Milling elements refers to all of the objects which are cut out with a milling cutter and therefore -– in contrast to engraving – can remove any amount of material from the main plate. These in particular include cutouts of any shape – from a simple drilled hole to a free contour.

The 3mm milling cutter is preset as the standard tool with which each contour is generated among the milling elements, with which for example the basic shape of the panel is milled out.

Where possible, only select a different tool if it is necessary for the contour (for example, to achieve smaller radii), as each tool change is listed as a separate item in the price calculation.

The radius of zero for 90° corners in an inner contour – especially in the rectangular cutout – is manufactured so that the corners in question are removed using the smallest available milling cutter (1.0 mm). This ensures that a part with a sharp 90° corner fits into the milled contour. However, the removed areas each extend into the material:

The front and (where applicable) the rear edge of every milling element can also be produced with a circumferential bevel (30°, 45° or 60° with variable depths) or with circumferential rounding (radius 0.5 to 3mm). The corresponding dialog box is opened with the Edge machining button in the dialog box for editing the element properties. The desired option for an edge is selected from the assigned drop-down list (default setting is "no machining"). A detailed description of the edge machining options available can be found in the chapter "Bevel / Rounding".

The ‘Convert element’ function can be used to transform drill holes and rectangular cut-outs directly into cavities and vice versa. The function is available on the context menu of the selected element. If an element has properties that cannot be transferred to the other object (for example, tapped hole, cavity with inner area), the element will not be converted. You will receive a corresponding message.