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Swiss Machining Materials: How Bar Grade Sets Part Price

Reference page. Figures are typical.

The bar grade sets a Swiss turned part’s price twice: once through the cost of the bar itself, and again through the seconds, inserts and secondary steps the grade forces on every part. Free-cutting brass and leaded steel sit at the cheap end, 316L, titanium, cobalt chrome and nickel alloys at the expensive end. The gap on the same geometry is often several times the part price.

Key facts

Item	Typical value
Bar diameters run on Swiss-type lathes	About 1 to 32 mm, some machines to 38 mm
Bar lengths fed by a bar feeder	Usually 2.5 to 3.7 m (about 8 to 12 ft)
Bar condition for guide bushing work	Ground or precision drawn, about h6 to h8 (ISO 286)
Bar condition for guide-bushing-less work	Cold drawn, about h9 to h11
Fastest family	Free-cutting brass (C36000 / CW614N)
Slowest families	Titanium, cobalt chrome, nickel alloys
Material share of part price	Small on brass and steel, often the largest line on titanium and implant alloys
Certificate buyers usually ask for	Mill certificate to EN 10204 type 3.1, with heat number

All figures are typical. The shop that quotes your part confirms what it buys and what it can hold.

The material matrix

This is the table to read first. It ranks the families that make up nearly all Swiss turned parts by what they do on the machine and to the quote.

Family	Common grades	Machinability on a Swiss lathe	Chip form	Bar cost tier	Typical turned finish	Typical parts
Free-cutting brass	C36000, lead-free C69300	Best. Highest speed, longest tool life	Short, breaks cleanly (lead-free: longer)	Low to medium	Ra 0.4 to 0.8 µm	Fittings, connector bodies, valve parts
Free-machining steel	12L14, 1215, 11SMnPb30	Very good	Short	Low	Ra 0.8 to 1.6 µm	Pins, shafts, inserts, plated hardware
Aluminum	2011, 6262, 6061, 7075	Very good (2011, 6262), good (6061)	Short (2011), stringy (6061)	Low	Ra 0.4 to 1.6 µm	Housings, spacers, light shafts
Free-machining stainless	303, 416	Good	Short	Medium	Ra 0.8 to 1.6 µm	Shafts, fasteners, fittings
Austenitic stainless	304, 316L, 316LVM	Fair. Gummy, work hardens	Long, stringy	Medium to high	Ra 0.8 to 1.6 µm	Medical, marine, fluid parts
Precipitation hardening stainless	17-4 PH	Fair. Abrasive	Manageable	High	Ra 0.8 to 1.6 µm	Loaded small parts, instruments
Copper alloys	C14500, C17200, phosphor bronze	Good to fair	Short (C14500), varies	Medium to high	Ra 0.4 to 0.8 µm	Contacts, springs, RF parts
Titanium	Grade 5, Grade 23, CP Grade 2 and 4	Fair to poor. Heat and springback	Long unless controlled	High	Ra 0.4 to 1.6 µm	Implants, aerospace pins
Cobalt chrome	CoCrMo (ASTM F1537)	Poor. Hard, wears tools fast	Short, hot	Very high	Ra 0.4 to 0.8 µm	Implant and dental parts
Nickel alloys	625, 718, C-276	Poor. Work hardens hard	Long, tough	Very high	Ra 0.8 to 1.6 µm	Valve and sensor parts, hot service
Engineering plastics	PEEK, POM, PTFE, PEI	Good, but heat and flex	Continuous ribbon	Medium to very high (PEEK)	Depends on grade	Insulators, seals, medical parts

Machinability here is a practical ranking on sliding headstock lathes, not a single index. Published machinability ratings use different reference metals for steels and for copper alloys, so they do not line up across families.

How the bar grade reaches the price

A Swiss shop builds the part price from machine time, material, setup and finishing. The bar grade moves four of those lines at once.

Bar cost per part. The price per meter of the bar, divided by the number of good parts one bar yields. The yield depends on part length, the cut-off width and the remnant the machine cannot use. With a guide bushing the remnant is longer, so an expensive alloy wastes more money per bar. Ground bar for bushing work also costs more per meter than standard drawn bar. The ground bar stock guide covers the tolerance classes.

Cycle time. Surface speed and feed fall as machinability falls. A grade that adds a few seconds per part looks small on one part and large on a yearly volume of 50,000. On most Swiss jobs above a few thousand pieces, machine time is the largest line, as the cost guide explains.

Tooling. Gummy and hard grades wear inserts faster, so the shop changes them sooner and gauges parts more often. Titanium, cobalt chrome and nickel alloys can use several times the inserts of brass on the same part.

Secondary steps. Stainless gets passivated, titanium is often anodized, steel is plated, copper alloys get gold or tin. Some grades need heat treatment after turning, which brings distortion and sometimes grinding. These steps add days and cost that never appear in the machine rate.

A fifth, quieter effect is scrap risk. Expensive bar raises the cost of every rejected part, so shops quoting implant alloys plan more in-process checks.

Families in short

Free-cutting brass

C36000 is the benchmark for fast, cheap turned parts. It breaks chips into small pieces, lets the spindle run fast and gives a good finish with no extra pass. Lead-free and low-lead brasses such as C69300 exist for drinking water and RoHS driven products. They form longer chips and wear tools faster, so do not expect the C36000 price. The brass guide compares the grades.

Free-machining steels

12L14 (leaded) and 1215 (resulfurized) cut quickly and cost little per kilogram. They carry no corrosion resistance, so most parts are plated or oiled. They are the default for pins, inserts and hardware where stainless is not needed. See free-machining steel on Swiss lathes.

Stainless steels

The most common family on Swiss machines and the widest cost spread inside one family. 303 is the free-machining grade, 316L the medical and marine standard, 17-4 PH the high strength choice. The stainless bar page gives the grade table and processing notes. Hardenable 416 and 420 have their own post on heat treated stainless parts.

Aluminum

2011 and 6262 are the free-machining grades. 6061 is the general structural grade and cuts well but makes stringier chips. Anodizing adds thickness, so dimensions must state whether they apply before or after. See the aluminum guide.

Titanium

Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) and Grade 23 (the extra low interstitial version for implants) dominate. Titanium holds heat in the cut, springs back and galls, so shops run sharp tools, moderate speeds and plenty of coolant. Bar cost and remnant matter. See the titanium guide.

Copper alloys

Tellurium copper C14500 gives high conductivity with machinability close to brass. Beryllium copper C17200 gives spring strength after age hardening and needs dust controls when ground. Phosphor bronze and nickel silver show up in contacts. Read beryllium copper on Swiss lathes.

Implant and high temperature alloys

Cobalt chrome and nickel alloys are hard on tools and slow. They go to shops that already run them and that can show tool life data. See the cobalt chrome and nickel alloy guides.

Plastics

PEEK, acetal (POM), PTFE and PEI run on Swiss lathes for insulators and medical parts. Heat softens the part, thin walls flex under the tool and the gauge and parts can move as stress relaxes. Typical tolerances are looser than on metal. See the PEEK guide.

Grade cross-reference for common bar

Drawings from different regions name the same metal in different systems. Equivalents are close, not identical: chemistry limits and test requirements differ. Write the grade and the standard you need, and approve any substitution in writing.

Common name	UNS	EN name / number	JIS	Typical bar standard to check
12L14	G12144	11SMnPb30 / 1.0718	SUM24L	ASTM A108, EN 10277
303	S30300	X8CrNiS18-9 / 1.4305	SUS303	ASTM A582
316L	S31603	X2CrNiMo17-12-2 / 1.4404	SUS316L	ASTM A276, A479
17-4 PH	S17400	X5CrNiCuNb16-4 / 1.4542	SUS630	ASTM A564
416	S41600	X12CrS13 / 1.4005	SUS416	ASTM A582
Brass C36000	C36000	CuZn39Pb3 / CW614N	C3604	ASTM B16
Aluminum 6061	A96061	EN AW-6061	A6061	ASTM B211
Ti Grade 5	R56400	Ti-6Al-4V / 3.7165	check JIS H 4650	ASTM B348, F136 (Grade 23)
Beryllium copper	C17200	CuBe2 / CW101C	C1720	ASTM B196

When a part is for implants, the implant standard replaces the general one: ASTM F136 for Ti-6Al-4V ELI, ASTM F138 for 316LVM, ASTM F1537 for cobalt chrome.

Bar form, condition and certificates

Diameter and tolerance. Choose a part diameter that a standard bar size covers with a small turning allowance. A part drawn just above a common bar size forces the next size up and more material per part.

Straightness. Guide bushing work wants straight, ground bar. Bent bar whips in the bar feeder and marks the part.

Length. Bar feeders take bar lengths of roughly 2.5 to 3.7 m. Short or random lengths raise remnant waste.

Certificates. For regulated work, ask for a mill certificate per EN 10204 type 3.1 with the heat number, and for lot traceability from bar to finished part. Medical and aerospace buyers usually require it. The standards guide lists the bodies behind the numbers.

Choosing a grade without overpaying

1. Write down what the material must do: corrosion medium, load, temperature, conductivity, biocompatibility, any regulation such as RoHS or drinking water rules.
2. Pick the easiest machining grade that meets all of it. 303 instead of 316L, 2011 instead of 6061, C36000 instead of a copper alloy where conductivity allows.
3. Ask for two grades on one RFQ when you are unsure. The difference in price is often worth a drawing change.
4. Where the requirement is real, keep the hard grade and save elsewhere: open non-functional tolerances, drop features that need special tools, give a realistic yearly volume.

What to write in the RFQ

• Grade and standard, for example “316L to ASTM A276” or “Ti-6Al-4V ELI to ASTM F136”.
• Any acceptable alternative grade.
• Certificate type and traceability level.
• Finish or treatment after turning, and whether dimensions apply before or after it.
• Yearly volume, not only the first order quantity.

Grades, bar tolerances and regional equivalents are also summarized on the materials and bar stock page. Send the drawing through the RFQ form and we match it with up to three shops that already run your grade.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• ASTM A582/A582M, Free-Machining Stainless Steel Bars
• ASTM B16/B16M, Free-Cutting Brass Rod, Bar and Shapes
• ISO 286-1:2010, ISO code system for tolerances on linear sizes
• Wikipedia, Machinability

Last reviewed October 19, 2026. Values on this page are typical ranges, not promises. The standard on your drawing and the shop that quotes your part decide what applies.