6 low-cost CNC machining design skills

How can the price of CNC-machined items be reduced? Your part's design holds the key to the solution. Here are some suggestions for cutting expenses.

For instance, weight reduction is frequently a major design objective in the aerospace sector. Other industries could place a higher value on aspects like surface polish or aesthetics. However, the entire design and production process is nearly always driven by cost.

When employing CNC machining, there are several strategies to stay under the manufacturing budget while still achieving your objectives. You may start by looking around for the CNC machining service with the best price. However, some of the most significant cost-cutting strategies for CNC machining are used during the design phase.

affordable design capabilities for CNC machining

There is a key factor to bear in mind when examining CNC machining costs: the longer it takes to process a product, the more expensive it is. This rule's justification can be found in a variety of different criteria, including part design and material choice (which can be processed more quickly and cheaply). Today, we'll concentrate on component design and how certain design decisions affect and lower the cost of CNC machining.

1.Don't use thin walls

Although CNC machining can create parts with very tiny tolerances and thin walls (about 1 mm), it is advised to have as thick walls as possible if cost is the primary concern for your product. This is owing to the difficulty of machining very thin walls, which might result in vibrational damage to the component if done too quickly. Repetitive low cutting depths are necessary for accurate machining of thin walls, which can greatly lengthen the machining process. Consequently, including thicker walls in the parts as much as possible aids in accelerating processing and cutting costs.

2.Inner radius of the integral

When developing components, it will be far faster (and cheaper!) to incorporate the internal radius rather than the corner's 90-degree angle. Since CNC milling machines are naturally cylindrical, any corners they produce in a workpiece will necessarily have a radius or curvature. Keeping this in mind, it may be easier to design pieces with internal radii rather than sharp edges. Additionally, the processing time decreases, and the milling cutter size increases with increasing inner radius.

3.Avoid deep cavities

Avoiding the use of deep recesses and grooves in the part's design can help reduce the cost of CNC machining. There are two reasons for this. First, cutting the material requires more time the deeper the hollow. Second, the need for specialized tools and higher manufacturing costs might result from designing components with holes that are four times the tool diameter.

4.Avoid deep threads

It is also advised to maintain the thread depth as low as possible to minimize processing costs, similar to the prior method. It is often not essential to integrate threads with a depth larger than three times the hole diameter unless it is absolutely necessary for a certain item. Deeper threads (like deep holes) could call for the use of non-standard tools, which would lengthen the machining process and raise the cost.

5.Follow standard tool sizes

Making sure that the dimensions of common CNC tools are maintained when creating components will help you save a lot of processing time. For instance, holes, threads, and cavities should have dimensions that match those of frequently used CNC equipment. Additionally, the CNC machining process is sped up by requiring fewer tool changes due to the part's hole and cavity sizes being constant.

6.Avoid high tolerances

Although the tightest tolerances in any production process may be accommodated by CNC machining, not every item needs the tightest tolerances. In reality, because reaching high tolerances increases manufacturing time (and inspection time), employing tight tolerances only when absolutely essential can significantly save costs.

The manufacturing cost may be greatly decreased if you generally adhere to these six CNC machining design suggestions, the most crucial of which is to keep your components as straightforward as possible. A less complicated item may be processed more quickly and for less money than one with thin walls, an internal radius, and uniformly sized holes and threads.