CNC routing: CNC routing is cutting sheet materials such as wood, plastic, composite and aluminium with a high-speed rotating cutter on a computer-controlled gantry machine.
A router is a lighter, faster relative of the mill, usually with a large flat bed and a vacuum table that holds whole sheets. It cuts profiles, pockets, engraving and 3D contours in plywood, MDF, acrylic, HDPE, foam, composites and soft aluminium. Parts are often nested on the sheet as they would be for a laser.
What it means for the price
Routing cost is mostly cutting time (cut length divided by feed rate, with several passes on thick material), material from the nest, and setup. The cutter’s diameter sets the smallest inside corner radius, so sharp inside corners need extra operations. Small parts may need tabs or a thin skin left at the bottom of the cut to stop them moving, which adds cleanup by hand.
Example: a 6 mm cutter leaves at least a 3 mm radius in every inside corner of a pocket. The figures are an example.
Common confusions
Routing is not the same as CNC milling, though the cutting principle is shared: routers favour speed and bed size over stiffness, and mills the reverse. Quotometry does not price CNC routing yet. See the CNC routing process page or read what drives CNC machining cost.
Go deeper: What drives CNC machining cost, and how estimators work it out