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PPSU plastic prototype machining

Top Tips of CNC Plastic Machining

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CNC Prototype Machining

CNC machining has typically been thought of as a method of processing processes. However, the modern industry’s precision needs for parts made of all feasible materials are continually increasing. Thus, it served as a motivation for the advancement of CNC plastic machining technologies. As a result, it has now carved out a significant niche in the high precision, low volume, and prototype manufacture of plastic parts.

We can provide advanced CNC prototyping services and high temperature and high-strength plastic machining materials if you require plastic prototypes or bespoke parts, fusing complex components, or finishing and polishing services with low volume manufacturing.

We have provided plastic machining and plastic component fabrication for global customers at reasonable costs for over 20 years. Contact us immediately for additional information on how to help you start your new project.

Methods Of CNC Plastic Machining

There are numerous techniques for producing high-precision plastic parts. Cast, injection-molded, printed, or machined industrial-grade plastics are used today. The first three options are ideal for creating complex geometry items with a high level of surface polish. However, when it comes to achieving a tight tolerance or producing a mirror-like surface polish in practically any type of item, nothing beats machining.

Approximately 80% of the plastic pieces are CNC machined. It is the usual way to produce articles without a revolutionary axis. The remainder is normally turned on a lathe. Slotting or planning is used in several instances and is typically used to create inner grooves or rectangular holes. Finally, CNC machined items are polished or chemically processed to provide an excellent surface finish.

CNC Plastic Materials

Our ISO-certified CNC machine can perform Milling, Turning, Drilling, Sanding, Grinding, Punching, Tooling, and Welding. We can make high-performance plastics from various materials in sheets, round rods, and other shapes. Hundreds of CNC plastic materials are available, including Derlin, Nylon, PTFE, Uitem, Norly, PEEK, Torlon, Lexan®, Techtron® PPS, and Acetal.

Tips to Plastic Machining

Machine Tools

Let’s clear the air first and foremost. There are no plastic CNC machines. Metal machining equipment is used in all of the plastic-cutting machine tools. Their exact stiffness and power output enable them to process even tough plastics easily. However, because their stiffness is lower, woodworking machine tools will not perform as well.

Cutting Tools

Choosing the best plastic cutting tools is a difficult task. The reason for this is that the composition of plastic and composite materials varies greatly. For example, some polymers are reinforced with hard carbide particles or contain chemicals that improve flexibility, thermal resistance, or another attribute. All of this alters how plastic behaves in machining. Even the material’s colorant is significant because, depending on the type, the tint may change during machining owing to excessive heating.

Having stated that, it is clear that selecting the proper cutting tool shape for the machined plastic parts is essential. Milling tools, for example, are comparable to aluminum cutters with two flutes, but the cutting edges have sharper angles. Drills are a good example of this. Their major angle, which is normally 120 degrees for metals, is reduced to 60 degrees. As a result, the chips are smaller and easier to remove. However, you cannot use such a type of drill for metals. It’ll fall apart in a matter of minutes.

Part Setup

When constructing your plastic CNC block, remember this. Not the same as the metal is the plastic. You may easily create an enormous imprint on the surface by clamping the blank with too much pressure. The piece will most probably fracture if you apply too much power. It is preferable to use special pads manufactured from a more soft substance between the attachments and remove stains. The stiffness is part of the problem. Part of the problem is rigidity.

For instance, if you are drilling a rather large section ( imagine a notebook case). You must pay particular attention to how distant the drilling location is from the fixtures. During the procedure, the drill will try to pull the part up along its flutes, and if the institutions are too far away, the routine will succeed. It will either bend the part or tear the part away from the fittings.

The Cutting Parameters

Let’s look at the options for plastic cutting procedures using the CNC Milling Plastic case as an example. Excessive friction and plastic deformation of the workpiece instead of cutting are the key problems to be taken into account. To avoid the second problem, constantly maintain the cutters sharp and, if the material you’re using isn’t hard enough, freeze it. Low temperatures cause the plastic to become rigid and brittle.

To protect the chip from melting to the CNC machined item, keep the tool moving and avoid letting it sit in one area for too long. Remove the chip as quickly as possible. As a result, the feeds for plastic processing must be large, even aggressive. With a higher feed rate, spindle speeds must be faster as well. The estimated speed is approximately three times that of aluminum feeds, with a comparable cutting speed.

PPSU plastic prototype machining

The Role of Plastics in CNC Prototyping

Plastic machining services are inextricably linked to the art of CNC prototyping. Polymer materials are ideal for prototyping and technical testing. The reason for this is that plastics are relatively easy to machine. If the heating or molding equipment you have is not available, producing CNC components from plastic blocks are an easy and rapid approach to obtain these prototypes. In addition, you may utilize the same common equipment used to process metals, giving you a lot of versatility. The cutting rates and feeds will be significantly faster, which means that your product sample may be tested and placed on the market in front of your competitor.

CNC Plastic Machining Services

Many CNC Plastic Machining Services have sprung up because plastic components demand prototyping and customized CNC plastic prototype production. They unquestionably speed up and simplify the manufacturing process for all parties involved. It is especially useful if you have no prior expertise in cutting plastic or making polymer parts in general.

Manufacturing specialists, machinists, and design for manufacturability engineers are all together in such machining shops. They will not only be able to obtain a professional and aesthetically pleasing prototype, but they will also be able to bring out any design flaws, which can drastically save manufacturing time and cost.

 

PPSU CNC prototype machining

CNC Plastic Machining –Perfect Solution For Prototyping and Low Volume Production

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Plastics have come into our lives for many years now and have become such a part of our daily lives. However, plastics remain a really interesting technical solution which today exhibits amazing characteristics. These materials today cover a very wide range which therefore makes it possible to respond to many user issues, to the point that some suppliers are now developing specific plastics for each application requested in response to aesthetic and technical specifications. It has the added benefit of being formed in different ways; molding ,thermoforming, blowing, machining, etc.

Plastic machining, a relevant solution:

Usually, the plastic product is molded according to mass production forming processes ,thus making it possible to manufacture the same part in a repeatable manner at very low production costs. These processes make it possible to easily produce billions of parts. However, machining remains one of the processes for working the plastic to give it the desired shape. CNC plastic machining is easy and the diversity of plastics and sources makes it easy to find a technical solution to your expectations.The most important is that when you are looking for short run production ,in the meantime,the plastic part can not be made by 3D printing , machining will be very useful ,or we can say it is necessary.

Plastic machining helps to reduces costs:

Most of the time, CNC plastic machining is of interest in the production of prototyping and low volume manufacturing parts. It is favored over other processes because the machining has no fixed start-up costs, or very low compared to other forming processes. This therefore makes it possible to follow the development of a product, and to release different versions of the same product in a prototype and product development phase .

Machining can also make it possible to validate part geometry before launching production tooling with a view to controlling a schedule and a budget. Most of customers often use 3D printing or CNC prototype machining before launching and developing the production tooling to verify that the part meets their expectations in order to avoid or to limit as much as possible the subsequent retouching on the tooling leading to longer production times, additional costs and premature wear of the tooling .The diversity of sources and types of plastics makes it possible to ensure a supply in the right format (bar – plates – sheets – panels – etc.). Thanks to this multiplication of sources, it is possible to reduce CNC machined times and costs, to offer you an economical and inexpensive solution.

Take PPSU prototype machining as an example :

TYPICAL PROPERTIES OF PPSU

PPSU (Polysulfone) is an unfilled amorphous thermoplastic with excellent mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. PPSU distinguishes itself from PEI and PSU by a better impact resistance and chemical resistance. Also, the material exhibits superior hydrolysis resistance, in fact, it can be safely said that PPSU has virtually unlimited steam sterilizability, making it a very popular material for medical and pharmaceutical equipment that requires frequent steam sterilization.

Due to PPSU High softening temperature, relatively high cutting available Speed does not cause stickiness. The inherent toughness of these materials allows deep and smooth cuts without chipping or threshing. If cooling is required, the effect of spraying water is very good. . It is recommended to use a cutting speed of 150 m/min to 600 m/min and a feed rate of 0.05 mm/rev to 0.25 mm/rev. Milling can be completed at high speed without coolant or lubricant. The cutting tools used for aluminum machining work well. For example, a 13 mm wide and 2.5 mm deep groove can be end milled at a feed rate of 115 mm/min and a speed of 1,750 rpm.

PPSU CNC prototype machining

Above image of showing is CNC plastic prototype in PPSU material which we made for one of our customers in the past years. It applied for the kitchen device, when customer demanding a few pieces for test and checking the design CAD model during new product development phase. Obviously it’s impossible to be molded or 3D printed .Currently 3D printing can not work with PPSU material .It’s a type of not commonly used engineering material .and very expensive .So CNC machining is the only one choice .

Conclusion

Today,With the continuous innovation and globalization of 3D printing technology,it has been widely used in many sectors,from a small medical component to house building .However ,we can not still leave CNC plastic machining technology due to it’s quickness ,efficiency as well as almost no limitation on materials choice .

 

 

 

prototype model

Does Prototype Equal to The End Product ?

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prototype model

 

Today ,When people are talking about rapid prototyping ,usually it’s involved in a question: is the prototype same as the end product ? especially on the function and performance of material .Most of designer or engineers have expressed concern about this question, in fact ,we should treat this question dialectically. That means it depends on what type of prototypes you discussed .Hereby ,as a prototyping manufacturer ,we are mainly discussing three pointing as below:

 

 

 3D Printing Prototype

As we all know. It is formed by resin or metal powder layer by layer for 3d printing prototype ,including SLA ,FDM ,etc .The principle of prototype manufacturing is the same. Obviously these procedures are totally different from the mass production in molding ,and also ,the materials of features and performance are a little bit different too .So we can say 3D printing prototype is not the same as the end product .However , in some industries,3D printing can not be replaced ,such as : in jewelry and medical sector ,due to the particularity of the industry, in most cases, customers demand to develop small and irregular shaped product with low volume manufacturing ,it’s a not good choice by molding or impossible , thus ,3D printing is a good option ,or it is necessary .In this situation, the prototype is just the final product .

Vacuum Casting In Soft Tooling

It’s a process of using RTV molding to cast plastic and rubber prototype parts .In this sector ,usually the material of prototypes are collectively called PU. There are some materials similar with ABS ,Nylon ,POM…etc .But they are not the real end product materials .The type of rapid prototyping process can produce low volume products quickly .RTV molding is silicone soft tooling ,it can save so much money and time to compare with steel molding .Is this type of prototype treated as the end product ? It had better check with the prototyping company where your product applied is ? what condition does the product work ? Usually for the housing shell of consumer electronics product with the short run requirements.It can be replacement totally.

CNC Prototype Machining

In most cases ,we can say this type of CNC prototyping is almost the same as the end product .Because no matter on prototype or final production phase ,both processes are not changed too much,they are all CNC manufacturing ,unless a bit difference on both efficiency and production cost ,such as: in the final production stage ,the vendor will add up more fixtures or  automation equipment ,or customers just request the finished of prototype as machined in order to save the cost ,but for later mass production ,they want a nice finished ,for example : anodized ,plated ,powder coated ..etc. However ,the manufacturing essence has not changed. There are two points as following worth discussion individually :

(1) CNC Metal Prototype :

For most metal products of industries ,the shape and structure is simple ,once the engineers confirmed the plan to create CNC prototype , then ,the final production will also be CNC machining way.We can say that the prototype equals to the end product due to both taking the same manufacturing process . Of course ,some of metal product is special and exclusive ,such as : the shell of automobile engine,in the beginning of product development test step ,building prototype in CNC , but for later mass production .Obviously it’s the best choice by molding due to the structure is quite complicated ,the production cost will be increase greatly in CNC machining , it dose not make any sense.

(2) CNC Plastic Prototype:

basically there are two cases custom plastic prototype ,one is for big prototype model in ABS or Polycarbonate ,ABS is the most commonly engineering  material ,and it’s the cheapest too .So when building a big model ,it can be split in a few small pieces and glue again after that in order to save the cost .It’s convenient to handle this process .Obviously it can not equivalent to the final product .Another one is for the stiff engineering material ,such as: Acetal/Delrin, PEEK. People must take CNC  because of 3D printing limitation for using material currently,if short run production for later requirements , It is still the best choice by CNC machining .At the moment ,plastic machining is playing more and more important role in rapid prototyping industry .

Conclusion

According to the analysis and statement above ,how to judge if the prototype equivalents to the final product ? It will depend on many factors : material ,application,manufacturing processes ..etc. If you are not sure ,then ,you had better check it with the manufacturer along with your design and details .They will answer you from a professional perspective。