Frequently Asked Questions

Consistent. Reliable. Trusted. You should be able to apply those three words to your machined parts supplier, and they’re at the heart of why you should work with Cass. Since 1945, Cass Precision Machining has consistently been recognized as a leader for on-time, as-promised deliveries of high-quality machined parts and reliable, worry-free customer service. We take pride in providing you with machined parts that are unrivaled in build quality, from fast prototyping to high-volume production. We take pride in meeting every deadline for on-time deliveries. Work with Cass, and you’ll get a partnership founded on trust and accountability.

Cass Precision Machining can produce parts up to 7.0 inches in diameter and under 40 inches long! You can also check the kind of precision-machined parts we run daily here.

The best supplier is the one who can offer the highest levels of service and best total cost of ownership while being easy to work with and putting your needs first. Work with a machined parts supplier who is committed to a long-term partnership and has the technical expertise matched with the right equipment to support your needs. Cass Precision Machining is that kind of partner and has customers that have been with us for over 50 years. These relationships are earned every day and are a testimony to why Cass is the best choice to be your machined parts supplier.

Yes, Cass Precision Machining acquired Micro-Fab in 2021 to expand our capabilities and industries served. Micro-Fab, a Cass company, has excelled in precision machining services for over 30 years in the aerospace, agriculture, defense, and medical industries. Being ISO 9001:2015 certified, AS9100 compliant, and NIST Cybersecurity Framework compliant, Micro-Fab excels at work governed by medical and aerospace requirements. Working together, we have expanded our advanced machining capabilities to better serve our customers.

Cass produces complete parts using a range of technologies featuring single- and multiple-spindle automatic screw machines, state-of-the-art CNC turning and milling machines, Swiss machines with live multi-axis tooling, and CNC cylindrical, centerless, and infeed-grinding machines. Since 1945, our customers have counted on us to produce high-quality machined parts from simple fasteners to very complex parts requiring multiple machining operations, heat treating, plating, finishing, and more.

A lathe is used to remove metals from a workpiece to give a desired shape and size. Lathes hold and rotate the workpiece to perform various metal-removing operations such as turning, grooving, chamfering, knurling, facing, forming, etc. with the help of tools.

Screw machines are automated lathes, typically equipped with multiple spindles that allow multiple tools to cut multiple pieces of material simultaneously. Like a Gatling gun, the multiple spindles are carried in a precision-machined drum that rotates in a horizontal orientation. Our six- and eight-spindle automatic screw machines allow us to fill large orders with diameters up to 3.5 inches, while our single-spindle screw machines typically handle smaller orders. We also operate CNC multi-spindle lathes, offering the most advanced capabilities in the industry.

A Swiss machine mounts the workpiece on a rotary slide. CNC Swiss machines typically make more complex parts, completing both turning and milling operations within the same machine. Our newest Swiss machines are equipped to provide tooling and can handle your most complex and high-volume precision machined parts with ease. These multi-axis, auto-loading machines have industry-leading capabilities.

Milling machines are very versatile. They are usually used to machine flat surfaces but can also produce irregular surfaces. Milling machines can drill, bore, cut gears, produce slots, and more. Our milling centers are typically used for secondary operations (milling, drilling, and tapping) or to produce more complex non-diametrical parts.

Precision grinding machines are used to achieve high surface quality and high accuracy of shape and dimension. In most applications, it tends to be a finishing operation.

Generally, if your requirements call for higher volumes (e.g. 1,000 or more pieces) and do not require extreme tolerances or complexity, they are candidates for our multiple-spindle automatic screw machines. Depending on the complexity of the product, our key account manager will recommend the machine that gives you the best part at the best price.

That’s a great question, and it’s a promise you will get from just about any machining company. At Cass, it’s a promise we can back up.

Our machinists verify every single part during set up, tooling, and instrumentation and continually run checks. We feel it is important to conduct random checks on all of our machines and parts to ensure quality. These checks and inspections continue all day long in each of our buildings.

We take pride in the upkeep of our buildings and of our machines at Cass Precision Machining. We welcome you to visit our facility and audit our production, testing, and quality control systems. Any time you visit us, you will find a state-of-the-art campus that is clean and organized.

Cass has a proven quality system based on the year-over-year, best-in-quality awards we win from our customers. We can add to our baseline quality control systems to meet your additional requirements, seamlessly incorporating quality tools such as SPC, PPAP, Capability Studies, First Article Inspection, etc.

We’ll work together with you to define and deploy a quality control system for your orders that provides a specific solution for your business needs.

Hey, we get it; we understand that in many cases you may not have all the information at hand to quote a part. In order for us to give you the most accurate quote, it helps if you can provide us with the following:

1. A fully dimensioned print, drawing, or sketch (preferably in a PDF format) and/or CAD file.
2. The raw material(s) specified.
3. Any necessary secondary operations, including heat treating, plating, or finishing specifications.
4. Any customer specifications that may apply, such as 1st Article Inspection, PPAP requirements, and material and outside process certificates required.
5. The quantities you want us to quote.
6. Any other background information that would be helpful, including target pricing or required lead times.

We will quote and run any quantity, including one-off prototypes, and will select the most cost-effective equipment to get your job done. We can produce anywhere from a few precision machined parts, up to millions. Just let us know what you need.

We can work with you to produce larger orders, inventory your parts, and ship as you need them. Ask us about our JIT manufacturing program, where together we look at the big picture of your requirements and make decisions for stocking parts both here at Cass and onsite at your location. This program will help you optimize your assembly uptime and production flow. Tell us what you need, and we’ll make it work.

There is no such thing as a “typical lead time” for either prototype parts or production parts. We will work hard to meet your needs on every part we run. We invest aggressively in new machine tools, shop expansion, and adding quality people to our team to assure our lead times remain very competitive. We are always looking for ways to reduce delivery times.

You bet! Just tell us what your needs are and that will drive how we work for you. Don’t hesitate to ask us for customized services. We do this routinely in order to get our customers the exact parts, in the right quantity, to their line when they need it. It’s all about saving you time and money. Cass can provide you additional finishing capabilities including anodizing, plating, heat-treating, light assembly, warehousing, and custom packaging.

Absolutely! We can offer assistance in machining methods, raw materials, and finish applications. Often a small design change, tolerance review, elimination of secondary machining, etc., will allow a part to fit into a lower-cost machining method. It’s always worth asking the question. We enjoy tapping into our extensive design for manufacturing (DFM) experience to help you develop solutions to get your job done while saving you time and money.

Cass is committed to recycling and protecting the environment. In fact, we have integrated recycling into our daily processes. We recycle machine shavings, oils and lubricants, and all residual materials.

Our address is 4800 Lilac Drive North, Brooklyn Center, MN 55429. For driving directions, just click on this link to a Google Maps plug housed on the “Contact Us” page.

Our standard office hours are 7:30 am to 4:00 pm CST, Monday through Friday.

Our shipping and receiving hours are 6:00 am to 4:00 pm CST, Monday through Thursday. 6:00 am to 1:00 pm on Fridays.