
|---|---|---|
| C36000 | Valves, nuts, high-volume turned parts | Potable water and marine service; lead content |
| C27400 | Radiator cores, fittings, general hardware | Fine threads and thin walls; gummier chip |
| C28000 | Pipe fittings, marine hardware, heat exchangers | High-speed production runs; tool wear |
| C110 / C101 | Busbars, contacts, electrical hardware | Structural loads; it is soft and gummy |
| Beryllium copper | Spring contacts, non-sparking tools | Cost and dust control during machining |
One shop for the turned blank, the milled features and the finish.
Valve bodies, bushings, fittings and nuts on mill-turn and lathe cells. Threads rolled or cut to the class the drawing states.
Flats, cross ports, keyways and mounting faces on brass housings, with 3-axis, 4-axis and 5-axis capacity.
Angled ports and contoured passages on brass manifolds, machined in one setup to hold datum position.
One-off brass prototypes for fit checks before the tooling or the casting pattern is committed.
Brushed, polished, tumbled, plated and laser-marked brass. Minimum character height 1.5 mm for marking.
Raw material check, in-process monitoring and final inspection. Dimensional and material reports on request.
Standard on every order. Nothing here is an add-on.
| Item | What you get |
|---|---|
| Quote and DFM | Free analysis within 12 hours, with feature-level notes |
| Order size | From one prototype to 10,000+ part runs, no minimum |
| Tolerance | ±0.005 mm on critical features where the process allows |
| Finish | Ra 1.6–3.2 μm as machined, down to Ra 0.2–0.8 μm on request |
| Inspection | 100% before shipment, reports on request |
| Confidentiality | Secure uploads, NDA available on request |
Fifteen years on copper alloys, in three plants we own and run.
We have machined brass since 2011. Chip control, coolant choice and tool wear on leaded and non-leaded grades are settled practice here, not a new experiment.
Critical brass features hold ±0.005 mm. The process plan and the in-process checks are set up to that number from the first article.
Milling, turning, mill-turn and 5-axis in the same plants. No shipping brass between vendors and losing the datum.
Raw material check, in-process monitoring, final inspection. 100% of parts are inspected before shipment.
Quotation and free DFM analysis within 12 hours. Production can start within 24 hours of release.
Material on the shelf and a settled process plan mean the first chip comes off quickly after you approve.
Non-leaded grade, fine thread gauging and a leak-tight seat on every body.
Conductivity first, then flatness on contact faces and burr-free edges.
Corrosion allowance and wall thickness held on fittings exposed to salt spray.
Bushings and wear plates with a bore that stays round across the batch.
Start with the service condition. If the part touches potable water or sits in a marine environment, leaded C36000 is usually out and C27400 or C28000 is in. If it is a high-volume turned part with no water contact, C36000 gives you the best chip control and the longest tool life.
If you are unsure, send the drawing and the end use. We will tell you which grade machines well for that geometry and which one will fight you.
Yes, on critical features where the geometry and the setup allow it. Brass is thermally active, so the tolerance depends on how the part is held, how much heat the cut puts in, and whether the measurement is taken at a stable temperature.
On long thin-wall parts, we will tell you up front which features can hold that band and which ones need a different callout.
Yes. We run non-leaded grades such as C27400 and C28000 alongside the free-machining leaded grades. They machine differently: tougher chips, more tool wear, and a greater tendency to smear if the feed is too light.
Tell us the compliance requirement at quoting stage so the process plan is set to the right alloy from the first article.
As machined, brass comes off at roughly Ra 1.6–3.2 μm. With the right tool and finishing pass we hold Ra 0.8–1.6 μm, and Ra 0.2–0.8 μm on features that need it.
Brass also takes brushing, tumbling and polishing well. If the finish is cosmetic, say so, because the tool path changes.
We deburr in the cycle where the geometry allows it, then finish by hand on holes that a tool cannot reach. A soft brass burr will fold over instead of breaking off, so it gets checked on the bench rather than assumed gone.
On valve and fluid parts, we look inside the cross holes before the part goes to inspection.
There is no minimum order quantity. We run one prototype and we run 10,000+ part runs on the same floor.
For a single brass prototype, the setup cost is the bigger number. That is why we quote the DFM notes with it, so you can fix a feature before you commit to a batch.
Quotation and free DFM analysis come back within 12 hours. Production can start within 24 hours of release, and parts typically ship in 3–5 days.
The number moves with quantity, finish and whether the material is on the shelf. We will state the date on the quote, not after.
Yes. Laser marking and engraving are available, with a minimum character height of 1.5 mm.
Brass takes a dark, readable mark without extra coating. Send the marking file with the drawing so it is placed in the right orientation.
Upload your files and we will come back with a price and free DFM analysis. No minimum order quantity, and your files stay confidential.
12-hour quote100% inspectionNo minimum order quantityNDA on request
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Upload your 3D model or 2D drawing and get a quotation with a free DFM analysis. Maximum processing size 4,000 mm.
CNC Metals 13 grades
CNC Plastics 10 grades
Machines & processes 12 options
Surface & post-processing 10 options
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