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The drawing checklist that gets you a firm machining quote
Six things on a drawing decide whether a quote is firm or hedged, and most enquiries arrive missing at least two of them.
Material grade, not just material family. SUS304 and SUS316L machine differently and cost differently, and 'stainless' is not a specification. The same applies to 'brass' and 'aluminium'.
Quantity and expected repeat. A hundred pieces once and a hundred pieces monthly are different engineering problems, because the second justifies tooling and programming effort that the first does not.
Which features are critical. Every dimension on a drawing carries a tolerance, but only some of them matter to function. Telling us which ones lets us put the effort and the inspection where it counts rather than spreading both thinly.
Surface finish, thread standard and any plating or heat treatment complete the set. With those six, a quote can be firm. Without them, any number given is a placeholder with a revision built into it.
Specifications
| Include | Material grade, quantity and repeat, critical features |
|---|---|
| Also include | Surface finish, thread standard, plating or heat treatment |
| Result | A firm quote rather than a placeholder |
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Send us a drawing and we will come back with a real quote
Send the drawing with the material, the quantity and the critical features. The quotation comes from the people who will run the job, not from a sales desk.