CNC machining in Seattle, WA
Upload a STEP file and we will get it machined and delivered. Seattle has plenty of precision capacity and most of it is committed to aerospace, so the useful question here is whether your part needs that or is paying for it by accident.
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How OpenSpindle helps with CNC machining in Seattle, WA
OpenSpindle is the manufacturing partner built for hardware companies and startups.
For CNC machining in Seattle, WA, 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 Seattle, WA
Third-party market data about the Seattle metro. These are counts of entire industries in the area, not a description of the OpenSpindle network.
| Industry | Establishments | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|
| Machine shops | 191 | 1.00 |
| Machinery mfg | 222 | 0.62 |
| Computer & electronic product mfg | 290 | 1.07 |
| Architectural, engineering & related | 2,112 | 1.17 |
What Seattle builds
Seattle is the one metro we serve where the machining base is neither short nor spare. Machine shops sit at exactly 1.00, the national rate, across 191 establishments. What is unusual here is everything around them: scientific R&D services run at 1.85 times the national average across 1,150 establishments, transportation equipment manufacturing at 1.63 across 320, and miscellaneous manufacturing, which is where most medical device work lands, at 1.21 across 474.
That transportation equipment number is aerospace almost end to end, and it is no longer only the Boeing supply chain. Blue Origin builds engines, tanks and crew capsules at its Kent headquarters. Stoke Space manufactures its fully reusable Nova vehicle from a 170,000 square foot facility in the same city. Radian Aerospace is developing a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane from Bellevue, and K2 Space opened a Seattle-area engineering office in 2026 to work on large satellite platforms. Kent has quietly become one of the densest concentrations of launch hardware manufacturing in the country.
The consequence for sourcing is specific and it catches people. A local precision base shaped around flight hardware is shaped around AS9100, first-article inspection reports and full material traceability. For an aerospace buyer that is exactly right and worth every hour of it. For a robotics company, a medical device startup or a boatyard, it means quoting against a quality system the part does not need, at a price that carries its overhead, behind program work that outranks a small order in the schedule.
So the useful question in Seattle is not whether a shop exists. It is whether the part is aerospace or not. Parts that need the paperwork should stay close to the cluster that does it every day. Parts that do not are usually made faster and for less somewhere with no certification overhead to pay for, and the day of freight is the cheapest part of that decision.
Anchor employers in the metro include Blue Origin (Kent), Stoke Space (Kent), Radian Aerospace (Bellevue), K2 Space (Seattle area), The Puget Sound medical device base (474 establishments).
What Seattle buyers machine
Launch and space vehicle work leads, and the parts are hard ones: engine, valve and tank hardware in stainless, Inconel and aluminum, held to tolerances that assume a pressure test at the end. The airframe side of the supply chain orders brackets and fittings with first-article inspection attached as a matter of course. The medical device and instrument base across Puget Sound orders housings and surgical components in smaller counts with their own traceability rules. And the marine economy, which no other metro in this set has, orders shafting, bearing carriers and deck hardware in bronze and marine-grade stainless, where the enemy is salt water rather than a tolerance stack.
Is this part aerospace, or is it paying for aerospace
This is the question worth asking before you send an order anywhere in this metro. A shop built around flight hardware carries a quality system, an inspection department and a documentation habit that all cost money and time, and it prices accordingly because it has to. If your part needs AS9100, traceable material and a formal first article, that overhead is the reason to be here and you should be. If it is a robot bracket, a fixture or an enclosure, you are buying a quality system that does nothing for the part and waiting behind program work that outranks you in the schedule. We split orders on exactly that line rather than sending everything to whoever is closest.
Materials this metro orders most
6061 and 7075 aluminum carry structure. Inconel and 17-4 stainless appear on hot and high-pressure engine hardware more here than in any other metro we serve. Titanium turns up where mass matters on flight parts. And marine work brings its own list: silicon and aluminum bronze for bearings and fittings, 316L rather than 304 for anything that sees salt, because 304 will pit and the difference shows up in a season rather than a decade.
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
Seattle is a corner of the map and freight reflects it: California is two days by ground, the Midwest three to four, and coast to coast five, so a same-week part from the East usually has to fly. Two local details matter more than the mileage. Most of the aerospace and launch base sits in Kent, Renton, Auburn and Everett rather than in Seattle itself, so confirm which campus and which dock before a part ships. And any address reached by ferry, on the peninsula or the islands, adds a day and a schedule that freight carriers plan around rather than beat.
Spec references
Related processes
CNC Machining material guides
Who we build for in Seattle
Top Washington metros for CNC machining
| Metro | US rank | Machine shops | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle, WA | 17 | 191 | 1.00 |
| Spokane, WA | 103 | 32 | 1.24 |
| Bellingham, WA | 193 | 13 | 1.14 |
| Mount Vernon, WA | 218 | 11 | 1.87 |
| Kennewick, WA | 230 | 10 | 0.83 |
| Yakima, WA | 251 | 9 | 0.92 |
| Bremerton, WA | 285 | 6 | 0.57 |
| Longview, WA | 293 | 6 | 1.44 |
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 Seattle sits nationally
Seattle ranks 17 of 378 US metros on Machine shops (191 establishments). On demand it ranks 14, so local capacity and local demand are roughly in step. We still quote it against the national network, because the right shop for a part is the one set up for it.
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 Seattle?
Yes, and unusually for the metros we write about, the count is normal rather than short: 191 across the metro, exactly the national rate. The catch is what they are set up for. The aerospace and launch base in Kent, Renton and Everett absorbs a lot of that capacity, so availability for a small non-aerospace job is tighter than the raw number suggests.
Why is my quote so expensive for a simple part in Seattle?
Often because you have quoted an ordinary part at a shop built for flight hardware. An AS9100 quality system, an inspection department and full material traceability are real costs that get carried into every price, whether or not your part uses them. Tell us when a part does not need certification and we route it accordingly, which usually moves both the price and the lead time.
Can you get AS9100 work done for a Kent or Everett program?
Yes, and for flight hardware it is the right call. Say up front what the program requires, whether that is AS9100, a first-article inspection report, material certifications or source inspection, because it decides which shop can run the job at all. Adding those requirements after a part is cut generally means cutting it again.
How much does CNC machining cost in Seattle?
Setups, material and tolerance drive it, and in this metro the certification level drives it too. The same bracket can differ substantially depending on whether it is quoted with aerospace paperwork or without, which is why we ask what the part is for before deciding where it should be made. Quoting is free either way.
Do you machine marine-grade materials for Washington boatyards?
Yes, and it comes up on Puget Sound more than anywhere else we serve. Say the part goes in salt water when you send it: 316L instead of 304, the right bronze for a bearing or a fitting, and attention to galvanic pairing at the assembly. Those are material and design decisions rather than machining ones, and they are cheaper to make before the part is cut.
Around Seattle
We quote CNC machining for the wider Seattle area, including Kent, Bellevue, Renton, Everett, Tacoma, Redmond, Auburn, Kirkland, Bothell, Bremerton.
More of what we make in Seattle, WA
Ready to start your CNC machining project in Seattle, WA?
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.