Stainless Steel CNC Turning with 5-Axis Secondary Machining

This stainless steel component was produced to customer drawings for an electronic product application. The part is approximately 30 × 30 × 55 mm, with a production quantity of around 6,000 pieces for the Middle East market.

Most of the basic shape is rotational, so machining starts on a CNC lathe. The cylindrical body, end faces and internal round features are established first. The part then moves to 5-axis CNC machining for the non-rotational details around the top and side.

For this component, using two machining processes is not the difficult part. What matters is keeping the later milled features correctly positioned from the geometry already established during turning.

Project Details

Starting with the Turned Body

The cylindrical shape makes CNC turning the practical first operation.

Outside diameters, shoulders, end faces and circular internal features can be machined around the same centerline. This removes the rotational material efficiently while creating reference surfaces for the work that follows.

A simplified production route is:

CNC Turning → 5-Axis Secondary Machining → Deburring → Inspection

For 6,000 pieces, there is a real advantage in keeping that route straightforward. The lathe handles the features it produces efficiently, while secondary milling is reserved for geometry that actually needs another tool direction.

The Side Opening Changes the Job

The side opening is where this part stops being a conventional turned component.

Once the tool needs to cut across the cylindrical body, standard turning alone is no longer enough. The upper edge also contains several interrupted features that require milling after the main body has been established.

These details are completed with 5-axis CNC machining.

Using multi-axis machining here is not about putting a small part on the most sophisticated machine available. It gives the tool practical access to features located on different areas of a compact component without building the job around a long sequence of separate orientations.

That becomes more relevant when the same process needs to be repeated approximately 6,000 times.

Keeping the Turned and Milled Features Related

A drawing describes one finished part, even when two different machining processes are used to make it.

A side opening may be positioned from the centerline. A top feature may reference a turned face or outside diameter. The bore itself may become an important reference for later machining.

Those relationships need to survive the change from turning to milling.

For CNC turned and milled parts, fixture design and datum selection therefore deserve attention before production begins. A correctly turned diameter and a correctly milled opening are not enough if their positional relationship is wrong.

This is one of the reasons we look at the complete drawing before deciding the machining sequence.

Why Five-Axis for the Secondary Features?

This is not a particularly large component, and we would not describe it as an extremely complex five-axis part.

The reason for using 5-axis machining is simpler: feature access and fewer unnecessary orientations.

The secondary geometry is distributed around the top and side of a small cylindrical body. A conventional milling route could require the part to be relocated several times to reach those areas.

That may be acceptable for a few prototypes.

Across 6,000 production parts, repeated setups add handling time and another opportunity for positioning variation. A suitable multi-axis setup can make the secondary operation cleaner and easier to repeat.

Batch Production Changes the Process Decision

A machining route that works for five prototypes is not automatically the best route for several thousand parts.

For this project, we look at where each process adds value.

Turning handles the main cylindrical geometry efficiently. Five-axis machining completes the features that need access from other directions. Deburring and inspection then follow the finished geometry rather than being treated as disconnected operations.

This sounds simple, but that is the point.

For batch CNC machining, a clean, repeatable process is usually more valuable than adding extra operations that do not improve the finished component.

Watch the Edges Around the Milled Openings

The interrupted upper features and side opening create local edges after milling.

These areas need appropriate deburring.

Because the component is relatively small, even a minor burr can be significant compared with the surrounding geometry. At the same time, aggressive deburring can change an edge or nearby feature that the drawing expects to remain defined.

So edge finishing is considered part of the production process rather than a quick cleanup step before packing.

Inspection Connects Both Machining Stages

The same logic applies to inspection.

Turned diameters and bores can be measured directly. The milled features can also be checked individually. But where the drawing defines a relationship between them, that relationship matters as well.

For example, the relevant requirement may be the position of a side feature relative to the turned centerline rather than simply the size of the opening itself.

For a production run of around 6,000 pieces, checking these relationships at appropriate stages helps identify setup or tooling changes before they affect a large quantity of parts.

Custom CNC Machining for Parts That Need More Than One Process

YS Precision provides custom CNC machining services for components manufactured from customer 2D drawings and 3D models.

Some parts can be completed entirely by CNC turning. Others require milling after turning, while certain geometries are better suited to turn-mill or multi-axis machining.

Depending on the drawing, the production route can include:

• CNC turning
• CNC lathe machining
• CNC milling
• 5-axis CNC machining
• CNC turn-mill machining
• Drilling and boring
• Threading and tapping
• Secondary CNC machining

We machine custom stainless steel parts, CNC turned and milled parts and precision CNC machined components for electronic products and other industrial applications.

The process is selected from the part geometry and production requirement rather than forcing every drawing into the same machining method.

When the Lathe Is Only the Starting Point

This component begins with CNC turning because that is the efficient way to create its cylindrical body and internal round geometry.

But the drawing does not end there.

The side opening and upper features require additional tool directions, so 5-axis secondary machining completes the part. The important manufacturing detail is keeping those secondary features correctly related to the references established during turning.

For similar custom CNC turned and milled parts, send us the 2D/3D drawings, material specification, quantity and critical requirements. We can review the complete geometry and determine whether CNC turning, secondary milling, 5-axis machining or turn-mill production offers the most practical route.