Cracking the Code on Titanium Machining

Last updated July 2025

Tired of machine shops no-quoting you on complex titanium parts? You need a shop that knows what it takes to machine this difficult material.

At Focused on Machining, we love working with titanium. . . seriously! Challenging jobs are the ones that get us up in the morning excited about coming to work. There’s nothing more satisfying for our team than figuring out how to excel at something really tough. In particular, we specialize in medium and high-volume production machining services for titanium projects.

As part of Colorado’s booming aerospace industry—the second-largest in the country!—our precision machine shop is proud to be a go-to manufacturing partner for titanium aerospace parts. 

Challenges of Titanium Machining

Let’s take a quick look at why many shops avoid titanium machining: 

• It’s difficult to source. Most shops have a close network of local vendors that they rely on for purchasing material in standard bar form. Titanium, however, is much more difficult to source. Shops that work with titanium must look beyond local vendors to source the material out of state, often paying for additional expenses like shipping and freight charges and having the material cut to piece size.
  
  At Focused on Machining, we have a variety of suppliers that deal exclusively in titanium, and we are constantly discussing pricing, lead times, and delivery with them to stay on top of the market.

• It’s difficult to machine. When machine tools aren’t sharp enough, titanium tends to get gummy during machining, which can lead to a problem known as work hardening. The dull tools mush the material, in turn creating friction and added heat—a known enemy of machinists. The introduction of heat makes what’s already a hard material even harder, increasing the risk of tool wear and compromising the quality of a part.

• It’s difficult to figure out. Any challenging machining process inevitably comes with a learning curve. Once you crack the code, there’s an element of repeatability that simplifies processes going forward. But the simple truth is that a lot of shops don’t want to invest the time and effort to reach that point. 

Why Focused on Machining Excels at Titanium Machining 

We’re not like other shops. We’re always bettering ourselves to become better for our customers. Here’s how we cracked the code on titanium machining:

• Tooling selection. In precision machining for materials like steel or aluminum, any 3- or 4-flute end mill—new or used—will cut through the metal just fine. But that’s not the case with titanium. When we work with titanium, we use brand new high-performance 5-flute to 7-flute end mills every time. We’ll never throw a used end mill at a machine to cut titanium. This tooling expertise allows us to drastically increase cutting speeds, reaching nearly the same rate as we do with aluminum parts.

• Careful monitoring. Since sharp tooling is the key to avoiding work hardening, we monitor machines closely for tool wear—especially when we’re doing production jobs. If necessary, we change the end mill out much earlier than we normally would to ensure consistently sharp cutting.

• Updated technology. We’re pushing the envelope on speeds, rigidity, and tooling performance with a fleet of advanced machines less than 10 years old. Our machines are so fast that we can cut titanium almost as quickly as we can cut aluminum. That’s 180”-250” per minute!

• Appetite for complexity. Unlike many of our competitors, our Denver machine shop seeks out challenging parts. If two quotes come in at the same time and one of them is a complex titanium aerospace part, you can guess which one we’re more excited about. We enjoy being the solution to our customers’ toughest machining challenges. 

• Vendor network for outside processes. Our trusted vendor network allows us to connect you with the right match for your project, including access to specialized options like Tiodize processes—proprietary surface treatments similar in function to anodizing that improve wear resistance and corrosion protection. We can even maintain tight tolerances of +/-0.001" after hard anodizing, a challenge requiring trusted vendors and extremely clear communication throughout the process.

Titanium is a critical material for many of the industries we serve, especially aerospace and defense in our work as an AS9100 machine shop. Major projects in the coming years will require substantial quantities of titanium parts, and we're well-positioned to support you as a tier-one OEM supplier.

Next time you need machined titanium parts, save yourself the hassle of a bunch of no-quotes and come to Focused on Machining first. Request a quote today!

How Focused on Machining Is Preparing for AS9100 Certification

We’re excited to share that we’re in the process of getting AS9100 certified here at Focused on Machining! As we build our reputation as a leading aerospace manufacturer, this certification will allow us to make parts for aircraft that house or transport humans.

Being AS9100 certified means following a strict set of quality management system requirements designed specifically for the high-stakes aerospace industry. 

In addition to building our aerospace customer base, we’re proud to show customers in all industries that we’re the best Colorado CNC machine shop around. We’re always willing to jump through hoops to better ourselves—and our customers reap the benefits. 

Today, we’re pulling back the curtain to reveal exactly what we’ve done to prepare for AS9100 certification and what these changes mean for our customers. 

Preparing for AS9100 Certification at Focused on Machining

Here’s a look at some of the upgrades we’ve made internally during the AS9100 certification process: 

• Tightening up our targets. Guaranteeing on-time delivery, exceptional product quality, and a low scrap rate is nothing new for our Denver machine shop. But we’ve tightened up our targets more than ever. And we’re tracking, reporting, and auditing these goals regularly to hold ourselves accountable. We even created a new target to speed up how quickly we confirm orders once they’ve been placed.
  

• Implementing a new inspection process for receiving materials. This new process dictates how we identify and segregate materials in-house. We’ve always incorporated some identification and segregation measures. But now we’re being exceptionally diligent with these efforts. There’s no more intermingling of materials like there once was. We also have a segregated shelf in our shop where we send all materials that we can’t immediately certify or trace.
  

• Streamlining how we provide inspection data to customers. With our new process in place, we can easily provide any level of inspection data our customers need. Whether it’s one feature on every part, all features on one part, all features on a couple of parts, or all features on all parts, we can get the information they need with a couple clicks of a button.
  

• Installing a new CMM. We recently finished calibrating our new CMM, which is even better quality than the machine we were previously using. We now have the capability to inspect parts at a higher level of accuracy than ever before. 

When We Better Ourselves, We Become Better for Our Customers 

How do the changes we’ve made impact our customers? It’s a great question, and we’re more than happy to answer it: 

• Full documentation of inspection capabilities. Previously, if a customer didn’t require First Article Inspection or other documentation, we’d check their parts to ensure quality but didn’t create formal documentation. Now, we document everything. If you come to us later in the process looking for a report you didn’t request initially, we can provide it quickly and easily.
  

• Better material traceability. We’re intent on reducing non-traceable materials as much as possible. If you ever want to know the details about a material, we can get you certifications showing the mill it came from, the chemical makeup, where it was made, and more.
  

• Proficiency at machining complex parts. Tired of other shops no-quoting you? We make complex parts other shops don’t want to make, and work with challenging materials they’d rather not deal with. We love parts that have 20+ features. And if your tolerances need to be tighter than industry standards, like ​+/-.0002”, we’ve got you covered.
  

• Higher on-time delivery rate. We know how critical lead times are for our customers, so we aim for an on-time delivery rate of 95% or higher. The bottom line is that you can always expect us to be on time. If for any reason we aren’t, we’ll analyze our processes to see what went wrong and figure out how to prevent it from happening next time.
  

• Leaner and more accurate quoting. We have extremely robust processes in place to help us achieve our 5% scrap rate target. If we end up with even a few bad parts out of 100, we identify how we can fix these mistakes going forward. That way, when we make those same parts again, we can be even more precise and consistent. Maintaining a low scrap rate allows us to be lean and accurate with our quoting, both in terms of time and material. 

Stay tuned for more updates on our AS9100 certification progress! In the meantime, if you’d like to work with one of the best machine shops in Colorado, go ahead and request a quote!

Top 7 Ways You Might Be Overengineering Your Precision CNC Machined Parts

Last updated June 2025

Engineers are under so much pressure to design properly functioning parts that they often fall into the trap of overengineering. The trouble is that overengineering inevitably increases cost and lead time on the machine shop floor. 

At Focused on Machining, we have a simple philosophy about complex parts: “If you need a part machined a certain way, we’re happy to do it for you. But if your materials, features, or tolerances aren’t necessary for the function of the part, we can save you serious time and money.”

We always like to check in with customers during the quoting phase because a conversation gives us a far better understanding of a part than a drawing or model. During these conversations, we often identify cost and time-saving opportunities that can be achieved simply by making a part slightly less complex. 

Today, we’re uncovering some of the common ways customers overengineer parts to help make you aware of these factors during the design phase. 

7 Ways Customers Overengineer Parts 

1. Making the tolerances too tight.

Tolerancing a feature to ​.002” or less indicates to our Colorado CNC machine shop that the feature is extremely critical. When a tolerance is that tight, we know that we need to really take our time, slow down our machining processes, and use fresh tools. But going slower and using higher-end tools in tight tolerance machining increases the cost and lead time of a part.

If you don’t want to pay more than what’s necessary, and your tolerances don’t have to be quite so tight, consider keeping tolerances at .005” or higher. 

2. Adding complex features that have no functional value

It’s tempting to design a part that looks really cool. But keep in mind that complex aesthetic features like multifaceted surfaces are almost always challenging in precision machining. They may even require custom fixturing. Why spend more money than necessary for features that don’t improve part functionality?

3. Making walls too thin.

Since weight reduction is so important for aerospace applications, engineers will often design extremely thin walls to lightweight a part. This practice is especially common when designing the floor of a part.
But thin walls are more likely to warp, so any wall thickness measuring less than .06” creates risk in aerospace machining. And if you have exceptionally tight tolerances in addition to thin walls, the part will be even more challenging to make. 

Unless you need extremely thin walls for the function of your part, we recommend keeping them over .06” so that they won’t easily bend or deform. 

4. Choosing a finish your part doesn’t require.

Hard anodizing a part is risky because the process can cause dimensional changes significant enough to affect tolerances. If necessary, we’ll consider dimensional changes that can occur during this process before we begin machining. But if you don’t actually need hard anodizing, regular anodizing is much less likely to impact tolerances. 

In some cases, anodizing may not be necessary at all. Many customers choose it by default to avoid leaving parts raw, but after a quick conversation, they often realize a chem film finish offers adequate protection with fewer tolerance concerns—and a lower cost.

If you’re not sure which metal finishing option is best for your part, we can help. Whether you’re considering anodizing, plating, or any other finish, we’ll guide you to the most functional and cost-effective solution.

5. Selecting materials that create more problems than they solve

Aerospace parts often wind up in such demanding environments that engineers may choose materials that are more high-powered than necessary. But just because a certain material theoretically exists doesn’t mean it’s easy to source. 

If you’re concerned about thermal expansion because a part is going to Jupiter, you may understandably aim for a material with zero thermal expansion. However, if that material isn’t readily available (or available at all in some cases), there are alternatives. You can usually get comparable functionality from a material with very little thermal expansion that has been machined to the precise tolerances the part requires. 

The challenges of material selection go far beyond aerospace applications. For example, we often see customers request UHMW because of the low price of the material. However, UHMW is so malleable that it can be difficult to hold even loose tolerances, often making machining a challenging and expensive process.

If you’re unsure which material is best for your part—whether you’re choosing between different aluminum grades, plastics, or exotic metals—we’re happy to talk through your application requirements.

6. Picking a harder material than necessary. 

Stronger materials are inevitably more challenging to machine (they create more wear on the tooling). And yet, engineers will often pick a harder material than necessary, especially when it comes to stainless steel. 

17-4 stainless steel, for example, comes in a series of different tempers based on the strength of the material. 17-4 stainless steel heat treated to condition H900 offers exceptional hardness. But 17-4 stainless steel heat treated to condition H1150 may provide sufficient strength for your application at a lower cost. Any opportunity to minimize heat treating will save you money.

7. Cramming too much data onto one page of a drawing.

This example is less about overengineering a part itself and more about how dimensions are presented. 

As far as we’re concerned, there’s no such thing as too much information on a drawing. That said, some pages we receive are so packed full of dimensions that they’re actually difficult to decipher.

When dealing with complex parts in particular, it’s helpful to break your dimensions into 2-3 pages so that none of your important data gets lost in translation. 

Bonus Tip: Match Your Hardware’s Precision to Your Part’s Precision

Here’s a situation we sometimes see: a customer sends us a part designed with extremely tight tolerances meant to house an off-the-shelf piece of hardware, such as a bearing. But when we check the hardware’s specifications, we find that it has a much looser tolerance.

In cases like these, we recommend matching precision with precision. Rather than over-machining a part to accommodate the hardware, it can be more effective to simply choose a higher-precision bearing.

Need Help? Let’s Discuss Your Next Part

At the end of the day, we’re always willing to provide custom CNC machining for exactly the parts our customers need. But we also like to help you save time and money whenever we can. Simplifying a complex part is often as easy as having a quick conversation, and it can have significant effects on the cost of production machining services for your project. So don’t be surprised if we reach out to discuss your quote! 

Ready to work together? Request a quote from our Colorado machine shop and we’ll respond within 24 hours!

High-Quality Plating for CNC Machined Parts with Tight Tolerances

When machine shops need to achieve the tightest tolerances for parts, plating can make or break their ability to meet those specifications.

At Focused on Machining, we take this responsibility very seriously. We’ve been burned by plating shops in the past, and we won’t risk letting it happen again. That’s why we only work with the best platers in the country. 

When you need your parts plated, you can count on us to select the right vendor, manage the entire process, and get your part done right the first time. 

Why Is Plating CNC Machined Parts So Risky? 

Tolerances are always measured post-plating. So we need to consider dimensional changes that may occur during this process before we begin machining. 

Low-risk plating processes like adding a thin coating to an aluminum part won’t change the dimensions at all. But as the thickness of the plating increases, the part will inevitably grow. This growth can affect tolerances. 

During regular anodizing, platers etch the part to remove a small amount of material before anodizing it. They typically replace only the etch of the part, moving it about 10% of our total tolerance. We have enough wiggle room with our tolerances that this minor part change usually isn’t a problem. 

Hard anodizing is where plating gets really risky. The plater adds so much growth to the part that we need to account for it during machining to ensure that it’s the right dimension post-plating. 

The Problem with Standard Plating Shops 

Because plating is such a complex and scientific process, it’s difficult to get it right. 

Plating consists of taking the parts, submerging them in a tank to clean them, transferring them to a tank of hot sulfuric acid, and calculating growth based on the surface area of the part. 

But for some of the parts we make, it’s impossible to calculate the surface area. The temperature of the tank, the electricity going into the tank, and the consistency of both variables can change the growth rate of the material.

Plating shops need the right people and the right processes in place to achieve the tightest tolerances. Unfortunately, many of them have neither, so it’s impossible for them to guarantee consistency and precision. 

Focused on Machining Guarantees High-Quality Plating for CNC Machined Parts

At our Denver machine shop, we won’t send your parts to just any plating shop. We have a well-vetted supply chain of vendors that we track and rate according to key performance indicators like quality and timing. 

We’ll be honest with you, the best plating shops do have longer turnaround times of up to 6 weeks. Sometimes the cost is even a little higher. But in our experience making parts with exceptionally tight tolerances, it’s always better to get the parts right the first time. 

If we send parts to a mediocre plating shop that rushes the process, there’s a good chance they won’t achieve the right tolerances and we’ll have to redo the entire order. We’ll never charge our customers extra money to make it right. But that’s a surefire way to miss a tight deadline!

When we need to hard anodize parts with tight tolerances, we like to send them to our preferred vendor in Chicago because they do such phenomenal work. 

We recently had an order for 150 tiny parts that had through-holes with exceptionally tight tolerances. Our customer wanted the parts hard anodized, which we knew would grow the material. We reached out to our preferred plating shop in Chicago before quoting the parts to see if they could achieve those tolerances and discuss our machining approach. 

We won the order and machined the parts according to the plater’s recommendations. We sent the parts to them to be hard anodized and they completely nailed it! All 150 parts came back to exactly the way our customer needed them. 
Don’t rely on just any machine shop’s vendor supply chain. When you need parts with tight tolerances plated to perfection, send them to our Denver machine shop. Request a quote for your next project!

The Advantages of Heat Treating CNC Machined Parts

Updated for December 2024

When you need hard and strong parts for aerospace and other high-stakes applications, heat treating is a great way to save money while meeting demanding specifications. 

You don’t have to resort to an expensive metal like titanium to get the hardness and strength you’re looking for. Focused on Machining can help you select an alternate material that, post-heat treating, will have all the properties your part requires. 

Best of all, we remain true to our promise of getting you high-quality parts when YOU need them, turning around heat-treating jobs in a few short weeks. 

Why Use Heat Treated Steel or Aerospace Alloys Instead of Titanium? 

Heat-treated steel or aerospace alloys offer significant advantages over more expensive materials such as titanium, Inconel, and Monel, both in terms of cost and performance. While these premium materials can be prohibitively expensive, heat-treated options provide a cost-effective solution without sacrificing strength or hardness.

For example, the 4340 aerospace alloy, developed specifically for aircraft components, can achieve a remarkable 260,000 psi in strength after heat treatment. This makes it even stronger than titanium in many cases, providing the necessary durability and resilience for high-stress applications. Additionally, when heat treated, steel and aerospace alloys offer substantial savings—typically ranging from $2 to $5 per pound plus a reasonable lot fee of $175-$300—compared to the volatile pricing of materials like titanium post-Covid.

Not only does this approach lower material costs, but it also results in a part that can outperform more expensive alternatives in terms of strength and hardness. For industries where both performance and budget are critical, heat-treated steel or aerospace alloys represent an optimal choice.

Challenges of Heat Treating CNC Machined Parts

Many machine shops shy away from quoting jobs that require heat treating due to the complexities and risks involved in the process. It's easy to make mistakes, such as over- or under-heat treating a part, which can lead to issues with strength or brittleness. Under-heat treating can result in a part that's not strong enough for its intended application, while over-heat treating can cause the material to become too brittle, compromising its integrity.

At our Colorado machine shop, we take a different approach by using the vacuum method for heat treating. We prefer this method because it offers several distinct advantages:

• Aesthetic Appeal: Vacuum heat treating minimizes the risk of parts coming out burnt, ensuring that the finished product is visually clean and professional-looking.

• Consistency: The vacuum method delivers more consistent results, reducing the chance of contaminants or other materials being impregnated into the parts, which can sometimes happen with traditional heat treating methods.

• Readiness for Further Processing: Parts treated using the vacuum method are ready for additional forming or machining without discoloration or the need for cleaning, streamlining the production process.

By using the vacuum method, we can offer a higher level of precision and quality control, ensuring that heat-treated parts meet the exacting standards required for demanding applications.

Why Rely on Focused on Machining for Heat Treating CNC Machined Parts?

Any machine shop can offer heat treating, but that doesn’t mean they’re doing it right. Your best bet is to rely on an AS9100 machine shop like Focused on Machining that will never just place a part in the oven and hope for the best. We manage heat treating through our expert vendor network, delivering high-quality parts with fast turnaround times. Here’s what we offer our customers: 

• Tight tolerance furnaces

• Material testing and analysis 

• Certified to AMS (Aerospace Material Specifications) standards

• ISO Certified 

• NADCAP certified

Heat Treated Pins for an Aerospace Customer

We recently made these heat-treated pins for one of our aerospace machining customers. These pins are critical components as they hold together the elevators that control an aircraft's up-and-down movement. Given the importance of this part, it was essential to meet specific performance criteria: the pins needed to be stronger than the shaft they support but still designed to break away if something goes wrong.

Heat-treated 4340 alloy steel was the perfect material for this part, providing the strength the customer required while also saving them money. We turned this job around in a quick 2.5 weeks, although the heat treating alone took about 5 days! 

Don’t rely on just any precision machine shop to heat treat your CNC machined parts. Let Focused on Machining own all the behind-the-scenes work for you. We’re a one-stop shop—no matter what services you need, we will manage your full manufacturing process and deliver you a completed part. For repeat production customers, we’ll even maintain an inventory of heat-treated parts to further cut lead times. 

Request a quote today for your cost-effective, high-quality heat-treated parts.

Common Questions About Heat Treating 

What are the types of heat treatment? 

The most common types of heat treatment include annealing, normalizing, hardening, and tempering. Each process serves different purposes in modifying material properties.

What metals can be heat treated? 

Most metals can be heat-treated, although ferrous metals are the most commonly heat-treated materials.

Can aluminum be heat-treated? 

Certain aluminum alloys can be heat-treated, but pure aluminum cannot be heat-treated.

Can stainless steel be heat-treated? 

Yes, stainless steel can be heat treated, but the process is somewhat complex due to its chromium content. Different stainless steel grades respond differently to heat treatment.

What is the heat-treating process for CNC machined parts? 

The heat-treating process varies depending on the type of heat treatment chosen and the specifics of the part. In general, it typically involves careful temperature control and proper fixturing to minimize distortion.

Should machining be done before or after heat treatment? 

Both options are possible, and several key factors will dictate whether heat treating before or after machining is optimal for a given project. Heat treating after machining, for instance, allows easier and faster machining, but there is a greater risk of distortion during heat treatment. 

What are the disadvantages of heat treatment? 

Heat treatment can add to processing time, and there are risks of complications such as distortion.

How much does heat treating cost? 

Pricing is dependent on factors such as part size, material type, treatment type, and complexity. Ultimately, pricing will vary from vendor to vendor.

How to Select the Right Material for Your CNC Machined Part

Last updated June 2025

Are you selecting the right materials for your CNC machined parts? You may be overlooking cost-effective alternatives that can satisfy part requirements.

Material affects everything from the design to the strength to the function of a part, so it’s important to get it right. Engineers can make educated decisions about material type, but a machine shop with deep knowledge of material properties can be a great resource for determining the ideal material. Form, function, and even availability are all important factors.

When you request a quote from Focused on Machining, our Colorado machine shop will provide expert material recommendations to reduce cost and lead time while ensuring the integrity of your part. But before we tell you how we can help, let’s bust some common myths about material selection.

Busting Common Myths About Materials in Precision Machining

Myth #1: Aluminum isn’t very strong.

There’s a popular misconception that aluminum is a weak material, but there are many different grades and some are incredibly strong! Engineers tend to default to steel (or even titanium for aerospace applications) without realizing that aluminum is a cheaper option that can often get the job done.

Recently, one of our aerospace customers sought out our CNC machining services for a 4130 alloy steel part. After discussing the stresses and forces that would be applied to the part, we determined that an aerospace grade 7075 aluminum would satisfy their part requirements, which saved on cost and cut back lead time for the parts.

Myth #2: 4000 series alloys are only for aerospace applications.

The common assumption in the design world is that 4000 series alloys are only used for aerospace machining. In reality, many of our non-aerospace customers take advantage of the impressive properties of these metals. Across the board, 4000 series alloys have a better strength ratio than carbon steel. They don’t rust easily, and they’re readily available due to the large volume of aerospace work in the United States.

Myth #3: General terms are sufficient when discussing materials.

Did you know that there are well over a dozen different grades of aluminum? There are also many types of titanium, all with varying specifications and properties. Providing the general material type when you request a quote isn’t enough. We’ll want to drill down into the details to make sure we select the specific grade that’s perfect for your part.

Myth #4: 304 stainless steel is always your cheapest option.

Many engineers know they want a 300 series stainless steel for their part and default to 304 because it’s the least expensive off the shelf. 

But that upfront material cost can be misleading. 304 is notoriously difficult to machine due to its gummy characteristics, which slow production and drive up costs. 

In many cases, 303 is the better choice. It’s less gummy than 304, and can be cut more easily, resulting in lower overall manufacturing costs—even when raw material prices are slightly higher.

Another option is 316 stainless steel, which is ideal for highly corrosive environments or food-grade applications. Though it's harder than 304, its consistent machinability allows us to run jobs efficiently.

If you’re considering a 300 series stainless steel but don’t have a strong preference between grades, ask us! We’re happy to recommend the best fit based on your part’s needs.

Myth #5: Titanium can’t be machined at a reasonable cost.

Titanium has a reputation for being costly and hard to machine—but that can be heavily dependent on the shop you use. With the right tooling, speeds, and experience, titanium machining can be effective and affordable.

Many customers don’t realize titanium also supports outside processes like anodizing, which can enhance its strength and durability, making it an even more versatile option.

How Focused on Machining Helps with Material Selection

There’s no need for guesswork when a skilled CNC machine shop helps you select the right material for your part. 

Here’s what you can expect when you work with our team: 

• Unparalleled knowledge. We know a lot about metal! Our team understands material specifications and properties to make the best recommendation every time.

• Years of experience. We’ve made thousands of parts over the years and have experience working with many materials.

• Insight into material availability. Why put time and energy into selecting the perfect material only to find out that it’s nearly impossible to procure? Rely on us to help you choose a comparable material that’s easy to find or that can be purchased in the right quantity for your order.

The next time you need a part made, let Focused on Machining help with material selection. Request a quote today and we’ll respond within 24 hours.