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- 💸 What’s the Most Expensive Thing You’ve Machined?
💸 What’s the Most Expensive Thing You’ve Machined?
by Morning Machinist
Jon House
October 26, 2025
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The question was asked in the MACHINIST Facebook group:
“What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever machined?”
The answers didn’t disappoint — from aerospace and defense to medicine and energy, the variety (and dollar signs) are wild.
Here are a few of our favorites from the community:
Tomahawk warheads
Parts for Rolls-Royce jet engines
Hoover Dam floodgate screws
Two-person submarine for a super yacht (“I wouldn’t go in it lol”)
Display panels for the Orion spacecraft
Satellite parts worth over $1 million each
Liquid rocket motor injectors (Aerojet Rocketdyne)
$20K brain drills for face-lift surgeries
Space Shuttle components — SRB beams and thrust panels
Torpedo hatch and missile hinges for Columbia-class submarines
90-ton stator housing for nuclear subs — “couple mil per part”
Steam turbines worth over $50 million
Titanium housings for the Mir submersibles — used to film the Titanic
Nuclear reactor components & Concorde compressor spools — up to $3M completed
From brain surgery tools to space-bound engines, it’s safe to say machinists have their hands on some of the most valuable parts on (and off) the planet.
💬 What about you?
What’s the most expensive or interesting thing you’ve ever machined? Hit reply or join the conversation on our socials — we’ll feature a few of your answers next week.
