GlossaryKind of term: Manufacturing termStock length
What is a stock length?
Stock length is the length in which a supplier keeps bar, tube and sections on the rack and delivers them without cutting.
The lengths in a supplier's stock range vary by material, form, size and supplier; the stock list names them. A stock length is a nominal length, often with a generous length tolerance; an exact fixed length or a piece cut to size is a separate order. What is left after cutting a length into pieces is a remnant.
How does the stock length work in practice?
You can buy a full length and saw it yourself, or have it cut to size for a sawing charge. A full length is often cheaper per kilo, but you buy the remainder too; whether that remnant is used later decides whether it counts as stock or as loss. When turning from bar with a bar feeder, the number of parts follows from the usable length: the bar length minus the end piece left in the workholding and feeder, and often a short length to face the start of the bar. Divide that by the length per part including parting-off width and facing allowance, rounded down. How the rest of the bar is spread over the parts is an estimating convention.
What is the stock length often confused with?
Stock length is not the stock per part: the stock per part is the piece one part is made from, the stock length is what you buy. And a remnant is not scrap: a scrapped part fails its requirements, a remnant is material left over.
Frequently asked questions
How many parts can I get from one bar?
Subtract the end piece left in the workholding and bar feeder, and any facing at the start, from the bar length. Divide the rest by the length per part including parting-off width and facing allowance, and round down.
Are stock lengths cheaper than cut to size?
Per kilo often yes, because there is no sawing charge. But you buy the whole length, remnant included. Whether it is cheaper overall depends on batch size, the sawing charge and whether the remnant is used later.