In order to explore the machining performance of DC short arc milling, tubular copperplated graphite was used as the tool electrode and 45 steel was used as the workpiece material. The effects of voltage, electrode speed, and processing depth on the electrode loss rate, material removal rate (MRR) and surface quality were analyzed. The experimental results show that: increasing the voltage can effectively improve the MRR, but it will reduce the surface quality of the workpiece; increasing the speed of the electrode can not only improve the surface quality of the workpiece, but also obtain higher MRR; increasing the milling depth can greatly improve the MRR, but too large cutting depth will make milling difficult;when the milling speed cannot meet the feed rate, a cutter collision phenomenon will occur, and the tool electrode will break to produce a stepped surface, which will seriously affect the workpiece surface forming quality.