General design rules for

machining
(Drilling , Milling & Turning)
Examples of Drilling Design Guidelines
Avoid Deep Holes
Entry/Exit Surface for Holes recommended on flat plane surfaces
Avoid Holes with Flat Bottom
Avoid Holes Intersecting Cavities
Partial Holes
Standard hole sizes
Avoid Deep Holes
Deep, small diameter holes should be avoided as they are difficult to
machine.
Small diameter drills tend to wander and are prone to breaking. Chip
removal also becomes difficult while drilling deep holes.
Recommended : The hole diameter to depth ratio should be less than 3.
Entry/Exit Surface for Holes recommended on flat plane surfaces:

Drills should enter and exit surfaces that are perpendicular to the centerline of the hole.
If the drill tip contacts the non-planer surface, then tip will wander as its axis is not
perpendicular.
Also exit burrs will be uneven around the circumference of the exit hole, which can
make burr removal difficult.
Avoid Holes with Flat Bottom:

Blind holes should not have a flat bottom. Flat bottomed holes cause problems with
subsequent operations (for example: reaming).
A standard twist drill creates a hole with a conical bottom.
Avoid Holes Intersecting Cavities
Holes should not intersect a cavity. If an intersection is unavoidable, at a minimum, the
center-line of the hole should be outside the cavity.
During machining, the drill follows the path of least resistance when it intersects a cavity.
There is a good chance that the drill will wander when it re-enters the material.
Partial Holes:

Avoid partial holes as there are high chances that drill will wander if a large
portion of the hole is outside the material.
The problem can become even more severe if the axis of hole is on or near the
edge of the material.
If partial hole is unavoidable, then ensure that at least 75% of hole area should be
within the material.
Standard hole sizes:
Specify standard hole sizes as they can be created using a standard drill.
Unusual hole sizes are not recommended as they require custom tools and increase
the cost of manufacturing through purchasing and inventory.
Reducing variations in holes size will further reduce assembly accessories like
fasteners, pin, rivets, etc.
Milling
Milling is one of the most flexible and
well known method of machining.
Due to the high tolerances and surface
finishes that milling can offer, it is ideal
for producing parts with precision
features and shapes.
Milling is typically used to produce
parts that are not axially symmetric and
DFM guidelines recommend avoiding
sharp internal corners inside pockets
when it is to be manufactured using
milling process.
Design Guidelines for Milling
Avoid deep Narrow and deep slots
Avoid deep Radiused Corners to be machined
Avoid Sharp Internal Corners to be machined
Avoid narrow Regions In Pockets
Avoid non- standard Side Radius and Bottom Radius
Angular Milling Faces
Tool Accessibility
Avoid deep Narrow and deep slots:
Try to avoid pockets and slots that are narrow and deep.
Longer tools are more prone to breakage and chip removal becomes difficult, especially
when the pockets and slots are blind.
Avoid deep Radiused Corners to be machined:
Designers should design milling areas such that longer end mills are not
required to machine it.
Longer end mills are prone to breakages and chatter, requires longer
machining time and results in increased tool vibrations.
Vibration creates uneven wear on cutting tools and thereby shortens tool
life.
Avoid Sharp Internal Corners to be machined:
Rounded corners provides number of advantages such as less stress concentration on
part and tool, few operational steps and reduced scrap rate.
Sharp inside corners cannot be produced by milling and require more expensive
machining methods like EDM.
When designing a three-edged inside corner, one of the inside edges should be
radiused.
It is recommended to avoid sharp corners and use fillets and radii.
Avoid narrow Regions In Pockets:
It is recommended to avoid features that are too close to each other such that the gap
between them is too narrow to allow milling cutter to pass through them.
If narrow regions are unavoidable, then they should not be very deep.
The size of the milling cutter is constrained by the smallest distance between the faces of the
feature. Small diameter cutters are prone to breakage and chatter.
Hence larger diameter, shorter cutters are generally preferred.
Avoid non- standard Side Radius and Bottom Radius:
Recommended Use of standard side radius and bottom radius for milling features will ease
manufacturing of milling features with standard available milling tools.
For reducing, machining cycle time and tool setup cost, it is recommended to avoid non-
standard side radius and bottom radius.
It is recommended to use single standard side radius and single standard bottom radius.
Angular Milling Faces:
Side and bottom faces are recommended of milling features separated by bottom fillet
should be at 90 to each other to allow production with an end mill having bottom corner
radius.
Machining of angular faces require multi-axis machining, which leads to higher
machining cost.
Tool Accessibility:
Features should be accessible to the cutting tool in the preferred machining
orientation
Design Guidelines for Turning
Design parts for ease of fixturing and clamping (avoid thin, slender parts)
Specify wide tolerances and surface finishes if possible
Avoid sharp corners, tapers, and major dimensional variations in cutting tool
Use near-net-shape forming to reduce machining cycle times
Design features that only need standard cutting tools, inserts, and tool holders
Select materials with good machinability
Provide good support and stiffness in the turning operation
Adjust parameters if chatter occurs
It is preferable to avoid interrupted cuts, as they tend to shorten tool life.
 Industrial Design recommendations:
Blind hole relief Long-Slender-Turned-Parts

Minimum-Internal-Corner-Radius Symmetrical-Axial-Slots
Redesign of a shaft support bracket for easy machining
The initial design of the shaft support bracket, which is bolted to a housing to
support a rotating shaft. Accurate machining is needed for the bore with high
tolerance in locating the bore relative to the dowel holes.
Analysis
Initial design had the following features that are difficult to machine:
Different diameters for the dowels and bolt holes, which requires tool change
and loss of time
The bore and oil hole are long relative to their diameter, which require long
processing steps.
The is no obvious features on the outer surface to fix the part and prevent
rotation during machining.
Solution:
For easy machining, the part was redesigned as shown in above figure:
The dowels and bolt holes have the same diameter.
The center of the bore has a larger diameter than the ends to reduce
length to be machined.
The length of the oil hole is reduced.
Flat surfaces were cast on outer surfaces for ease of location while
machining.

Conclusion
These changes reduced the machining time from 173 to 119 seconds,
(33%). Quality is also better and higher tolerances are possible.
 Dimensional tolerance and surface roughness:
shows the process vis--
vis range of achievable
dimensional tolerance

Tolerance Limit bar chart indicating compatibility between the manufacturing process and tolerance limit
 Dimensional tolerance and surface roughness:
process vis--vis range of
minimum achievable
surface roughness

Surface roughness Limit bar chart indicating compatibility between the manufacturing process and minimum surface
roughness limit
Design recommendations for machine parts:

Avoid tolerances that necessitate

machining operations if the as-cast, as
forged, or as-formed dimensions and
surface finishes would be satisfactory for
the parts function.
 Design recommendations for machine parts:

Use stock dimensions whenever possible, and

minimize the amount of machining.
Design recommendations for machine parts:

Design the part to be rigid enough so that it will withstand cutting and clamping forces without
significant deflection and so that cutting tools and tool holders also do not deflect.
Design recommendations for machine parts:

Avoid undercuts as much as possible because they require extra

machining operations, which may be costly.
 Design recommendations for machine parts:

Stampings are often less costly than

machined castings.
Design recommendations for machine parts:

Design parts so that standard

cutting tools can be used.