Precision Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machining is about reliable, consistent, cost-effective fabrication.
- The machinist inserts a solid stock piece of material, programs the actions of the machine, and then the CNC machine automatically modifies, shapes, and artfully removes layers of material (sometimes called subtractive machining) until all that is left is a finished part, tool, or product.
- Machinists cross collaborate with other engineering disciplines to finish prototypes, small batches, or mass production designs on computer numerical machines.
- CNC machines, most traditionally looking like a large cabinet, can fabricate thousands of parts per day.
- CNC machines can even perform other automated tasks like machine tending, inspection, and post processing.
Precision CNC machining shares the same fundamental concepts as traditional CNC machining, but with one major difference: Intricacy and specificity. The principles of precision CNC discard the classic job shop mentality of ‘fabricating anything’ to provide quicker, cost effective, and consistent production of parts and products. There are numerous brands of CNC machines with different strengths and specialties.
These are the project qualities to consider when looking for a Precision CNC manufacturer to create your OEM parts, prototypes, and products.
- Part Size
- Some custom CNC machines can handle forty-foot beams, other machines can micromachine features as small as .1 millimeter.
- Not all CNC machines can handle the same level of precision, length, and weight.
- A precision CNC machinist maintains a manufacturing architecture capable of handling a specific market of part sizes.
- Materials
- Depending on the machine (or the goals of the business), products and parts can be made from ferrous and nonferrous metals, composites, wood, plastics, glass, and urethane foam.
- A precision CNC machinist focuses on a limited set of materials for refined quality.
- Tooling Task
- CNC machines can be programmed for cutting, drilling, grinding, turning, sawing, deburring, polishing, honing, welding, lapping, and broaching.
- A precision CNC machinist may focus their machine capabilities and programming options on focused tasks.
- Process
- There are some types of CNC machining that require specific focuses in engineering.
- A thermoforming CNC machine, a machine designed to heat and mold plastic over electronics or other parts, has very different engineering compared to a machine that performs nonferrous plate fixture machining.
- A precision CNC machinist picks the focuses of their machining capabilities.
- Industry
- There are specific regulations, requirements, and nuances related to different industries.
- Food processing parts will require a different standard of cleanliness than rugged industrial parts.
- Medical will require a different level of sterility than agricultural OEM parts. Aerospace and military equipment will require higher durability than home electronics.
- A precision CNC machinist accounts for the necessities of the project and measures them against the available options of their CNC machine
Advantages of Precision CNC Machining
Partnering with a Precision CNC Machining manufacturer for your parts, prototypes, and products gives you a wide array of advantages over a traditional job shop or general CNC shop.
- Cost effectiveness- When you choose a Precision CNC Manufacturer, they leverage specificity of their tools, resources, and knowledge to create solutions that do not sacrifice quality when they save money.
- They take an agnostic approach to suppliers, engineering methods, and programming options to make sure that cost effective options are considered.
- Since they are not trying to follow ‘jack of all trades’ and ‘master of none’ methods, they pass along savings to your project by choosing a focused set of trades, materials, and tools to work with.
- They save you prohibitive internal costs of building your own internal precision CNC engineering team that diverts you from running your own business.
- Quality- If you know the industry, the materials, and the functions you want in the finished project, you want to partner with a precision CNC machine manufacturer.
- Nobody wants to settle for less specific tools, ambiguous track records with your material choices, and a team looking to take any type of business that comes across the desk.
- Seamlessly crafted products, surgically clean tools, and ultra smooth finishes come from precision engineering and precision CNC machining.
- Mass production- A stereotypical job shop or generalist CNC machinist stops at prototyping and forces the customer to take ownership of scaling the prototype.
- A precision CNC machinist works with a series of CNC tools and programs capable of maintaining Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) standards with mass production.
- Their dedicated discipline, authority, and experience allows them to allocate bandwidth to production line versions of the parts, tools, and products they manufacture.
- Authority- A quality machinist can design, program, and machine any part, tool, or product they are told to make.
- A precision CNC machinist can take a high concept request, leverage their discipline specific experience, and guide their customers to solutions that cut costs, reduce development time, and support the long-term business goals of the assessment.
- If you lack in-house engineering, you should not be forced to provide drag and drop details of part selection and diagrams. A precision CNC machinist should be doing that for you.
- Seeking a CNC machinist that seeks mastery in your range of sizes, materials, tasks, industry, and functions always yields the best end products.
- A precision CNC machinist understands the nuances of the industry outside of the business that home in on practical improvements job shops and generalists lack.
- Mutual investment- A precision CNC machinist has invested in the tools, materials, and mass production capacity to make your technology long term.
- A prototype job shop is only looking for the next project.
- A prototype job shop moves down a queue of jobs.
- A precision CNC machinist designs your prototypes with scaling in mind.
- A precision CNC machine shop has the manufacturing capacity to mass produce your product for years through a long-term manufacturing contract.
- Precision CNC contracts invest the precision CNC machinist in producing quality cost-effective goods for your business as you both grow and tie their success to your success.
- Consistency- A precision CNC machine shop has more capacity to cross collaborate between electrical engineers, software engineers, mechanical engineers, and project managers.
- This holistic single source approach not only allows cross discipline review of your design, but it also allows for part and design families compatible with your other projects and programming.
- Dollars on the Bottom Line- A precision CNC machinist is not just considering the calculations, computations, and tolerances of your machined part.
- A precision CNC company evaluates the design decisions for opportunities to pursue growth for customers.
- They design features and definitions that allow for design substitutions for future upgrades.
- They compare part options for longevity and compatibility with their current technology.
- They match the engineering solution to the market solution.
- Testing- A precision CNC company focuses on the testing, tolerances, and application specific requirements that meet the minimum requirements of mass production, not just the minimums of prototyping.
- They leverage a focused expertise on specific engineering with application specific testing methods.
- Easier- Leaving the specifics of the project to a precision CNC company saves you the headache of establishing an in-house engineering company.
- They save you the effort involved with choosing parts, specifics of design, and vetting of solutions.
- They take high concept functional requests for the design and make them reality.
- They manage the communication schedule, solicit the right feedback, and demonstrate the choices they have made to realize your solution.
- They deliver on time, they adjust for your needs, and they adjust to the needs of the industry.
- They proactively pursue improvements to the design, ways to cut costs without sacrificing quality, and ways to serve your market.
- They take ownership of the project while supporting your control of the result.
We bring experience and expertise to precision CNC manufacturing. Tell us more about your project, schedule a virtual meeting, or call (262)-622-6104 to learn how DEVELOP LLC can manufacture your products with quality, consistency, speed, and cost-effective high-volume production.