Two lanes. One door.
Parts inside the catalog envelope get a price in minutes and a date backed by money. Everything else gets a human answer inside two business days — a real quote and a committed date when the answer is yes, and a straight no when it is not. Both lanes are Praetore: we are the manufacturer of record on both, not a marketplace passing you along — one counterparty, the same documentation, the same drawing. You do not have to know which lane your part is in. Sorting that is our job, not your homework.
Two service levels, not a pass and a fail.
What separates the lanes is how much of the work we have verified in advance — not how much we want the job. A catalog part runs inside a design space we have already engineered against, so a machine can price it and a network can promise it. A sourcing part runs on judgment, a phone call, and a person who has to go and look. Both ship with certs. Both are our name on the box.
Lane 01
The Catalog
In-envelope work. Priced by the model, dated against open capacity across the network, backed by automatic credits if we miss. Reroutable by construction — which is the only honest reason a date can carry money.
Lane 02
Sourcing
Everything else. Quoted by a person inside two business days, brokered through shops we have vetted, dated honestly and scheduled by hand. This is the business Praetore already runs, kept and promoted — not a consolation prize.
The automatic-credit instrument is written against the Catalog envelope only. The reason is underwriting, not enthusiasm, and it is spelled out in the Sourcing section. The credit schedule, its caps, and the full list of what voids or tolls the clock live on the Guarantee page.
The envelope, stated like a spec sheet.
This is the entire design space the instant lane covers. It is deliberately narrow, and published in full, because a price in minutes is only honest for work that has been verified in advance and a date is only guaranteeable for work that can move to another machine on Tuesday. The constraint is not the fine print. It is the product.
B.1Processes
In the catalog
- 3-axis vertical milling
- Up to 2 setups per part (op1 / op2 flip)
- Drilling
- Tapping — form and cut
- Reaming
- Counterboring
- Chamfering
Not in v1 — routes to Sourcing
- Turning — first in line
- 3+2 positional
- 5-axis simultaneous
- Wire and sinker EDM
- Grinding
- Welding
Each of these is a future container size, added when verification scales to it and not before. Turning is first in line. We are not going to put a date on it here — it ships when the verification does.
B.2Part geometry
| Parameter | Limit | Why the limit exists |
|---|---|---|
| Max part size | 12.000 × 8.000 × 4.000" | Fits every network machine with fixture clearance; one stock library |
| Min part size | 0.375 × 0.375 × 0.125" | Below this, workholding stops being standard |
| Min wall | 0.030" metals · 0.060" plastics | Chatter and verification risk |
| Min internal corner radius | 0.031" | Tool library floor — accepts a 1/16" end mill |
| Max hole depth : diameter | 8:1 standard · 12:1 flagged | Drill wander, simulation confidence |
| Max pocket depth : tool dia. | 4:1 standard · 6:1 flagged | Deflection modeling limits |
| Threads | UNC / UNF #2–3/4" · M2–M20 · 2B / 6H | Standard tap library |
| Undercuts, T-slots, dovetails | Flagged | Special tooling path |
Flagged does not mean no
When a feature is flagged, the automated quote pauses and an engineer dispositions it within four business hours. You get either a compliant redesign where one exists — “open that internal corner to R0.031 and it prices instantly” — or a Sourcing-lane quote where one does not. What you never get is a silent rejection or a form that says your file could not be processed.
B.3Material library
- Aluminum
- 6061-T6 · 7075-T651
- Stainless
- 303 · 304 · 17-4PH (Cond A, H900)
- Steel
- 1018 · 4140 (annealed, pre-hard)
- Brass
- 360
- Titanium
- 6Al-4V — flagged pricing tier
- Plastics
- Delrin 150 · UHMW · PEEK (flagged) · polycarbonate
Stock is held as plate and bar on a defined thickness ladder, 0.250 to 4.500 inches. Customer-supplied material is accepted with a cert — it is flagged, and it voids the batching discount, because a lot we did not buy cannot ride in somebody else’s buy. Anything not on this list goes to human review.
The library grows by tested addition: a material enters when it has proven feeds and speeds, a stock supply, and at least one committed recurring buyer. That is the whole list, and it is short on purpose. A shared ladder is what lets one material buy and one fixture load cover parts from three different customers — and about a third of that saving comes back to your price.
B.4Tolerance classes
Priced, not negotiated. A print with mixed exotic callouts is re-quoted per feature class, mechanically.
| Class | Linear | Holes | Flatness | How it prices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | ±0.005" | ±0.003" | 0.005" / in | Default · instant price |
| Precision | ±0.002" | ±0.001" | 0.002" / in | Instant price · premium |
| Tight | ±0.0005–0.001" | to ±0.0005" | Per feature | Flagged · CMM-verified shop tier |
GD&T accepted. Position and profile callouts beyond the Precision class auto-flag. Tolerances here are a menu, not a conversation — which is exactly why the menu is published.
B.5Finishes
ROUGHNESS IN µIN Ra · MATERIAL REMOVAL REQUIRED
| Finish | Notes |
|---|---|
| As-machined | 125 µin Ra default · 63 µin Ra premium |
| Bead blast | Uniform matte, standard media |
| Anodize Type II | Clear and black · other colors flagged |
| Anodize Type III | Hardcoat |
| Passivation | Stainless, per the material spec |
| Zinc plate | Standard trivalent |
| Black oxide | Steel |
| Powder coat | Standard RAL subset |
Chem film, nickel, and anything not on this menu is flagged and partner-routed. It adds days, and we state the days before you order rather than after we miss.
B.6Quantities and repeats
- 1 – 500 pcs
- Instant lane. Price and date options on the spot.
- 501 – 5,000 pcs
- Engineered quote, back in 2 business days.
- Over 5,000 pcs
- A program conversation, because scheduling a run that size is one.
- Reorder of an existing packet
- Always instant, at any prior quantity, with loyalty pricing.
A reorder is instant because the packet already exists. That is not a discount invented for a marketing page — it is engineering we already did, and we are not going to charge you for it twice.
Outside the catalog? Send it anyway.
The envelope describes what a machine can price. It does not describe what we can make. Out-of-envelope work enters the Sourcing lane: reviewed by a person, quoted with a real committed date, and run through shops we have vetted — with the same documentation package the Catalog lane ships. Nothing is refused at the door, and nothing is quietly dropped either.
What the Sourcing lane covers
- Turned parts and mill-turn work
- 5-axis and 3+2 geometry
- Weldments and fabrications
- Assemblies and kitted builds
- Castings and forgings, machined
- Envelopes larger than the catalog box
- Materials outside the stock library
- Medical, energy and defense components beyond the envelope
If you want the same list read back through your industry — aerospace, medical, energy, robotics, semiconductor — it is broken out on Industries.
What we commit to
- Response
- An answer within two business days — an honest yes or no, with a timeline attached to the yes.
- The date
- A committed ship date, scheduled by a person against a real shop calendar. If it moves, you hear it from us first.
- The paperwork
- Material certs and a dimensional report, same as the Catalog lane. FAI to AS9102 on request.
- Accountability
- Praetore is your only counterparty in both lanes — one PO, one invoice, one company answering the phone. You never mediate between us and a shop.
What the Sourcing lane does not carry, and why
Sourcing dates are committed. They are not guaranteed with the automatic-credit instrument, and we are not going to blur that distinction to make this page read better.
The reason is underwriting. We guarantee with money only where we have the delivery data. A credit schedule is an insurance product: to write one you need a measured envelope — the same standard, the same packet, the same fixture family, measured job after job — and the ability to move a job to another machine when one goes down. Inside the Catalog, that measurement is the entire point of the design. On a one-off weldment at a brokered shop, we would be pricing a risk we have not measured, and you would end up arguing with us about a credit instead of receiving one.
So the honest version: a committed date on Sourcing, a guaranteed date on Catalog, and a conveyor between them. As the Catalog grows, the guarantee grows with it.
One boundary that demand does not move
Components for regulated products: yes, in either lane, all day. Finished regulated devices — anything gated on ISO 13485 and FDA registration, or an equivalent certification for the end product — no, and not because of volume. That is a deliberate certification decision, not a capacity one, and no amount of inbound demand changes it. When it changes, it will change because we hold the certification, and we will say so in exactly those words.
You do not have to decide which lane your part belongs in. Send the model and the quantity; the DFM runs, the lane gets assigned, and you get either a price on the spot or a person inside two business days.
Upload a PartTell us what you wish were instant, and watch the envelope grow.
Every Sourcing job is logged with its feature class. That log is not a graveyard of things we said no to — it is the expansion roadmap, and it is the only input that widens the Catalog. Work that shows up often enough, and that we can verify, graduates into the instant lane. Which means the fastest way to make your part instant is to send it to us while it is still slow.
Change control
The envelope is versioned — ENV-1.0, ENV-1.1, and so on. Widening it takes two things together, not either one alone: a feature class has to exceed 5% of inbound demand for two consecutive quarters, and a verification method for it has to exist. Then the change itself needs a stock and tooling plan and sign-off from engineering and operations. The envelope never widens because a salesperson promised something. When it does widen, the revision is published on this page and the spec sheet above changes with it.
What this costs you
Nothing, and it is not a survey. You send the part you actually need; it gets quoted and made either way. The logging happens on our side, on work we are already doing. The alternative — guessing at the roadmap from a conference floor — is how everyone else ends up promising “any part, any material, any process”, and then discovering on Thursday which shop can actually hold the tolerance.
Why a real price can exist in minutes.
An instant price is not a pricing trick. It is what becomes available once the design space has already been engineered against — three structural facts make the number real. Then one bracket, worked end to end: every structural quantity the envelope fixes for it, and deliberately no dollar figure, for a reason stated underneath.
01
Constrained scope
A number computed in minutes is only honest for a design space that has already been engineered against. The envelope is not a limit we apologize for — it is the precondition for the price existing at all. Widen it without verification and you have a guess with a fast interface.
02
Central engineering
DFM, CAM, the fixture plan, the probing routines and the inspection plan happen once, centrally, and ship to the machine as a Job Packet. That cost is spread across the network and across every future run of the same packet, instead of being redone by every shop that touches a similar part.
03
Batching
Your part, someone else’s part, same material, same step on the stock ladder, same fixture family, one setup. The saving is split roughly three ways: about a third to your price, about a third to the shop that ran it, about a third to us. We publish the split because a split you cannot see is not one.
The batching mechanism — how parts from different customers share a stock buy and a fixture family — is drawn out in full on How It Works.
What the envelope already fixes about it
| Parameter | This part | Against the envelope |
|---|---|---|
| Envelope check | 3.500 × 2.000 × 0.750" | Inside the 12.000 × 8.000 × 4.000" box and above the 0.375 × 0.375 × 0.125" floor. Catalog lane. |
| Setups | 2 of 2 | Op1 takes the profile and the pockets; op2 flips it for the back face and the counterbores. At the limit, not over it — a third setup would route to Sourcing. |
| Stock | 6061-T6, 1.000" plate step | A 0.750" finished thickness is cut on both faces, so it comes off the ladder step above it, not off 0.750" stock. |
| Tolerance class | Standard | ±0.005" linear, ±0.003" holes, 0.005"/in flatness. Nothing on the print asks for tighter, so it does not price as Precision. |
| Smallest internal radius | R0.125 | Four times the R0.031" floor, so no flag and no engineer disposition — the quote does not pause. |
| Finish | As-machined, 125 µin Ra | On the fixed menu. No partner routing, so no added days to state. |
| Quantity | 10 pcs | Inside the 1–500 instant band. No engineered-quote wait. |
| Batching keys matched | 3 of 5 | Material plus ladder step, the standard soft-jaw family, and tolerance class. Tool-list overlap and date compatibility decide whether a batch actually forms. |
Eight answers, none of them a judgement call, all of them readable off a model against a published spec. That is the whole reason a machine can price this and a network can promise a date for it. Nothing above required an estimator, and nothing above required you to fill in a form.
What is in the price the usual way
- 01An estimator quotes it. The hours spent on quotes that never convert are recovered inside the ones that do.
- 02A programmer writes the CAM. Hours, at that shop, for those ten parts.
- 03Someone designs and cuts a fixture. For those ten parts.
- 04Someone writes an inspection report from a blank template.
- 05None of it transfers. The shop across town does the same work next week on a nearly identical bracket.
What is in the price here
- 01Quoting is a computation against a verified envelope, not an estimator’s afternoon.
- 02The engineering happens once and ships as a packet — reusable the moment the part runs again, anywhere in the network.
- 03The shop is paid for what it actually does: setup, spindle time, probing, metrology.
- 04Material comes off the shared stock ladder, so your ten pieces can ride one buy — and, when the keys match, one fixture load — with other customers’ parts.
- 05Reorder the same packet and the engineering line is already spent. It does not come back.
On the reorder
A first run carries two kinds of line: the engineering that happens once, and the making that happens every time. Order the same bracket again and the packet is already released and already proven — the engineering lines are spent, and they are not charged twice. The making lines recur on every run, and they are the ones the batching split acts on.
Charged once — spent after run 1
- DFM disposition
- CAM and toolpath
- The soft-jaw program
- Probe routines
- The inspection plan
Charged every run
- Material off the ladder
- Setup at the machine
- Spindle time
- Probing and inspection
- Finish
So a reorder is instant at any prior quantity and carries loyalty pricing. That is not a discount invented for a marketing page — it is work we already did and are not going to bill you for again.
There is no dollar figure on this page, deliberately. A price depends on your model, your quantity, your tolerance class, your finish, and what is on the stock ladder that week — which is precisely why the quote is a computation and not a phone call. A number printed here would be a number for somebody else’s part. Upload yours and the number is yours in minutes.
We say “minutes”, and we are not going to put a median next to it until we have one. This figure publishes on the Ledger, measured from delivered orders, once there are delivered orders to measure.
Five steps. You do two: send the part, and say yes.
No portal tour, no capability questionnaire, no “tell us about your project” form that ends in a phone call. Upload the part; the triage is ours.
01
Upload
A model, a quantity, and an email address. Add a print if your part carries callouts the model does not. This is the only step that needs your CAD.
02
Instant DFM and lane assignment
Automated DFM checks the geometry against the envelope and assigns the lane. If it lands in Sourcing we name the violating features in plain language — “the 0.020 inch internal corner radius in that pocket”, not “manufacturability concerns” — and offer a compliant redesign wherever one exists.
03
Price and date options
Catalog: a price with Standard and Rush date options, priced as different risks because they are. Sourcing: a human quote with a committed date, back inside two business days.
04
Order
You accept a price and a date. On the Catalog lane that date is a term of the order with automatic credits behind it — not a hope in an email thread.
05
Track
Status by real milestone: engineered, verified, routed, in-cut, inspected, shipped. Not a bar that fills because time passed. If a job reroutes to another machine you see the reroute and the date holds — rerouting is the feature working, so we show it rather than hide it.
Delivered
Parts, material certs, and the dimensional report from the packet’s inspection plan. FAI on request. Both lanes, every order, without asking.
Documentation by default, not on escalation.
Certs and inspection reports are not an upsell here, and they are not something you should have to ask a salesperson for twice. Every order ships with material certs and a dimensional report written against the packet’s inspection plan. First article to AS9102 is available on request, at a price stated with your quote. ITAR-flagged work routes only to registered shops.
Three inspection layers
- In-machine probingAt the machine, during the cut
- Work coordinate pickup, in-process gates, final critical dimensions. Out of tolerance halts the job at a first-piece hold.
- Shop inspectionAt the shop, after the op
- Per the packet’s inspection plan: named features, named instruments, a sample plan, on a template pre-filled with your nominals.
- Central verificationPraetore and partner metrology
- First article on every new packet revision, skip-lot audits, all Tight-class work, and any source inspection you require.
The coverage rule is the one that matters: every dimension the guarantee depends on is verified by at least one of those layers. There is no “the operator checked it” tier.
The traceability chain
- 01PACKET REV
- 02SHOP
- 03MACHINE
- 04MATERIAL LOT
- 05TOOL LIST REV
- 06PROBE LOG
- 07INSPECTION REPORT
- 08SHIP DATE
Every part traces down that chain to exactly one packet revision, one shop, and one material lot. One query answers “what else could be affected” — which is the only version of containment that is worth anything on the day you need it.
Praetore holds no quality-system certifications today. Our own certification roadmap — and the shape of the central quality system behind these three layers — is stated plainly on Quality & Certifications. Where a shop in the network holds its own registrations, those are the shop’s credentials and we will not present them as ours.
One door. The triage is ours.
Send the model and the quantity. We will tell you which lane it runs in, what it costs, and when it ships — and if it lands outside the envelope, we will tell you exactly which feature put it there and what the alternative is. You are not expected to have read this page first.
For shops
Reading this because you own the machines rather than the part? Wrong page, right company. We send you the job, not the RFQ.