Design for ease of fabrication.

Design for ease of fabrication. Select processes compatible with the materials and production volumes. Select materials compatible with production processes and that minimize processing time while meeting functional requirements. Avoid unnecessary part features because they involve extra processing effort and/or more complex tooling. Apply consider specific guidelines appropriate for the fabrication process such as the following guidelines for machinability:

• For higher volume parts, consider castings or stampings to reduce machining.
• Use near net shapes for molded and forged parts to minimize machining and processing effort.
• Design for ease of fixturing by providing large solid mounting surface & parallel clamping surfaces.
• Avoid designs requiring sharp corners or points in cutting tools - they break easier.
• Avoid thin walls, thin webs, deep pockets or deep holes to withstand clamping & machining without distortion.
• Avoid tapers & contours as much as possible in favor of rectangular shapes.
• Avoid undercuts which require special operations & tools.
• Avoid hardened or difficult machined materials unless essential to requirements.
• Put machined surfaces on same plane or with same diameter to minimize number of operations.
• Design workpieces to use standard cutters, drill bit sizes or other tools.
• Avoid small holes (drill bit breakage greater) & length to diameter ratio > 3 (chip clearance & straightness deviation).