CNC Routing vs Laser Cutting vs Plasma vs Waterjet: Which Process Fits Your Part

Four machines cut most flat parts: a CNC router, a laser, a plasma torch and a waterjet. They overlap less than people expect — each is the obvious choice for some materials and a poor one for others. This guide compares them on what decides a part: material, edge, detail, thickness, accuracy and cost. One honest note up front about The Job Shop in Las Vegas: the CNC router, the fiber laser and CNC plasma all quote instantly online, and waterjet cutting isn’t offered here.

The short answer

• Plywood, MDF, plastics, composites or foam → CNC router
• Sheet metal and steel plate, especially with fine detail → fiber laser
• Heavy steel plate where speed and price matter more than the edge → plasma (quoted online here, like the laser)
• Stone, glass, tile, thick composites, or metal that can’t take heat → waterjet (not offered here)
• Pockets, dados or drilled hardware holes in a sheet part → the router, the only one of the four that cuts partway into the material
• Parts that aren’t flat — printed shapes → 3D printing, quoted online here too; machined blocks and turned shafts → CNC machining, quoted on request

How each process cuts

• CNC router: a spinning bit removes material as chips. Because the bit can stop partway down, it cuts pockets, dados and engraved lines as well as through-cuts, and a drill bank adds holes. The trade-off of a round tool is that inside corners keep its radius.
• Fiber laser: a focused beam melts a narrow line through metal while assist gas clears it away. The kerf is a fraction of a router bit’s width, so small holes, fine lettering and crisp inside corners are possible; it only cuts through, and it can also etch a line onto the surface.
• Plasma: an electric arc through a jet of gas melts conductive metal. It’s fast on thick steel, with a wider kerf, a slightly beveled edge and dross on the bottom face to clean off.
• Waterjet: water at very high pressure, usually carrying an abrasive, erodes the cut. It’s cold — no heat-affected edge — and it cuts nearly anything, slowly.

A note on “laser cutters”: the machines that cut wood and acrylic in sign shops and makerspaces are usually CO2 lasers, a different machine from a fiber laser. The Job Shop’s laser is a fiber laser for metal; wood, acrylic and other plastics are cut on the router.

Materials

• Router: plywood, MDF, plastics such as acrylic, HDPE and ABS, solid surface, aluminum composite panel and foam — the material library lists every routed sheet.
• Fiber laser: mild steel, galvanized, stainless, aluminum, brass and copper — the metal guides cover each one. Tube and pipe go on a tube laser and through CNC tube bending instead, both quoted on request.
• Plasma: electrically conductive metals — carbon steel, stainless and aluminum — mostly plate.
• Waterjet: almost anything, including stone, glass, tile, rubber, composites and heat-sensitive metals.

Edges and detail

• Router: clean machined edges — wood may want a light sanding, and plastics come off smooth but unpolished. Inside corners keep at least the bit’s radius, 1/16″ with the smallest 1/8″ bit, and no slot can be narrower than the bit.
• Fiber laser: a narrow kerf and clean, square edges in sheet; thick plate shows fine lines on the cut face, and edges can carry light dross or discoloration. Holes should be at least about half the material thickness across.
• Plasma: a wider kerf, a slight bevel and taper, and more dross; small holes and fine text lose definition.
• Waterjet: smooth, satin edges with no heat mark, a kerf wider than a laser’s, and a slight taper on thick cuts.

Thickness and part size

Thickness limits come from both the machine and the stock. For the router and the laser, these figures are read from the live catalog and settings:

• Router: sheet stock up to 1″ thick, with parts up to the 61 × 121″ cutting envelope — and no larger than a sheet stocked in their material.
• Fiber laser: stock of 0.032–1″, depending on the metal, including plate — mild steel up to 1″, 304 stainless up to 3/4″ and 6061 aluminum up to 1″. The bed takes parts up to 72 × 144″, and the largest part depends on the metal’s stocked sheets — today, 72 × 144″ in mild steel 3/16″ and thicker.
• Plasma: usually chosen for thicker steel plate, where its speed advantage over a laser grows. Online, it quotes the same steel, stainless and aluminum plate the laser stocks.
• Waterjet: cuts very thick material, slowly, with more taper as the cut gets deeper.

Accuracy

For the router and the fiber laser, the tolerance statement is the one used across this site: the machine positions to ±0.001″; finished parts typically hold ±0.005–0.010″, depending on the material. Plasma typically holds looser tolerances than a laser (the plasma design guide covers hole sizes and edges), and a waterjet holds close tolerances on thin material with some taper on thick cuts. Whatever the process, the material is often the real limit — wood moves with humidity and plastics with temperature. If a fit is critical, such as a bearing bore, a press fit or a tight hole pattern, choose “Send to an engineer” on the part before you pay, and the shop answers before anything is cut. Profiles in hardened tool steel held tighter than any of the four can manage are wire EDM work, and bores, threads and features on several faces are CNC milling — both quoted on request.

Cost tendencies

• Router: priced by cut length, pockets, holes and hardware, plus the whole sheets your parts nest onto. The economical choice for wood and plastic parts, with pockets and hardware bores cut in the same setup.
• Fiber laser: cut length and pierces drive the price, and each hole is priced by its size, plus the metal area your parts take up — capped at the sheets they come from. Fast on thin sheet; thick plate and lots of small holes cost more.
• Plasma: across the trade, typically cheaper per inch than a laser on thick plate, with some cleanup cost for dross and bevel. The plasma quote here prices cut length, pierces and metal area the way the laser's does.
• Waterjet: the slowest of the four, so usually the most expensive per part — worth it when heat or the material rules out the others.

The live quotes re-price as you change any of these and show each part’s price before you approve, so comparing a thickness, a material or a quantity takes a minute. The pricing page shows example routing, laser and plasma jobs priced the same way.

When a project needs more than one

Plenty of builds mix processes: a laser-cut steel base under a routed plywood display, or an acrylic face routed to fit a laser-cut aluminum frame. Each part goes on the machine that suits it, quoted in its own portal — the routing quote for wood and plastics, and the laser quote for metal, where you pay online once the shop confirms the price. Plate parts where a rougher edge is fine can go to the plasma quote instead; for waterjet work, welding, assembly or a whole build, the custom fabrication inquiry goes to the team behind the shop.