CNC machining in Jacksonville, FL
Upload a drawing and we will get it machined and delivered. Jacksonville has 27 machine shops, the thinnest local base of any market we serve, so sourcing beyond the metro is normal here rather than a compromise.
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How OpenSpindle helps with CNC machining in Jacksonville, FL
OpenSpindle is the manufacturing partner built for hardware companies and startups.
For CNC machining in Jacksonville, FL, that usually starts before a quote exists. We look at the model and tell you which features are driving the price: the setup you could design out, the tolerance that is tighter than the function needs, the corner radius that does not match a standard end mill. Then we route the job to a shop set up for that part, at that quantity, and stay on it through first article and revisions.
We work with a sourcing network of 260+ independent machine shops, fabricators, and manufacturers, and we source the right capabilities for each project.
But we're more than a marketplace or a matchmaking service. We stay involved in the process.
- Finding the right CNC machining partner
- A shop set up for that part at that quantity, not whoever answered the phone
- Reviewing designs for manufacturability
- Cost drivers caught while changing the model is still free
- Finding ways to reduce production costs
- Process and material substitution, fewer setups, better yield
- Getting CNC machining prototypes and one-off parts made
- Quantity one quoted seriously, not deprioritized behind a production run
- Sourcing hardware and other components
- The rest of the BOM, not only the parts we make
- Managing quotes and supplier communication
- One thread instead of nine, revisions included
- Helping transition successful prototypes into production
- Re-sourced as volume changes, instead of capped by one shop
Who buys precision machining in Jacksonville, FL
Third-party market data about the Jacksonville metro. These are counts of entire industries in the area, not a description of the OpenSpindle network.
| Industry | Establishments | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|
| Machine shops | 27 | 0.33 |
| Machinery mfg | 133 | 0.85 |
| Computer & electronic product mfg | 112 | 0.95 |
| Architectural, engineering & related | 810 | 1.04 |
What Jacksonville builds
Jacksonville has 27 machine shops. That is not a typo and it is not a rounding error: at 0.33 times the national rate it is the thinnest machining base of any market we serve, thinner than Denver, which we describe as the most supply-starved metro in the country. On that number alone you would conclude Jacksonville does not make things.
The conclusion would be wrong. Transportation equipment runs at 1.74 times the national rate across 148 establishments, and the reason is the water. BAE Systems runs a ship repair yard here that recently commissioned a $250 million shiplift, the largest in the Americas, able to raise vessels displacing up to 25,000 tons, serving the Navy surface fleet homeported at Mayport and commercial traffic through the port. That is heavy industry at a scale almost nothing else in this set matches.
The second half of the picture is stranger still. Johnson & Johnson Vision manufactures more than 1.7 billion ACUVUE contact lenses a year in Jacksonville, roughly ninety percent of the US supply, employing around 3,500 people on a campus it has held since 1981 and into which it has announced more than a billion dollars of further investment. That is precision manufacturing at enormous volume, in the same metro as those 27 shops.
What reconciles the two numbers is that Jacksonville's manufacturing capability is concentrated inside a handful of very large operations rather than spread across a supplier base. A shiplift and a lens plant are not capacity you can buy into; they belong to the companies that own them. So a buyer sourcing a machined part here genuinely is in the thinnest market we cover, while a buyer standing on the dock is looking at some of the heaviest industry in the Southeast. Both things are true, and knowing which one applies to your part is the whole job.
Anchor employers in the metro include BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair, Naval Station Mayport, Johnson & Johnson Vision (Jacksonville), BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards, Acuvue (Jacksonville).
What Jacksonville buyers machine
Marine work leads: shaft components, valve and pump parts, fittings, bushings and replacement hardware for shipboard systems, in bronze, 316 stainless and other alloys chosen because they live in salt water. A good deal of it is reverse engineered rather than drawn, because a part that failed on a forty-year-old vessel often has no surviving drawing. Around that sits production tooling and spares for the large manufacturing plants in the metro, and general industrial machining for a base that is broad but not deep.
Why sourcing wider is the default here
Twenty-seven shops cannot cover a metro of this size, and the arithmetic is unforgiving: any given week, some are busy, some do not do your kind of work, and the remainder is a very short list. That is not a criticism of the local shops, several of which are good. It is a structural fact about the market. The practical consequence is that a Jacksonville-only search produces long lead times and thin competition, and buyers here often accept both because they assume that is the price of being where they are. It is not. A part machined in Georgia, the Carolinas or the Gulf Coast reaches Jacksonville in a day or two, and the wider quote is usually both faster and cheaper. We quote against your date and say plainly when staying local costs you weeks.
Materials that survive salt water
Marine service is the most demanding corrosion environment most parts ever see, and material choice matters more here than geometry usually does. 316 stainless is the general answer for wetted parts; 304 is not, and the difference shows up within a season. Bronze remains standard for bearings, bushings and valve components in seawater service. Where dissimilar metals meet, galvanic corrosion will find the weaker one, so tell us what the part bolts to as well as what it is made of. Delrin and other engineering plastics cover wear components where metal would seize or corrode.
CNC Machining options
| Process | Lead time | Tolerance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-axis milling | From 3 business days | +/- 0.005 in (0.13 mm) | The default for prismatic parts, plates, and housings with features on one or two faces. |
| 5-axis milling | From 5 business days | +/- 0.002 in (0.05 mm) | Contoured and undercut geometry, and parts you would otherwise have to fixture three times. |
| CNC turning | From 3 business days | +/- 0.002 in (0.05 mm) | Shafts, bushings, and anything round. Live tooling adds cross-holes and flats in one setup. |
| Swiss machining | From 7 business days | +/- 0.0005 in (0.013 mm) | Small, long, high-precision turned parts in volume: pins, connectors, shafts, and fasteners. |
| EDM and wire EDM | From 7 business days | +/- 0.0002 in (0.005 mm) | Sharp internal corners, thin ribs, and hardened tool steel, where a cutter either cannot reach or cannot survive. |
| Precision grinding | From 5 business days | +/- 0.0001 in (0.003 mm) | The finishing operation for flatness, parallelism, and surface finish a mill cannot hold on its own. |
Lead times are typical shop turnaround and exclude transit.
Shipping and transit
Jacksonville sits on I-95 and I-10 with a deepwater port and good rail, which makes it strong for freight moving along the eastern seaboard and into the Southeast. Florida and Georgia are next day by ground, the Northeast and Midwest two days, the West Coast four to five. The relevant local detail is that a great deal of the industrial activity is on the water at Mayport and along the St. Johns, and shipyard deliveries carry access requirements that an ordinary industrial address does not, so confirm gate procedures before a truck is dispatched.
Spec references
Related processes
CNC Machining material guides
Who we build for in Jacksonville
Top Florida metros for CNC machining
| Metro | US rank | Machine shops | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa, FL | 30 | 116 | 0.65 |
| Miami, FL | 32 | 106 | 0.26 |
| Orlando, FL | 57 | 55 | 0.38 |
| North Port, FL | 75 | 43 | 0.79 |
| Palm Bay, FL | 105 | 31 | 1.09 |
| Jacksonville, FL | 115 | 27 | 0.33 |
| Port St. Lucie, FL | 146 | 20 | 0.80 |
| Deltona, FL | 164 | 16 | 0.53 |
Ranked by machine shop establishments in each metro (NAICS 332710), the closest census measure of where machining capacity sits. Source: BLS QCEW 2025 Q2.
Where Jacksonville sits nationally
Jacksonville ranks 115 of 378 US metros on Machine shops (27 establishments). On demand it ranks 37. A metro that buys more than it makes is the normal case, and it is why we source beyond the metro rather than inside it: the right shop for a part is rarely the nearest one.
We tap our partner network. You get the best-match quote.
Upload your part and we tap our network of partner shops to get you a competitive, all-in quote that is the best match for the job.
Frequently asked questions
Are there machine shops in Jacksonville?
Twenty-seven across the metro, at 0.33 times the national rate. That is the thinnest base of any market we write about, thinner than Denver. There are capable shops among them, but the list is short enough that on any given week the ones suited to your part may all be busy, which is why sourcing wider is normal here.
Can you machine replacement parts without a drawing?
Yes, and around Jacksonville it is a common request because marine equipment outlives its documentation. Send the old part, or measurements and photographs if it cannot leave the vessel, and say what failed and why. Knowing the failure mode often changes the material recommendation, since the original choice may be what caused it.
What material should a marine part be?
316 stainless for most wetted components, not 304, because the difference in chloride resistance shows up within a season near Mayport. Bronze for bearings, bushings and seawater valve work. Tell us what the part bolts to as well, because galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals is what destroys many marine parts, more often than the seawater itself does.
Will sourcing outside Jacksonville slow me down?
Rarely, and usually the opposite. Georgia, the Carolinas and the Gulf Coast reach Jacksonville in a day or two by ground, and a wider quote typically comes back faster than a local one because there is real competition for the work. Given 27 local shops, the extra transit day is almost always cheaper than the local queue.
How much does CNC machining cost in Jacksonville?
Material, setups and tolerance drive it as everywhere, but the local scarcity has a price effect worth naming: with a base this small, there is little competitive pressure on a small order, so local quotes tend to sit high. Sourcing wider usually improves the price and the lead time together. Quoting is free either way.
Around Jacksonville
We quote CNC machining for the wider Jacksonville area, including Mayport, Orange Park, Jacksonville Beach, Fernandina Beach, St. Augustine, Green Cove Springs, Middleburg, Yulee, Ponte Vedra, Callahan.
More of what we make in Jacksonville, FL
Ready to start your CNC machining project in Jacksonville, FL?
From CAD to finished product, we're your manufacturing partner. Upload a CAD file, a drawing, or an early concept, and we will come back with a quote and anything we would change first.