Machining: find a workshop by city

A drawing or 3D file if you have one, the material and its delivery condition, the quantity and how often it repeats, the critical tolerances, any surface treatments, and the lead time you need. Without a drawing, a dimensioned photo or a precise description is enough for an order of magnitude. Until the workshop has seen the exact geometry, a quotation stays indicative.

No. Describe the part, its function, its material and the quantity: the workshops will identify the process, that is their job. The guide above gives the most common matches if you want to narrow it down, but it is not a prerequisite for an enquiry.

Not for a first conversation, yes for a firm quote. A dimensioned sketch, a photo with the main dimensions, or even an existing part to copy is enough to open the discussion. No workshop, however, will commit to a price and a lead time without a drawing or 3D file defining the tolerances.

In turning, the part rotates and the tool is fixed: this produces rotational shapes. In milling, the tool rotates and the part is clamped: this produces prismatic and complex shapes. Swiss machining is automated turning from bar stock, designed for high volumes of small parts — a question of volume and automation, not of geometry.

Many will, but not all, and not at the same price. A workshop set up for volume charges a machine set-up spread over thousands of parts; on a single piece, that set-up is the dominant cost. State the quantity clearly in your request: you will be pointed to workshops for which it is daily work.

They depend on workshop load, material availability and complexity. A simple part in a common material takes a few days to a few weeks; a complex part with treatments and inspection takes longer. Say if your deadline is firm: some workshops hold capacity for urgent work, others do not.

Those whose service area and processes match your need. You are not directed to a single supplier: a consultation only makes sense if several offers can be compared. Your request is never circulated beyond the relevant workshops.

Turning, conventional and 5-axis milling, Swiss machining, grinding, lapping, wire and sinker EDM, drilling and deep hole drilling, gear cutting, slotting, high-speed machining. Each process has its own page, with the workshops that offer it and the towns where you will find them.

Town pages cover the main industrial areas, with greater density where machining is historically established: the Arve valley, Franche-Comté, Alsace, Rhône-Alpes, Pays de la Loire. A town without a dedicated page may still have listed workshops — your request is not limited to the towns listed.

Technically yes, programming starts from the 3D model. But with no dimensioned drawing, nothing states which dimensions are critical and which are not: the workshop applies general tolerances, often tighter than needed — and therefore more expensive — or too loose for your function. A drawing, even a rough one, marking the functional dimensions brings the price down.