CNC Machining Archives

All Articles

All Articles(371)3D Printing (14)CNC Design Guide (3)CNC Machining (156)Design Guide (20)Injection Molding (35)Manufacturing Costs (25)Manufacturing Materials (35)manufacturing process (15)Material Comparison Molding Techniques (40)Part prototyping (38)Sheet Metal Fabrication (4)Silicone Molds (25)Surface Finish (1)Urethane Casting (37)Vacuum Casting (85)

SINKER EDM VS CNC MILLING FOR COMPLEX FEATURES

QUICK ANSWER — SINKER EDM VS CNC MILLING Sinker EDM removes material with a shaped conductive electrode and controlled electrical discharges that erode an electrically conductive workpiece; the electrode never touches the part. CNC milling removes material mechanically with rotating cutters. Sinker EDM is commonly considered for blind cavities, deep narrow features, hardened mold details, and intricate internal geometry a rotating cutter cannot reach or produce economically. CNC milling is generally preferable for accessible cavities, open geometry, bulk removal, and features standard cutters can machine. A combined route is often appropriate. Neither process is universally more accurate, cheaper, or faster.…

WIRE EDM VS CNC MACHINING: WHEN SHOULD YOU USE EACH PROCESS?

A hardened tool-steel component needs flat mounting faces, a narrow through-slot, and tight internal corner geometry. A CNC milling machine can produce most of that part efficiently, but a rotating end mill leaves a corner radius set by cutter geometry and may struggle with the narrow through-slot. Wire EDM may suit the difficult profile, yet it does not automatically make the whole part cheaper or easier. Process selection depends on individual features, not on whether a part is labeled precision machined. This article helps you route each feature to milling, wire EDM, or both. QUICK ANSWER — WIRE EDM VS…

SWISS CNC MACHINING FOR SMALL PRECISION PARTS: DESIGN AND COST GUIDE

A small stainless-steel shaft looks straightforward on the drawing: several narrow diameters, a precision shoulder, a radial hole, and a thread on one end. Then the process questions start. The slender section between the shoulder and the thread may deflect under cutting force if it is turned as a cantilever. The radial hole needs a second operation unless the lathe carries live tooling. The thread and the shoulder may need to be measured in different setups, and each transfer adds handling, datum shift, and inspection time. None of these problems is visible in the geometry alone; they emerge from how…

What Is Mill-Turn Machining and When Should You Use It?

A shaft arrives with four feature families on one drawing: two ground bearing journals, a pair of milled wrench flats, a radial cross-hole that must intersect the centerline at a controlled angle, and a threaded end. Turning produces the journals and the thread. The flats and the cross-hole need a rotating cutter. The procurement question is not whether both operations are possible — they clearly are — but whether they should happen on two machines or on one mill-turn platform. That choice changes more than the machine schedule. It determines how many times the part is clamped, which datums survive…

CNC Milling vs Turning: Which Process Fits Your Part?

Two parts can look equally simple on a drawing and still land on entirely different machines. One needs a lathe, one needs a machining center, and a third needs both. Picking the wrong one is usually not a machining failure — it's a routing failure that shows up later as extra setups, harder inspection, or a price you can't explain. This guide gives you the routing logic engineers actually use: look at the dominant geometry, isolate the feature that controls function, identify the datum it's measured from, and let the process follow. For each decision point it also tells you…

How to Verify a CNC Machining Supplier in China Before You Order

A supplier you can order from is one whose every claim arrives with a document you can check: a registration record that matches the contract, a certificate that names the site doing the work, a bank beneficiary that matches the seller. Skip those checks and the failure is quiet. You pay for a pilot that proves nothing because nobody defined what passing meant, or you find the ISO certificate belongs to a different address, or the money leaves for an account nobody can explain. This guide gives you ten checks you can run from your desk, with no factory visit.…

CNC Machining Sample Parts: What to Specify Before Ordering

An approved sample can stop being valid without anyone arguing about it. A drawing revision lands after approval, or a finish decision gets made on the shop floor and never written into the note, and the part in your hand no longer matches the part you signed off. The sample was fine. The record was not. This article sets out the sequence we use for ordering CNC machining sample parts: define, freeze, inspect, approve, release. Each step produces a document, and each document answers a question a later reviewer will ask. It is a buyer-side control process. It does not…

IS THERE A MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY FOR CNC MACHINING?

Is there a minimum order quantity for CNC machining? There is no industry-wide universal MOQ inherent to the process, but that's not the same as "no minimum." CNC machining doesn't need a dedicated production mold, so a shop can quote small quantities that molding would rule out. Project-specific constraints — stock availability, workholding, special tooling, outside processing, inspection requirements, and the supplier's own commercial policy — can still create practical minimums. What usually changes with quantity is the price, not whether the part can be made. That is why "what's your MOQ?" is a weaker question than it looks. The…

CNC MACHINING QUOTE COMPARISON: WHAT ENGINEERS SHOULD CHECK BEFORE ORDERING

Three CNC prices are not necessarily three prices for the same manufacturing scope. A CNC machining quote comparison only becomes meaningful once you can prove that every supplier priced the same drawing revision, the same material grade and temper, the same tolerance basis, the same surface finish, the same quantity, the same inspection scope, the same packaging and freight basis, and the same definition of when the lead-time clock starts. Those variables are why three quotations can arrive looking like three different projects. One supplier prices general tolerances; another prices the individually toleranced features. One includes a first article inspection,…

HOW TO AUDIT A CNC MACHINING MANUFACTURER: 12 QUESTIONS TO VERIFY QUALITY, CAPACITY, AND TRACEABILITY

INTRODUCTION Choosing a CNC machining supplier and auditing a CNC machining manufacturer are related decisions, but they are not the same decision. Supplier selection helps a buyer compare potential sources based on technical capability, commercial terms, lead time, communication, and overall sourcing fit. A manufacturer audit asks a narrower and more demanding question: Can this specific manufacturer demonstrate, with objective evidence, that it can manufacture this specific part under controlled conditions? That distinction matters because a professional audit should go beyond: website appearance machine photographs total machine count certification logos sample parts sales presentations quotation confidence The purpose is…

1 2 … 16 >

LKprototype

All Articles

SINKER EDM VS CNC MILLING FOR COMPLEX FEATURES

WIRE EDM VS CNC MACHINING: WHEN SHOULD YOU USE EACH PROCESS?

SWISS CNC MACHINING FOR SMALL PRECISION PARTS: DESIGN AND COST GUIDE

What Is Mill-Turn Machining and When Should You Use It?

CNC Milling vs Turning: Which Process Fits Your Part?

How to Verify a CNC Machining Supplier in China Before You Order

CNC Machining Sample Parts: What to Specify Before Ordering

IS THERE A MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY FOR CNC MACHINING?

CNC MACHINING QUOTE COMPARISON: WHAT ENGINEERS SHOULD CHECK BEFORE ORDERING

HOW TO AUDIT A CNC MACHINING MANUFACTURER: 12 QUESTIONS TO VERIFY QUALITY, CAPACITY, AND TRACEABILITY

Turning Ideas into Precision Prototypes & Parts

Dongguan LKprototype Model Co., Ltd.

SERVICE

INDUSTRIES

SOLUTIONS

ABOUT

Join our newsletter

All Articles

Turning Ideas into Precision Prototypes & Parts

Dongguan LKprototype Model Co., Ltd.

SERVICE

INDUSTRIES

SOLUTIONS

ABOUT

Join our newsletter

You can get a project quoteBefore reading

You can get a project quote
Before reading