Industrial Design and Machining: Closely Connected Innovation Partners

In today's vast landscape of manufacturing, industrial design and machining are like two brilliant stars, each radiating its unique brilliance while remaining closely interconnected, jointly driving products from creative concepts to market applications. Industrial design, as the soul of product innovation, focuses on uncovering user needs, giving products distinctive appearances, pleasant human-machine interaction experiences, and rational functional layouts, allowing products not only to fulfill practical functions but also to emotionally resonate with consumers, stimulate purchasing desire, and enhance market competitiveness. For example, Apple's products, with their simple and elegant design style and exceptional user experience, have garnered a large global fan base, fully demonstrating the power of industrial design.  

Machining, on the other hand, is the critical bridge that transforms industrial design into tangible products. Through various mechanical processing techniques and equipment, raw materials are precisely cut, shaped, and assembled, turning the designer's blueprint into a real product. From the precise components of car engines to the tiny parts inside smartphones, the accuracy and quality of machining directly determine a product's performance and reliability. Without advanced machining technology, even the most ingenious design would remain mere theoretical ideas, unable to realize its value.  

It can be said that industrial design gives direction to machining, providing innovative design solutions, while machining supports industrial design technically, ensuring manufacturability and high-quality realization. The two complement each other and are indispensable. Next, let us delve into the mysterious world of machining and uncover its indispensable role in industrial production as well as the rich and varied secrets of its processes.

Machining Processes: The Magical Toolbox of Industrial Design
A Reveal of Common Techniques

There are many types of machining processes, each like a unique magical tool, playing an irreplaceable role on the stage of industrial design.

Turning is a process in which a workpiece rotates on a lathe while the cutting tool moves along the workpiece's axis or radially, removing excess material to machine various cylindrical surfaces such as external and internal diameters, flat surfaces, tapers, threads, and more. Like a skilled artisan, it meticulously carves the rotating workpiece, giving it precise dimensions and smooth surfaces. In automotive manufacturing, key components such as engine shafts and drive shafts rely on the precision of turning to ensure high dimensional accuracy and excellent surface quality, meeting the strict requirements of high-speed engine operation.

Milling uses a rotating cutter to perform linear or curved movements on the workpiece, machining complex shapes such as planes, slots, and gears. It is like a flexible artist, capable of creating a variety of intricate and delicate shapes on the workpiece. In aerospace, components such as aircraft engine blades and fuselage structures often require milling to achieve complex curved surfaces and high-precision holes, providing a solid guarantee for safe flight.

Synergistic Effects of Manufacturing Processes

In the actual production of industrial design products, a single machining process often cannot meet complex design requirements, making the coordination between different processes crucial. For example, when manufacturing a precision engine cylinder block, casting is first used to obtain the rough shape of the block, followed by milling to process the flat surfaces to ensure flatness and dimensional accuracy, providing a solid foundation for subsequent assembly. Then, drilling is used to create various mounting and oil passage holes. Next, boring is applied to precisely machine the cylinder bore's inner wall, ensuring dimensional accuracy and cylindricity to meet the fit requirements between the piston and cylinder. Finally, grinding is used on key surfaces of the cylinder block to further improve surface quality, reduce roughness, and minimize friction and wear.

Similarly, in producing aluminum alloy casings for smartphones, die casting is first used to form the basic shape of the casing. Then, milling is applied to refine the surface, remove excess material, and shape the precise appearance as well as the structures for buttons and ports. Drilling is then used to create holes for the camera, headphone jack, and other features. Afterward, surface treatment processes such as anodizing are employed to enhance corrosion resistance and aesthetic appeal. Finally, polishing may be used to make the casing surface smoother and shinier.

These examples clearly demonstrate that different machining processes work together and complement each other, much like a well-coordinated symphony orchestra. Each process leverages its unique advantages to collectively create a perfect production symphony for industrial design products, ensuring high quality and high performance.

Grinding utilizes abrasives and grinding tools to remove excess material from a workpiece, primarily for finishing to achieve extremely high dimensional accuracy and very low surface roughness. Its machining precision can reach the micron level, leaving surfaces mirror-smooth, making it commonly used in applications with extremely high accuracy requirements, such as parts for precision instruments. For example, the grinding of optical lenses ensures the curvature accuracy and surface flatness of the lenses, meeting the stringent requirements for optical imaging.

Drilling is a process that uses a drill bit to create holes in solid materials and is one of the most common methods of hole machining. It is often used for holes where high precision is not required, such as screw holes or oil holes. In furniture manufacturing, drilling is widely used for processing connection holes in panels, facilitating subsequent assembly work.

Boring, on the other hand, is primarily used to enlarge and finish existing holes to improve their dimensional accuracy, shape accuracy, and position accuracy. It is suitable for machining large-diameter, high-precision holes and hole systems. In the manufacturing of machine tool spindle boxes, boring ensures the coaxiality and positional accuracy of various bearing holes, guaranteeing the smooth operation of the spindle.

The Secret to Improving Industrial Design Quality through Machining  

The Key Role of Machine Tool Accuracy 

The accuracy of a machine tool is considered the cornerstone of machining, much like the heart of a precision instrument, and its importance is self-evident. Among the factors, spindle rotation accuracy directly determines the relative movement precision between the tool and the workpiece and is one of the key elements in ensuring machining accuracy. If the spindle experiences radial runout or axial movement during rotation, even the slightest deviation can, like ripples, continuously amplify on the surface of the machined workpiece, severely affecting shape accuracy such as roundness and cylindricity. For example, in the machining of precision shaft components, insufficient spindle rotation accuracy may result in surface ripples or ovality errors on the shaft, directly affecting the fit with other components and reducing the operational stability and reliability of the equipment.  

The accuracy of the machine bed guideways is equally critical, as they act like the tracks on which a vehicle runs, providing precise guidance for all moving parts of the machine tool. If there are straightness errors in the bed guideways in the horizontal or vertical directions, or if there are deviations in parallelism or perpendicularity between the guideways, the tool's movement trajectory will deviate from its intended path during machining, leading to dimensional and positional inaccuracies in the workpiece. For instance, during flat surface machining, poor guideway straightness can result in flatness errors that affect assembly and performance; during hole machining, insufficient guideway accuracy may cause the positional precision between holes to exceed tolerances, failing to meet design requirements.

To address issues caused by insufficient machine tool accuracy, strict quality control must first be implemented during the design and manufacturing stages. High-precision components should be selected, and advanced machining and assembly techniques should be used to ensure that the machine tool has high accuracy upon delivery. Secondly, during operation, regular precision checks and maintenance are required to promptly identify and rectify accuracy reductions caused by wear, deformation, or other factors. For example, dynamic balancing tests and adjustments can be performed on the spindle, worn bearings replaced, guideways scraped or coated to restore precision, and high-accuracy measurement equipment such as laser interferometers used for real-time monitoring and compensation of machine tool precision indicators, ensuring that the machine tool remains in optimal working condition.

Material Selection and Process Compatibility
The compatibility between material selection and machining processes is like the relationship between shoes and feet—the right fit directly affects the smooth progress of the entire manufacturing process and the quality of the final product. Various factors, including material properties, process performance, and economic benefits, all play important roles in this compatibility.

The properties of materials, such as strength, hardness, toughness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance, are key in determining whether a material can meet the requirements of a product. For example, when manufacturing blades for aircraft engines, the blades must operate under harsh conditions of high temperature, high pressure, and high rotational speed. Therefore, high-temperature alloy materials with high strength, excellent heat resistance, good oxidation resistance, and fatigue resistance, such as nickel-based alloys, must be used. These materials can withstand enormous centrifugal and thermal stress, ensuring the blades do not deform or fracture during prolonged operation, thereby ensuring the safe and reliable running of the engine.

The process performance of materials, that is, their adaptability to various machining processes, is also crucial. Different materials present varying levels of difficulty and quality during processes like cutting, forging, casting, and welding. For instance, aluminum alloys have advantages such as low density, relatively high strength, good electrical and thermal conductivity, but they have low hardness and tend to cause tool adhesion during cutting, affecting surface quality and machining accuracy. Therefore, when machining aluminum alloys, appropriate tool materials and cutting parameters must be chosen, such as using carbide tools, increasing cutting speed and feed rate appropriately, and employing cutting fluids for cooling and lubrication to reduce tool adhesion and improve machining quality.

Economic benefits are also a factor that cannot be ignored when selecting materials. While meeting the performance and processing requirements of the product, it is important to choose materials that are cost-effective and widely available to reduce production costs and enhance market competitiveness. For example, for some ordinary mechanical parts where high strength and hardness are not strictly required, lower-cost carbon steel can be chosen instead of expensive alloy steels or specialized materials. At the same time, the processing cost of materials should also be considered. Some materials may have a low purchase price but are difficult to process, leading to high manufacturing costs and potentially being uneconomical overall.

In summary, in industrial design, it is essential to comprehensively and holistically consider factors such as material properties, machining performance, and economic benefits based on the specific design requirements of the product. By carefully selecting appropriate materials and matching them with the corresponding machining processes, the best balance between product quality and cost can be achieved.

Precise Control of Machining Parameters
Precise control of machining parameters is an art in the machining process and a crucial factor in ensuring product quality and production efficiency. Machining parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate, and cutting depth are like different notes in a symphony, each playing a unique role, coordinating with one another, and together performing a high-quality machining composition.

Cutting speed, as the relative speed between the tool and the workpiece, directly determines the amount of heat generated and the cutting force during the machining process. If the cutting speed is too high, friction between the tool and the workpiece increases sharply, producing a large amount of heat and causing the temperature in the cutting area to rise rapidly. Excessive temperature may lead to deformation or burning of the workpiece surface, increased surface roughness, and even changes in hardness, affecting the product's performance. At the same time, high cutting speed accelerates tool wear, shortens tool life, and increases production costs. On the other hand, if the cutting speed is too low, cutting efficiency will decrease significantly, production time will be prolonged, and overall production efficiency will be low. In some cases, a low cutting speed may also cause excessive cutting force, increasing the load and vibration on the machine, further affecting machining accuracy and workpiece quality. For example, when cutting steel, too high a cutting speed may result in a blue oxide film on the workpiece surface, a clear sign of surface burning; if the cutting speed is too low, cutting may become uneven, and the material may tear.

Feed rate refers to the distance the tool moves along the feed direction per unit of time and mainly affects surface quality and machining efficiency. A feed rate that is too high means the tool removes a larger amount of material per cut, which can lead to excessive cutting force, accelerated tool wear, and obvious scratches or gouges on the workpiece surface, affecting surface quality. Additionally, a high feed rate may cause vibration and an unstable cutting process, reducing machining accuracy and causing dimensional errors. Conversely, a feed rate that is too low helps reduce vibration and tool wear but results in low cutting efficiency, extended machining time, and increased production costs. Moreover, prolonged cutting may increase surface roughness, affecting the product's appearance and performance. For example, when milling a flat surface, a feed rate that is too high can leave noticeable tool marks and poor flatness on the milled surface, while a feed rate that is too low results in extremely low milling efficiency, failing to meet production requirements.

Cutting depth is the depth that a tool penetrates into a workpiece during each cutting operation. It directly affects the amount of material removed and the cutting force for each pass. A larger cutting depth can increase production efficiency and reduce processing time, but it also subjects the tool to greater force, increasing the risk of tool wear and even potential breakage. Additionally, excessive cutting depth may cause workpiece deformation, affecting machining accuracy. Conversely, a shallow cutting depth can reduce the tool load and wear, but it requires more cutting passes, lowering production efficiency, and may also impact workpiece quality due to the accumulation of cutting heat. For example, in drilling, if the cutting depth is too large, the drill bit may break due to excessive torque; if the depth is too small, multiple drilling passes are needed to reach the required depth, resulting in low efficiency.  

To optimize machining parameters, various factors such as workpiece material, tool material, machining requirements, and machine performance need to be considered comprehensively. Suitable parameter ranges can be initially determined by consulting cutting manuals, referencing previous machining experience, and conducting cutting trials, and then fine-tuned based on actual machining conditions. Moreover, with the development of smart manufacturing technology, some advanced CNC machines are equipped with intelligent monitoring and adaptive control systems that can monitor cutting forces, temperature, vibration, and other parameters in real time and automatically adjust machining parameters accordingly, enabling intelligent and optimized control of the machining process.

Success Case: Machining Brings Industrial Design to Life
Taking the K7 Servo High-Mesh Wire Printing and Die-Cutting Machine, designed by Qingdao Duxiang Intelligent for a Guangdong intelligent machinery company, as an example, we can clearly see the crucial role machining plays in industrial design. As the flagship product of the machinery company, this equipment encapsulates nearly 20 years of industry experience and technological accumulation, representing a perfect blend of stability, reliability, intelligence, and efficiency. For the first time, it innovatively unifies paper feeding and printing, slotting and folding, and end stacking into one design, making the entire production line more systematic and complete. Upon launch, it received widespread acclaim in the market.

During the design process, the industrial design team fully leveraged their creativity. They not only enhanced the appearance of the equipment for a more modern and high-tech look but also deeply explored ergonomics principles, aiming to improve operational convenience and user experience. For example, by optimizing the UI interface, the operation became simpler and more intuitive, allowing workers to get started easily. The all-servo design achieved one-button plate alignment, reducing changeover time to just 3 minutes, significantly boosting production efficiency.

Machining technology, meanwhile, provides a solid foundation for realizing these innovative designs. The newly added servo pressure-free front-edge paper feeding and full-vacuum adsorption functions require high-precision machining to ensure the manufacturing accuracy and assembly quality of components, reducing feeding deviation and material waste. Industry-first innovations such as the independent crease formation unit, intelligent plate-free die-cutting, and full-knife ink supply system also place stringent demands on machining. From precision component processing to overall assembly and debugging, every step relies on the precise control of machining technology.

In manufacturing the independent crease formation unit, machining must ensure high-precision processing of the eight-axis design, achieving accurate gradient pre-press curvature and crease line shaping to meet diverse requirements for different regions and products. The U-shaped grooving, explosion-proof lines, and anti-crack paper designs in the intelligent plate-free die-cutting system also require precise tool selection and cutting parameter adjustments in machining to ensure high-precision processing, guaranteeing carton die-cut quality and appearance.

The full-knife ink supply system, which achieves high-mesh wire printing, demands exceptional sealing accuracy for the ink supply system and precision and flatness of the scraper blade. Machining, through advanced manufacturing processes and inspection methods, ensures the precise fitting of all components of the ink supply system, saving 50% of ink while maintaining clear and vibrant printed colors.

In addition, the equipment is equipped with the Yuexin 5 intelligent order-changing system, featuring a full servo design that allows one-key version switching. This relies on the high-precision manufacturing of key components such as the transmission system and control system, as well as the precise coordinated operation between various systems.

The success of the K7 high-mesh servo wire printing and die-cutting machine fully demonstrates the important role of machining in achieving industrial design innovation. It not only brings a qualitative leap in product functionality and performance but also stands out in market competition, creating significant economic and social benefits for the enterprise.

Future Outlook: A New Journey for Machining and Industrial Design
Looking ahead, with the vigorous development of advanced concepts and technologies such as smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0, the field of machining is ushering in unprecedented changes and opportunities, and its integration with industrial design will reach new heights.

Under the overarching trend of smart manufacturing, machining will become smarter, more automated, and more flexible. Intelligent machine tools will possess higher adaptability and self-diagnostic capabilities, enabling them to automatically adjust processing parameters based on real-time data during the machining process to achieve optimal results. Through the Internet of Things (IoT), machining equipment will achieve connectivity and interoperability, building an efficient and collaborative production network that allows real-time monitoring and management of the production process, significantly improving production efficiency and quality stability. For example, in automobile manufacturing, intelligent machining production lines can quickly adjust machining processes and parameters according to the production needs of different vehicle models, achieving flexible production of multiple varieties in small batches to meet diverse market demands.

The "cyber-physical systems" advocated by Industry 4.0 will further deepen the integration of machining and industrial design. Designers can use virtual simulation technology to simulate and optimize machining processes during the product design stage, identify potential problems in advance, and avoid mismatches between design and manufacturing in actual production, thereby shortening product development cycles and reducing costs. At the same time, Industry 4.0 emphasizes personalized and customized production, which places higher demands on the flexibility and precision of machining. Machining technologies need to continuously innovate to quickly and accurately process complex shapes and high-precision components, meeting consumers’ increasingly diverse and personalized needs. For example, in the field of medical devices, advanced machining technologies such as 3D printing can create personalized implants and medical devices tailored to specific patient conditions, improving treatment outcomes and patient comfort.

As industrial designers, we should actively embrace these changes, continuously learn and master new machining technologies and concepts, and integrate them into our designs. We should pay attention to industry frontiers, work closely with professionals in the machining field, and jointly explore innovative design solutions. During the design process, fully consider the characteristics and requirements of smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0, focusing on product manufacturability, intelligence, and personalization, to create higher-quality and innovative products for users. Additionally, industrial designers should actively participate in optimizing and improving production processes, collaborating closely with machining teams to drive innovation across the industry.

In the future, the close cooperation between machining and industrial design will inject strong momentum into the development of the manufacturing industry, promoting product innovation and industrial upgrading. Let us work together, continuously explore and innovate on this new journey, and jointly write a new chapter in the integrated development of industrial design and machining, contributing to the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry.