CNC aluminium machines, constraints etc

[Ben_almighty]

ok so i have cad files that i now need to mill on a cnc machine, i have acess to the machine itself however i know little about tollerances and what i can and cant do with the machine, ie can i mill things that have parts hollowed out (noting super complex just a block at one end)
can the machines drill holes as they mill the entire thing?

i have tried searching online but theres nowhere that has given me a straight answer

many thanks for any input

[dadio]

Re: CNC aluminium machines, constraints etc

i'm no expert on cnc machines but i have my own mill , some of the restrictions and certainly in terms of cost is how many times the work piece need's to be re positioned for the next series of cuts , any void that has a smaller access hole than the size inside is going to be much harder or impossible to make in one piece , for example imagine a beer bottle has a small neck and a larger open area inside ,it's almost impossible to mill such a space inside the bottle however if you remove the base of the bottle and make it as a separate piece then the inside of the bottle can be milled just like the way a gas magazine is made. the other consideration is how the work is to be held while milling is in process , often this is the complicated part as you have do decide where to start so that when you have to un clamp the work piece for the next series of cuts and re clamp it there is a solid way to re clamp it .really it's a hard question to answer on line , i'm assuming that you won't be operating the machine you'r self so these questions would be best answered by the machinist themselves as they would best know the limitation's of the machine they work with.

[Ben_almighty]

Re: CNC aluminium machines, constraints etc

The hollowing isnt impossible as I was aware of that limitation, and yea, I need to chat the the guys operating the machine about tollerances, the object would need to be turned 6 times minimum, I am hoping each part can be completley cnced without needing to be milled after as I dont have acess to milling machines etc and doing drilling and working the aluminimum by hand would be innacurate and quite a chore