Most of the plate you buy leaves the building as chips worth pennies a pound. This calculator turns your finished part envelope into a real blank, weighs both, and shows the buy-to-fly ratio, the pounds you are converting to swarf, and the true cost per finished pound. Then it prices the same job three ways: full plate, cut-to-size blanks, and the next thinner nominal.
Last updated July 2026
| Path | Purchased lb | Material $ | Cuts + Freight $ | Total $ | $ / Usable Blank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full plate, cut in house | 393.1 | $1,965.60 | $250.00 | $2,215.60 | $88.62 |
| Cut-to-size blanks | 110.0 | $549.87 | $850.00 | $1,399.87 | $55.99 |
| Next thinner nominal | - | - | - | - | - |
6061-T651 plate, blank 8.250 x 6.250 x 0.8750 in, qty 25, 4.40 lb each, 110.0 lb total, material $549.87 at $5.00/lb| Alloy and temper | Density lb/in3 | Density g/cm3 | Price band $/lb | Tool default $/lb | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6061-T651 | 0.0975 | 2.70 | 4.00 to 6.50 | 5.00 | General plate, fixtures, weldments |
| 7075-T651 | 0.1010 | 2.80 | 8.00 to 13.00 | 10.00 | High strength airframe and tooling |
| 7075-T7351 | 0.1010 | 2.80 | 8.50 to 14.00 | 10.50 | Overaged, stress corrosion resistant |
| 7050-T7451 | 0.1020 | 2.82 | 10.00 to 16.00 | 12.50 | Thick section aerospace structure |
| 5083-H321 | 0.0960 | 2.66 | 4.50 to 7.00 | 5.50 | Marine, cryogenic, pressure vessels |
| 5052-H32 | 0.0968 | 2.68 | 4.50 to 7.00 | 5.25 | Formed sheet and light plate |
| 5000 series cast tool and jig | 0.0975 | 2.70 | 5.50 to 9.00 | 7.00 | Fixture plate, flat and stress free |
| Generic aluminum shortcut | 0.0980 | 2.71 | n/a | n/a | The 0.098 number estimators use for everything |
These are indicative bands for plate in normal quantities, not a quote. The Midwest premium passed one dollar per pound and Section 232 tariffs on aluminum sit at 50 percent, which is why the bands are wider and higher than the 2 to 3 dollar numbers many estimators still carry in their heads. Need the stock to cut these blanks from, get an instant quote on 6061, 7075 and 7050 plate cut to your blank size, with mill certs on every order.
| Part type | Buy-to-fly ratio | Chips per finished lb | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near net casting or forging | 1.2 to 1 up to 2 to 1 | 0.2 to 1.0 | You pay for the process instead of the metal |
| Sawn blank, face and edge cleanup only | 1.5 to 1 up to 2.5 to 1 | 0.5 to 1.5 | Allowance and nominal snap drive the whole number |
| Fixture plate in cast tool and jig | 1.3 to 1 up to 2 to 1 | 0.3 to 1.0 | Buys close to net thickness, usually wins on cost per finished pound |
| Simple pocketed plate part | 3 to 1 up to 5 to 1 | 2 to 4 | The bread and butter job shop part |
| Deep pocketed housing or manifold | 5 to 1 up to 8 to 1 | 4 to 7 | Cycle time usually costs more than the metal |
| Aerospace bracket from plate | 8 to 1 up to 15 to 1 | 7 to 14 | Worth a hard look at a thinner nominal |
| Aerospace structural rib | 15 to 1 up to 25 to 1 | 14 to 24 | Where a 6 pound part comes out of a 120 pound billet |
| Monolithic thick plate structure | 20 to 1 and up | 19 and up | Material dominates the quote, nest the blank |
Standard plate nominals used for the thickness snap, in inches: 0.125, 0.190, 0.250, 0.3125, 0.375, 0.500, 0.625, 0.750, 0.875, 1.000, 1.125, 1.250, 1.500, 1.750, 2.000, 2.250, 2.500, 3.000, 3.500, 4.000. Standard mill plate sizes: 48 x 96, 48 x 144 and 60 x 144 inches.
Blank length = finished length + 2 x allowance per side. Blank width = finished width + 2 x allowance per side. Required thickness = finished thickness + 2 x allowance per face, then snapped up to the next standard plate nominal. Always price the ordered nominal, not the finished thickness.
Blank weight Wb = blank length x blank width x ordered nominal x density, all in inches with density in pounds per cubic inch. Finished weight Wf = finished length x finished width x finished thickness x (net volume percent / 100) x density. The estimator shortcut everyone uses is L x W x T x 0.098 x price per pound, which is shown alongside as a cross-check.
Buy-to-fly ratio = Wb / Wf. Chips per part = Wb - Wf. Chips for the lot = (Wb - Wf) x quantity. Chip credit for the lot = chips for the lot x chip price per pound. True cost per finished pound = (material cost for the lot - chip credit for the lot) / (Wf x quantity).
Usable length = plate length - 2 x edge trim. Usable width = plate width - 2 x edge trim. Blanks in orientation A = floor((usable length + kerf) / (blank length + kerf)) x floor((usable width + kerf) / (blank width + kerf)). Orientation B swaps blank length and blank width. Blanks per plate n = the larger of the two. Plates required = ceil(quantity / n). Yield percent = 100 x (quantity x blank length x blank width) / (plates required x plate length x plate width).
Full plate cost = plates required x plate length x plate width x ordered nominal x density x price per pound + freight, divided by quantity for the cost per usable blank. Cut-to-size cost = quantity x Wb x price per pound + cuts x cut fee + freight, where cuts defaults to 2 per rectangular blank off a strip. Break-even quantity solves q x Wb x price + cuts per blank x q x cut fee = ceil(q / n) x plate weight x price, stepped from q equals 1 to the first crossing. The next thinner nominal path re-runs the blank one nominal down and reports the delta in dollars and pounds, with a warning when cleanup per face falls below 0.020 inch.
Buy-to-fly is the weight of the raw stock you purchase divided by the weight of the finished part. A ratio of 5 to 1 means five pounds of plate go in and one pound flies out, with four pounds becoming chips. Typical machined plate parts run 3 to 1 up to 8 to 1. Aerospace structural parts routinely hit 15 to 1 or 20 to 1, which is where a 6 pound part comes out of a 120 pound billet.
Multiply blank length by width by ordered thickness by 0.098 pounds per cubic inch to get blank weight, then multiply by your price per pound. Subtract the chip credit on the weight you machine away, which is typically 0.30 to 0.50 dollars per pound. Use the ordered nominal thickness, not the finished thickness, and add machining allowance to length and width before you weigh it, or you will underprice the job every time.
It depends on how many blanks you need and how much of the plate you can actually use. Cut-to-size wins at low quantity because you only pay for the metal you take, even after cut fees. A full plate wins once the nested yield is high enough that the cost per usable blank drops below the cut-to-size price, which is usually somewhere between 8 and 30 blanks depending on blank size. The leftover drop only counts if you will genuinely use it.
Clean aluminum machining chips fetch roughly 0.30 to 0.55 dollars per pound depending on form and location. Loose wet chips run about 0.40, dry chips about 0.50, and briquetted chips 0.57 to 0.75 because the yard does not have to handle the coolant. Plenty of shops report only 0.17 to 0.30 from a local buyer. Against 5 to 12 dollars per pound for the plate, the credit recovers a few percent, not a meaningful share.
Roughly 4.00 to 6.50 dollars per pound for plate in normal quantities, with 7075 running 8 to 13 and 7050 running 10 to 16. Prices are materially higher than the 2 to 3 dollar numbers many shops still quote from memory, because the Midwest premium passed one dollar per pound and Section 232 tariffs sit at 50 percent. Treat any figure older than a quarter as stale and get a live quote before you commit.
Drop to the next thinner standard nominal, order a nested cut blank instead of a rectangle, and cut the machining allowance on length and width. Going from 1.000 inch nominal to 0.875 on a part finishing at 0.750 removes about 12 percent of the purchased weight in one move. Trimming allowance per side from 0.125 to 0.060 on an 8 by 6 part removes another 4 percent. Together those usually beat anything you can do at the scrap yard.