When designing a part or product. There is always a set of objectives and guidelines dir the final designs, regardless of the manufacturing method used. Numerous factors, including materials, design, finish, quantity, and turnaround time, can affect the cost of CNC Machining Parts.
Typically, the most critical factor is the amount of time required to machine your parts. This can have a more significant impact on cost than material costs, setup time, or kind of finish.
There are a few strategies to keep a manufacturing budget in check, mainly when starting with CNC machining services. To start, shop around for the most affordable quick prototyping or CNC machining provider. However, several of the most critical cost-cutting strategies for CNC machining occur during the design process.
With CNC machining, it’s crucial to keep in mind that the more time it takes, the more expensive it will be to produce. For example, material choice and part design play a role in this rule’s application. These factors, as well as others, affect the cost of a product. Today, we’ll focus on the design of parts and how certain design choices might influence and reduce CNC Machining costs.
Avoid thin walls
The ability to produce parts with extremely tight tolerances and thin walls of roughly 1mm is conceivable with CNC machining. However, the cost of your product may necessitate thickening the walls when possible. A thin wall can be challenging to machine because of the danger of damaging the item through vibrations if it is done too quickly. Machining thin walls necessitate a lot of low-cutting-depth repetition, which takes a long time. Adding larger walls to a product can therefore help reduce machining time and increase efficiency.
Integrate internal radii
Internal radii rather than 90-degree angles at corners will save substantial machining time and expenses when constructing your part. Due to their cylindrical shape, CNC milling machines produce corners inside parts that naturally have a radius. As a result, designing a part with internal radii rather than sharp corners can help speed up the manufacturing process. Additionally, a larger inner radius allows for a larger milling tool, which results in a faster machining time.
Avoid Deep Pockets
Deep pockets can negatively influence CNC machining costs since they necessitate the removal of a large amount of material to achieve them. Removing material is a time-consuming process that may require the use of a particular tool.
The depth of your pockets should be no more than four times the length of your design. There is a limit to how deep a CNC tool can carve a pocket — ideally two to three times its diameter. Cutting four times the diameter is conceivable, but it will cost you more money in the long term.
Avoid Deep threads
To save money on machining, it’s best to keep thread depths as shallow as possible. Unless necessary for a specific part, threads with depths larger than three times the diameter of the hole are usually not required. Non-standard tools may be required to machine threads deeper than average, increasing the time and expense of machining.
Tight Tolerances should be used sparingly.
Designing a product with a tight tolerance increases the machining time and requires a manual inspection, which raises the cost. As machining holes and other cavities can leave burrs on the edges, tight tolerances on the inside surfaces of your product are particularly difficult to attain. In addition to the manual inspection, deburring is required to remove these burrs. Deburring is a time-consuming and labor-intensive procedure that adds to the cost of CNC machining, making it more expensive.
The standard tolerance of 0.125 millimeters or better is utilized if a specific tolerance is not established by design. It’s a good idea to review any tight tolerances you have and only define tight tolerance when it is really necessary. It’s possible to save money on CNC machining if you have the sophisticated design skills required to use Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) in your design.
The numbers that describe your dimensions are crucial because they specify the level of precision you require for your product. What tool will be used to machine it depends on how accurate it is. Decimal places make the tool more complex and expensive, so add as few as possible. Your design should be free of superfluous decimal points.
Keep to the standard tool size ranges.
By maintaining dimensions that are compatible with typical CNC machines while designing a product, significant machining time can be saved. For example, the dimensions of the holes, threads, and cavities should be the same as those of standard CNC tools. As a result, fewer tool changes will be required during CNC machining, resulting in a more efficient process overall.
Change your perspective on how you utilize text.
Consider whether or not you need to incorporate text or letters into your CNC machined product. Precision engraving or embossing necessitates a significant increase in the time and expense of machining. Instead of lettering, use a finishing procedure like painting if your product needs it. As a rule, choose sans-serif fonts and pick engraving over embossed lettering if you need to incorporate text into the portion.
Order Larger Quantities
The price per unit depends heavily on how many parts you order. You can use what’s known as the economies of scale to help you lower CNC machining costs. Quantity increases from one to fifty can reduce the unit price by more than 50%.
The next time you order, think about increasing the quantity you order.
It’s essential to choose long-term CNC machining services that supply high-quality and long-lasting products and services to help you grow your business.
It’s best to keep things simple.
Simplify is the overarching concept in many of these suggestions for cutting CNC machining expenses. A complex part is likely to necessitate unique tools or fixtures, several machine configurations, and specific materials that will cost you extra money when you design it.
Conclusion
CNC machining is an excellent choice for medium- to large-scale production of plastic parts or metal components. While looking at a part’s design, it’s a good rule of thumb to keep things basic and ask yourself whether each element is essential to save money in the long run.
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