Design, Manufacturing & Usage Considerations

Internal corner radius: Set a reasonable internal fillet radius (no less than 1/3 of the cavity depth) to match standard tool diameters, avoid sharp internal corners that cannot be milled, and reduce tool wear.

Hole design constraints: Control the depth-to-diameter ratio of deep holes within 3:1 for general machining; avoid excessively small holes that increase processing difficulty and tool breakage risk.

Wall thickness design: Maintain uniform wall thickness and avoid excessively thin structures; the minimum recommended wall thickness for common metals is 0.5–1mm depending on material properties, to prevent machining deformation.

Reasonable tolerance allocation: Only assign tight tolerances to critical functional surfaces; unnecessary ultra-tight tolerances will significantly increase production cost and rejection rate.

Datum and clamping reservation: Design unified positioning datums and reserved clamping margins to ensure stable positioning and reduce cumulative errors from multiple setups.

Material selection: Select materials matching both performance requirements and machinability; prioritize common standard materials to reduce material cost and lead time.

Tool and parameter optimization: Select appropriate cutting tools (carbide, coated tools, CBN, etc.) and cutting parameters according to workpiece material and accuracy requirements, with sufficient cooling and lubrication to extend tool life.

Clamping rigidity control: Ensure stable workpiece clamping with sufficient support; use special fixtures for thin-walled parts to reduce vibration chatter and machining deformation.

Thermal deformation compensation: Control ambient temperature and cutting heat for high-precision parts, and adopt temperature compensation measures to avoid dimensional deviation caused by thermal expansion.

Rough and finish separation: Separate roughing and finishing processes, with stress relief treatment in between for high-precision parts, to release residual stress and reduce post-processing deformation.

In-process quality inspection: Conduct dimensional inspection at key process nodes; use CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) for complex geometric and position tolerance verification.

Surface treatment allowance: Reserve reasonable machining allowance for post-surface treatments (anodizing, plating, passivation, coating) to avoid final dimension out-of-tolerance.

Choose the appropriate machining process according to part geometry, precision requirement and batch size: 3-axis milling for simple prismatic parts, 5-axis for complex curved surfaces, and turning for rotary parts.

Balance precision requirements and manufacturing cost. Excessively high accuracy and surface finish requirements will greatly increase processing time and cost.

Arrange the sequence of heat treatment, surface treatment and machining properly. For example, hardening should be arranged before finishing grinding, and coating should be arranged after final machining with reserved allowance.

For mass production, verify process stability through trial production first; for small-batch prototyping, prioritize process flexibility to shorten lead time.

Avoid non-standard special features without necessity, as they will increase tooling cost and processing cycle.