Common CNC Machining Design Mistakes that Must Be Avoided
07 December 2020The integration of computer numerical control (CNC) machines to various industries today has brought them a lot of benefits. First, these machines have constantly provided accurate and high-quality output even if they carry out the same machining processes repeatedly. Additionally, they have brought tremendous improvements over the speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of daily operations. They likewise enhanced safety over processes that are usually risky during manual labour.
All the benefits of CNC machines make them optimal for most manufacturing and industrial processes. However, even with the assistance of experienced professionals, some mistakes may still occur and happen during the CNC machining process. When creating parts with tools integrated with CNC machines, here are some common design mistakes that usually occur and must be avoided at all cost.
Exaggerating the Design
One of the most common mistakes made by CNC machine operators is to exaggerate and overcomplicate the design. Despite the efficiency and accuracy of CNC machines, they still work best whenever processing simple and straightforward designs. With complicated designs, the machines would find themselves struggling, which may subsequently increase overall lead times and costs. Machines that are forced to work on complex designs can likewise cause them to break in some instances.
Adding Texts and Logos
With an appropriate tool, the CNC machine can easily engrave texts, symbols, and logos onto concerned parts and products. However, adding these elements with CNC machining can be wasteful in terms of time, money, and other resources. With CNC machining, you must obtain a separate cutting tool just for the addition of text. Fortunately, there are other more efficient ways of adding them, all without affecting the quality of the final products. One great way of adding these elements would be laser marking.
Ignoring Wall Thickness
Some CNC machine operators would easily overlook wall thickness. And as they go on with their works, they would eventually be surprised by how their parts have already been damaged along the way. Making the walls too thin for CNC machining must be avoided since it can easily cause part failure, warping, chipping, breaking, and other costly issues. One important thing to consider when measuring the suitable wall thickness of a part is to know the properties of its specific material. Walls of parts and products that will undergo CNC machining process should have a width-to-height ratio of 3:1.
Integrating Deep Cavities
CNC tools and parts have their own set of limitations. Their limitations may pertain to their maximum cutting or drilling length, design complication, and others. With these factors, the integration of very deep cavities, holes, or pockets to parts and products with CNC machining must be avoided. Damages and defects on parts and products can easily occur once the processing of deep cavities and spaces take place. Doing these features can also increase lead times and overall operation costs.
If you need professional assistance over CNC machining processes, feel free to contact us at Kinetic Engineering. We are a proudly Australian owned and family-run CNC machining and general engineering services company that was first established in 1984 with a vision to grow within the industry and produce quality Australian-made products for its customers.
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