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If you are budgeting a medium production run of nylon parts, the honest answer is: it depends on the part, but the range is predictable. For most moderately complex components machined from standard PA6 or PA66 in quantities of 100 to 1,000 pieces, buyers typically pay somewhere between $8 and $30 per part. Simple turned bushings or spacers can fall below $5 each, while tight-tolerance, multi-setup milled parts can exceed $50. This guide breaks down where that money goes, what medium-run pricing usually looks like, and how to bring the number down without hurting part quality.
In the CNC machining industry, a medium production run generally means 100 to 1,000 pieces per order. At this volume, one-time costs such as CAM programming, fixture preparation, and first-article inspection are spread across enough parts to bring the unit price down sharply compared with prototyping, yet the batch is still small enough that hard tooling (such as an injection mold) is difficult to justify.
This is the volume range where machining nylon is often the most economical choice overall: you avoid a five-figure mold investment, you keep the freedom to revise the design between batches, and lead times stay in days rather than weeks.
The table below shows rough unit-price estimates for nylon CNC machining at quantities of 100 to 1,000 pieces. Treat these as budgeting figures, not quotations — actual pricing always depends on your drawing.
| Part Type | Typical Features | Estimated Unit Price (100–1,000 pcs) |
| Simple turned parts | Bushings, spacers, washers, plain rollers; one setup, standard tolerances (±0.05 mm) | $2 – $8 |
| Moderate milled parts | Brackets, covers, guide blocks; 2–3 setups, pockets and holes, tolerances around ±0.05 mm | $8 – $30 |
| Complex / tight-tolerance parts | Thin walls, deep pockets, threads, ±0.02 mm or tighter, 4-axis or 5-axis work | $30 – $80+ |
Estimates assume standard PA6/PA66 stock, as-machined finish, and competitive Chinese machining rates. Glass-filled grades, tight inspection requirements, or special packaging will move the number up.
For context, setup and programming for a new part typically runs $50 to $300 as a one-time charge. On a 100-piece order that adds $0.50 to $3.00 per part; on a 1,000-piece order it nearly disappears. This amortization effect is the main reason unit prices drop so quickly between 50 and 500 pieces.
Standard PA6 and PA66 stock shapes (rod, bar, plate) are affordable engineering plastics, typically a few dollars per kilogram on the open market. Glass-filled nylon costs more per kilogram and wears cutting tools faster, which raises both material and tooling costs. Cast nylon (PA6G) sits in between and machines beautifully for larger sections. Stock utilization matters too: a part nested poorly in an oversized billet can waste more money in scrap than the material itself is worth.
Machine time usually accounts for the largest share of any CNC quote. Nylon cuts quickly with sharp tools, so cycle times are shorter than for metals, but deep pockets, small internal radii, and thin walls still slow the process down. A feature that forces a small-diameter end mill to make slow, careful passes can double the time on the machine compared with the same pocket opened up to a larger tool.
Nylon is easy to cut but not always easy to cut well. It softens with heat, so aggressive parameters can cause chip welding and smeared surfaces. It produces long, stringy chips that need proper chip evacuation. It absorbs moisture from the air, which changes dimensions after machining — a real concern when tolerances get tight. And it tends to leave burrs that require manual or cryogenic deburring. Shops with genuine plastic CNC machining experience handle these issues with sharp polished tools, high spindle speeds, air blast or mist cooling, and proper part conditioning, but the extra care shows up in the price.
Holding ±0.05 mm on nylon is routine. Holding ±0.01 mm is a different job: it demands climate-controlled machining, stress-relieved material, slower finishing passes, and more inspection time. Because nylon moves with humidity and temperature, every step tighter than standard multiplies both machining and quality-control effort. Specify tight tolerances only on the features that truly need them.
Every time a part is re-fixtured, you pay for the operator's time and the added inspection. A bracket machined from three sides costs noticeably more than one machined from two. Designs that keep features on as few faces as possible are consistently cheaper at medium volumes.
Most nylon parts ship as-machined, which keeps costs low. Deburring is usually included, but vapor polishing, dyed finishes, engraved markings, threaded inserts, or sub-assembly each add per-part charges. At medium volumes, even a $1 finishing operation deserves a second look.
Consider a PA66 guide block, 80 × 50 × 25 mm, with six mounting holes, two pockets, and a ±0.05 mm general tolerance, ordered at 500 pieces:
That lands around $7–$9 per part — at the low end of the table's moderate-complexity range, which makes sense at a quantity of 500. The same part at 50 pieces might cost $12–$15 because of setup amortization; at 2,000 pieces it could dip under $7.
At medium volumes, usually not. A basic injection mold for a part like the example above can easily cost $8,000 to $20,000 before a single part is produced, and it locks your design in place. Until volumes climb well past the low thousands — and the design is completely stable — machining nylon from stock remains the lower-risk, lower-total-cost route. Machined parts also come off the machine with full material properties in every direction, which is not always true of molded parts with weld lines and fiber orientation.
Estimates are useful for budgeting, but nylon part pricing only becomes real when a machinist reads your drawing. ANOK Precision Manufacturing has machined PA6, PA66, glass-filled nylon, and other engineering plastics since 2007, in an ISO 9001:2015 certified Shenzhen facility with more than 50 machining centers and tolerances down to ±0.002 mm. Whether you need 100 prototype-adjacent parts or a repeating 1,000-piece production run, our engineers will flag cost drivers in your design before quoting — a DFM review that can reduce design costs by up to 30%.
Send your STEP file and drawing through our precision CNC machining quote page, and you will receive a detailed, itemized price for your medium production run — typically within 24 hours.