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Buyer guide · Metal & CNC

Metal CNC router from China

Many routers sold for metal are wood routers with a new label, and a frame built for wood chatters on aluminium and cannot cut steel at all.

Ask about this machine ↗Where the numbers come from

Written and listings checked 30 September 2026. Every figure on this page names its source.

What you are actually comparing.

Two quotes, one machine name

What hides inside the price

Frame: welded tube, plate steel or cast iron

Aluminium milling needs a heavy, stress-relieved frame and gantry. Ask machine weight and frame material. A light welded tube frame is a wood machine.

Spindle type and speed range

Wood routers run high-speed spindles with little torque at low speed. Metal needs torque lower down. Ask spindle maker, speed range and tool holder.

Coolant and chip handling

Wood routers extract dust. Metal needs mist or flood coolant, a sealed table and chip trays. Ask what is fitted: a vacuum table for wood is wrong for metal.

Drives, rails and screws

Stepper motors and rack drive suit wood. Servo drives and ballscrews hold position under cutting load. Ask the make per axis.

Tool changer

Linear or carousel tool changers appear as options. Ask how many tools, and whether the listed price includes it.

Decode the model code.

The four digits on most routers give the working area in hundreds of millimetres, the same way sheet cutters do. They say nothing about stiffness.

6090 = 600 x 900 mm = 0.54 square metres.
1325 = 1,300 x 2,500 mm = 3.25 square metres, about six times the 6090.

Before you ask for a price.

Send these with the enquiry. Without them, any number a factory gives you is a guess dressed as a quotation.

Each metal you will cut, with grade and thickness: aluminium plate, brass, copper, or steel.
The tolerance and surface finish your parts need.
Part size and weight, and whether you also cut plastics or wood on the same machine.
How the part is held: clamps, fixture plate or vacuum, which decides the table.
Your drawing format and CAM software, so the controller accepts the code.

Turn the claim into a demonstration.

Require this	A pass looks like
Mill a pocket and a contour in your thickest aluminium plate to your drawing, after a warm-up period, filmed.	Dimensions sit inside your tolerance, walls show no chatter marks, and the machine did not slow the feed to get there.
Photograph the spindle, drive and controller nameplates.	Makes and models match the contract, and drives are servo if the contract says servo.
Run the coolant system for the full test.	Coolant stays in the table and trays, with no leak onto rails or electrics.

The documents that must arrive with it.

EU Declaration of Conformity for this serial number naming 2006/42/EC, or Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 for delivery from 20 January 2027, plus 2014/35/EU and 2014/30/EU, listing the harmonised standards applied.
Manual in the language of use, electrical diagrams, and the controller and spindle manuals.
Controller software licence and a parameter backup.

The one people forget. The list of standards on the declaration. A router sold for wood and metal may be assessed only to woodworking standards, and the metal guarding and coolant hazards then have no assessment behind them.

When this is the wrong machine.

Buy something else if

Named, not hedged

You mill steel, or aluminium to tight tolerance all day.

A vertical machining center, which has the cast frame, spindle and enclosure metal cutting needs.

You mostly profile-cut sheet metal and do little milling.

A fiber laser cutting machine, which cuts sheet faster and without tools.

Where the numbers come from.

We name the kind of source, how many and when, and never the factory. Listed prices are asking prices, not landed cost. Where we do not hold a fact we say so: that is a GAP, not an estimate.

Listings · 11Eleven marketplace listings for metal CNC routers, checked September 2026, gave asking prices from US$1,600 to US$15,000 per unit. Six of the 11 also named wood, stone, PVC or acrylic. These are asking prices, not landed cost.
Arithmetic6090 = 600 x 900 mm = 0.54 square metres; 1325 = 1,300 x 2,500 mm = 3.25 square metres.
GAPGAP - no supplier quotations logged for this machine yet. Three to five quotations for one configuration would give a real price spread.

Related machines.

Vertical machining center. Choose the vertical machining center when you mill steel or need tight tolerance on every part.
CNC lathe. Choose the CNC lathe when your parts are round and turned rather than milled from plate.

Every machine we source in this area is on the Metal & CNC page. How a project runs, stage by stage, is on how it works, and what it costs is on pricing.

Straight answers

Questions buyers ask about this machine.

Chinese vs European metal CNC router: what is the difference?+

At the low end, mostly frame mass and drive quality. A heavy router with servo drives can do aluminium well; a light one sold for wood and metal will not.

What goes on a metal CNC router inspection checklist?+

Frame weight and material, spindle and drive nameplates, your aluminium test part measured after warm-up, chatter on walls, coolant containment, emergency stops and guarding.

What CE documentation does a metal CNC router need?+

A Declaration of Conformity for the machine and serial number, listing standards that cover metal cutting, a manual in your language and electrical diagrams.

Who is the EU importer of a metal CNC router?+

If you buy directly from a Chinese seller, normally you. Your name goes on the machine or papers, and you check the documents match it.

Contact

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