Several aspects that affect the cost of custom CNC machined parts, including materials, design, surface treatment, quantity, and turnaround time. When you want to create prototypes or mass-produce end-use products, CNC machining is a good way to achieve it. The time of custom CNC machining parts is directly affected by the material and part design. Therefore, the 10 skills of our engineers, after verification and skills, can help you to optimize the design and make more cost-effective choices.
1. Choose the most suitable material
When you design custom CNC machining parts, choosing the right material is the most important way to save costs. The cost of raw materials may be low, but if it is difficult to process, the final cost may be high, but raw materials that are easy to process. You must choose the right material according to the purpose and function of the custom CNC machined part.
2. Avoid thin wall design
Thin walls can cause deformation, making it difficult to maintain tolerances. They can also cause chattering and reduce the speed of CNC machining machines. Because they often vibrate or deform, it is difficult to maintain accurate tolerances. Custom CNC machining parts with too thin walls are usually defined as thinner than 0.796 mm, which is not a good choice for CNC machining.
3. Avoid designing complicated parts
Custom CNC machining parts size, including size and complexity, have a great impact on cost. Special tools, multi-axis CNC machine tools or some custom fixtures are required to process custom CNC machined parts with super-large, micro-size or complex designs, all of which will increase the total cost.
If you need it, then you can try to split the parts into 2 or more separate parts, and then weld or bolt them together after processing, the cost of customized CNC machining parts may be reduced.
4. Choose the trade-off between quantity and turnaround time
The number of custom CNC machined parts manufactured by a CNC milling machine directly affects the unit cost: even if the total cost is higher, the more the number, the lower the cost.
5. Try not to use 90° internal angles as much as possible
Sharp or 90-degree internal angles will take up more CNC machining processes and time, and will increase the cost of additional customized CNC machining parts. However, most of the internal angles do not need to be 90 degrees, and the rounded corners do not affect the function.
6. Minimize the internal cavity
Creating a cavity requires removing a large amount of material, which results in wasted material and difficult to remove chips, or it may require special processes (such as wire EDM or Sink EDM) to reach the depth. These will cost you more money.
7. Use standard outlet size
When custom CNC machined parts are designed with threaded holes, the hole depth and thread size will affect the total price. For tap holes, both tap size and thread depth will increase the cost. Threaded holes smaller than 2-57 inches need to be tapped manually, increasing time and labor costs, so they should be avoided. Therefore, the use of standard tap sizes can reduce the risk and cost of customized CNC machining parts.
8. Ensure design accuracy
Consulting an experienced machinist or engineer in the design stage of custom CNC machined parts to verify the accuracy of CAD drawings may increase the initial cost. Based on years of production experience, a longer delivery time can reduce the overall cost by 4%-6%.
9. Carefully evaluate the surface treatment
Surface treatments and other treatments, such as heat treatment, special coatings, and anodizing, will increase project costs and should be carefully evaluated. Multiple finishing processes or different surface finishing types on a custom CNC machined part will also increase the processing steps, thereby increasing the cost. If you want to reduce the total cost, choosing standard machined surface treatment is a good choice. Machined surface is a fast and economical choice, which is widely used in custom CNC machined parts in various industries.
10. Avoid excessive use of tight tolerances
According to the ISO 2768-1 standard, with precision processing equipment and production experience, it can meet the precision to ±0.01mm tolerance. Not every custom CNC machined part designed has strict tolerances, and too many unnecessary surface manufacturing will increase the total cost of the part.
Summarize
The above are the top 10 design techniques to help you reduce the cost of custom CNC machined parts. All in all, keep it simple and follow the standard. Consult an experienced custom CNC machined parts manufacturer during the design stage, which can help you optimize the design drawings and make parts that are both functional and cost-effective.