5 Design Tips To Make Your CNC Parts Easy for Milling

Have you taken the machining requirements into account when designing CNC parts? While ensuring functionality, appearance, and reliability, the design should also be optimized for ease of manufacturing and cost-effectiveness. In this section, we'll discuss some CNC milling tips:

1. The depth of milling area

The milling depth should remain shallow, with a depth-to-width ratio no greater than 3:1. Exceeding this ratio increases the risk of the milling cutter breaking, which can lead to higher costs.

2. The life of the milling cutter

If the use of a long milling cutter is unavoidable, its design can be optimized to extend its lifespan, as illustrated in the following images.

3. The corner radius

The corners of the large recessed area should maintain a radius matching the diameter of a standard milling cutter. In the original design, as shown in the figure, the corners are sharp right angles, making the part unsuitable for milling and requiring a more costly process, such as EDM. However, in the optimized design, the addition of corner radii enables the part to be machined using milling techniques.

4. Adding boss structure

When strict flatness is required for a part’s surface, incorporating a boss structure is recommended. Machining only the surface of the boss, rather than the entire surface, helps achieve better flatness while also minimizing the milling area.

5. The outer corner angles

A bevel should be used instead of a rounded corner to simplify the milling process. Rounded corners require form-relieved cutters, which complicate clamping and significantly increase manufacturing costs.