Brass CNC Parts for Fittings, Valves and Connectors

Send your drawing. We match it with shops that turn brass every week, including the lead-free grades a potable water part needs. Reply within 24 business hours.

Get matched with a brass machining shop See the alloys

Published typical machinability ratings for the alloy, against free-cutting brass C360 at 100. Lead is nominal alloy composition, not a lot certificate.

Free for buyersShops pay for matched requests.

Up to 3 shopsNo mass blasting of your drawing.

NDA on requestFiles stay with us until it is signed.

Reply within 24 business hoursWith matched shops or a clear no.

Is your brass part a commodity job?

Brass is the easiest metal on the shop floor to cut, so most brass parts really are a commodity. The ones that are not fail for the same few reasons. Tick what applies. Two or more ticks means you want a shop that has already shipped this kind of part.

The part is wetted by drinking water, food or a medical fluidThat rules out ordinary C360 in most markets and pulls the job into lead-free brass with a mill certificate behind it.
A thread has to seal, not just holdNPT, BSPT and G threads on a fitting are a leak path. Gauge class, sealant allowance and burr condition inside the thread all belong on the drawing.
Thin walls under about 1 mm, or a long slender bodyBrass cuts easily and still deflects. Wall thickness and length to diameter ratio decide the fixturing, not the alloy.
The part is plated, polished or left visibleChrome, nickel and lacquer show every tool mark. A visible brass part is a finishing job with machining attached, not the other way round.
Dezincification or stress corrosion is named on the printMarine, hot water and ammonia environments need DZR or naval brass and often a stress relief step after machining.

Tick what applies to your part.Nothing is sent. This check runs in your browser.

Turret tooling on a CNC lathe, the kind of bar-fed setup a brass turning shop runs

Typical machined brass parts

Plumbing and potable water fittings
Gas and pneumatic fittings
Valve bodies, stems and seats
Hose barbs, adapters and couplings
Electrical terminals, lugs and contacts
Connector shells and RF adapters
Instrumentation ferrules and compression fittings
Lock cylinders and architectural hardware

Most of these are round, threaded and made by the thousand, which is why brass work belongs on a bar-fed lathe rather than a mill. The price gap between the two is usually larger than the gap between one brass alloy and another.

Leaded or lead-free brass?

This is the first question on a brass part, and it is decided by where the part ends up rather than by what it costs. Lead is what makes brass cut so well. Take it out and the alloy changes.

Leaded brass, C360 and C385

About 3 percent lead as a chip breaker. Machinability 100, the benchmark every other metal is rated against.

Right for industrial fittings, hardware, electrical parts and anything dry
Fastest cycles, cleanest threads and the longest tool life of any common metal
Not legal for wetted potable water parts in the US under NSF/ANSI 372, and restricted elsewhere

Lead-free brass, C69300 and bismuth grades

Silicon or bismuth replaces the lead. Machinability near 80, and in the case of silicon brass a much stronger alloy.

Required for wetted drinking water parts, and usual for food and medical fluid contact
Silicon brass is roughly twice as strong as C360 and resists dezincification
Costs more per kilo, cuts slower and needs a shop that has run it before

Write the standard on the drawing, not just the alloy. NSF/ANSI 61 and 372 tell a shop what has to be true. A single alloy name closes off the cheaper option that would also have passed.

Leaded and lead-free brass compared, with the standards that decide it

Brass alloys and what each one costs you in machining

Published typical values for each alloy. Machinability is rated against free-cutting brass C360 at 100 and lead is nominal weight percent. Tolerances are what these grades commonly hold, not what any shop promises on your geometry.

Grade	Lead %	Machinability	What it means on the floor	Typical tolerance
C360 free-cutting brassCuZn36Pb3 / CW603N	2.5 to 3.7	100	The benchmark every other metal is rated against. Short chips, clean threads, long tool life. Not legal for wetted potable water parts in the US.	±0.01 mm is routine on turned features
C385 architectural bronzeCuZn39Pb3 / CW614N	2.5 to 3.5	90	Extruded profiles, hinges, handles and trim. Cuts almost like C360 and takes a bright polish, so it is the default where the part is seen.	±0.02 mm typical on profile sections
C377 forging brassCuZn39Pb2 / CW612N	1.5 to 2.5	80	Hot forged to a near net shape then machined only where it matters. Worth asking about above roughly 5,000 pieces of a chunky fitting.	±0.05 mm as forged, tighter where machined
C69300 silicon brassLead-free, Cu-Zn-Si	under 0.09	80	The usual lead-free answer for potable water. Roughly twice the strength of C360 and highly dezincification resistant. Needs sharper tooling and a shop that has run it before.	±0.02 mm typical
Bismuth brassC49300 / C49350 family	under 0.25	80	Bismuth replaces lead as the chip breaker, so it behaves closer to C360 on an existing C360 program. Stock availability is thinner and the bar costs more.	±0.02 mm typical
C464 naval brassCuZn39Sn1	under 0.20	30	Tin added for seawater and dezincification resistance. Long chips and slow going, so specify it for the environment, never for the price.	±0.02 mm typical
C260 cartridge brass70/30 CuZn30	trace	30	Made for deep drawing and cold forming, not for cutting. If a machined part arrives on C260 it is usually a leftover from a stamped design.	±0.05 mm, tighter needs a finish pass

Not sure which one your part needs? Describe the environment and the standard it has to meet, and leave the grade as Not sure. A shop can then offer the cheapest alloy that still passes.

Where machined brass parts go

Each of these brings its own paperwork. Mention material certificates, plating specs, leak test requirements or first article inspection in your RFQ so we match shops that already work that way.

Plumbing and potable water

Fittings, valve bodies and manifolds where NSF/ANSI 61 and 372 decide the alloy before anything else does.

Gas and pneumatics

Couplings, quick connects and manifold blocks where thread class and leak testing sit on the drawing.

Electrical and connectors

Terminals, lugs, contact pins and shells, usually plated after machining.

Instrumentation and fluid power

Compression fittings, ferrules and small valve internals with tight concentricity.

Marine and outdoor hardware

Naval brass and DZR grades where seawater or hot water would strip the zinc out of ordinary brass.

Architectural and lock hardware

Visible parts in C385 where the polish and the plating matter as much as the dimensions.

How it works

One RFQ from you. A short list of shops that fit. No bidding platform and no middleman on the order.

Send your RFQ
Upload a STEP file or PDF drawing and tell us the grade, quantity, tolerance, threads and finish. Takes about three minutes.
We match up to 3 shops
We read the drawing and pick shops whose machines, brass experience and bar capacity fit. You hear from us within 24 business hours.
Shops quote you directly
Each shop contacts you with a quote. You compare, ask questions and place the order with the one you choose.

What drives the price of a machined brass part

Six things decide most brass quotes. If a price looks high, one of these is usually the reason, and three of them you can change on the drawing.

What drives the cost of machined brass fittings

Brass weight and copper priceBrass is bought by weight and it is mostly copper, so the bar price moves with the copper market. Quotes older than a few weeks usually need a refresh before you order.
GradeLead-free brass costs more per kilo and cuts about 20 percent slower than C360. Ask for it where the standard demands it, not everywhere.
Machine choiceA small round part with threads belongs on a Swiss lathe or a bar-fed turret, not on a mill. The right machine can change the per-part price several times over.
Threads and cross holesEvery thread is a tool, a pass and a gauge check. Burrs left where a cross hole breaks into a bore are the most common reason a brass fitting fails a leak test.
Finishing and platingTumbling, polishing, passivation and nickel or chrome plating each add cost and a few days. On a visible part this is often the larger half of the quote.
Quantity and setupSetup on a bar-fed lathe is a fixed cost spread over the run, so price per piece falls sharply between 100 and 1,000 pieces.

Have a brass drawing ready?

Send the short version now. We will ask for anything missing. To give full details up front, use the full RFQ form.

Your files go only to the shops we match. Ask for an NDA and nothing is shared until it is signed.

Turn brass every week? Get RFQs that suit your bar capacity.

Shops see a preview of each request before paying for it and talk to the buyer directly. We take no commission on the order.

Questions buyers ask

Something else? Email .

Do you machine the brass yourselves?

No. We are a matching service, not a machine shop. We read your RFQ and pass it to shops that turn brass regularly. They quote you, and you place the order with the one you pick.

Is this free for buyers?

Yes. Sending an RFQ and receiving quotes costs you nothing. Shops pay us for matched requests. Price, terms and delivery are agreed between you and the shop.

My part touches drinking water. Can I still use C360?

Not in the United States. C360 carries about 3 percent lead, and wetted parts in a potable water system have to meet the 0.25 percent weighted average lead limit in NSF/ANSI 372. Ask for a lead-free grade such as C69300 silicon brass or a bismuth brass, and write the standard on the drawing rather than the alloy alone.

How much slower is lead-free brass to machine?

Published machinability sits near 80 against C360 at 100, so expect a longer cycle rather than a different process. The bigger change is tooling and chip control: lead-free grades work harden and do not break the chip the same way, so shops that run them regularly quote them without a guess margin.

Who sees my drawing?

Shops first see a short preview: part type, brass grade, size, quantity, tolerance and finish. It does not carry your name, your company or your files. Your contact details and files go only to the shops we match, up to 3. If you ask for an NDA we hold the files until it is signed.

How many quotes will I get?

Up to 3. If only one or two shops suit the part, we send it to fewer rather than fill the list with shops that will learn on your job.

Which file formats can I send?

STEP or IGES for the model plus a PDF drawing with tolerances, thread callouts, finish and any plating note. DWG and DXF work for flat profiles. A STEP file together with a PDF drawing gets the most accurate quotes.

Guides for brass buyers

All guides