About CNC Prototyping:

CNC machining is a very common technique for creating prototypes. 3-axis, 4-axis and 5-axis lathes and mills make this a great choice for low volume, complicated parts. Short turnaround times and large variety of materials to choose from makes CNC very popular for R&D engineers. The use of CNC allows for highly accurate parts to be made to meet tight deadlines.

Advantages of CNC Prototyping:

  1. Large selection of materials to choose from
  2. Ability to try out several different designs
  3. Functional parts that will be almost identical to final product
  4. Quick turnaround

Disadvantages of CNC Protyping:

  1. Might have to modify design to be machined vs. molded
  2. Parts might have to be split in order to be machined
  3. Machining can create residual stresses in the part
  4. Complicated and large parts can be expensive to machine
  5. Some plastics and metals hard to machine

Sample Materials for CNC Protyping:

Plastics Ferrous Metals Nonferrous Metals
Acrylic Mild Steel Aluminium
Polycarbonate Carbon Steel Copper
Peek Stainless Steel Titanium
Nylon Cast Iron Gold
Delrin   Silver
UHMWPE   Tantalum
ABS   Nickel
PVC   Zinc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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