Hey Guys,
Im coming from no experince dealing with shops yet, so Im just trying to get a basic idea of the cost of machining. Got a few drawings in ACAD (dirtbike axle spacers) and wanna gut a manifold plate CNC'd (yeah I know it'd be chaper just to buy one). Anyways, if anyone has an helpful advice or info it'd be great. Does it work on a hourly scale? Gimme something...

Rich

 

In my area, it's $50/hr and up.... probably cheap when considered to national averages.

 

it doesn't really matter what the shop rate is what matters is what the part costs and if your happy with the finished part and price get a a firm quote cheapest shop rate doesn't mean the cheapest part

the difficulty in getting parts cnc'd is the fact that the drawings need to be taken and coverted into programs in the case of a flange it's basically 2 1/2 programs one would take care of the holes and then the other would take care of the actual shape or profile of the part plus the 1/2 you need to build a fixture that the drilled flange will be bolted to when machining the profile these operations totaled up are why it takes allot of effort for one part and why your costs will be high unless there is a production run of parts or the project justifies the investment I have many one off items that I have done and sometimes will take on a one off at a resonable cost if I can see enough sales of future parts and the customer doesn't care about someone else having the same or slightly modified part ,but that rarely happens

bob kasper
kasper fabrication & machine
kfm race cars & components
kfmcars@comcast.net
609-851-2810

 

Usually prices are fair.Depending on the amount of labor..

 

The reason I ask, was the a couple years ago I took a basic machining class at a local Community College, but I never finished it (real school and work always get in the way of fun). Anyways, I talked everyday to a guy who was learning to do CNC'ing. He told me everyday that all you need is to know how to make a drawing in AUTOCAD, then just plug in what you wanna do, and go from there.

Am I right in thinking this?

Rich

 

Submit the part to http://www.emachineshop.com/ and see what it prices out at. That would at least give you a rough estimate.

 

if you can email me the dwg (or dxf) files i will price it out with my buddy. he has a haas 4 axis. does amazing work.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SJcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Anyways, I talked everyday to a guy who was learning to do CNC'ing. He told me everyday that all you need is to know how to make a drawing in AUTOCAD, then just plug in what you wanna do, and go from there.

Am I right in thinking this?

Rich</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not 100% correct.

MadtownSi &lt;------------ Mechanical Design and Machine Tool degree.

Currently I do R&D prototype machining. Send me a PM and we can talk.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SJcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey Guys,
Im coming from no experince dealing with shops yet, so Im just trying to get a basic idea of the cost of machining. Got a few drawings in ACAD (dirtbike axle spacers) and wanna gut a manifold plate CNC'd (yeah I know it'd be chaper just to buy one). Anyways, if anyone has an helpful advice or info it'd be great. Does it work on a hourly scale? Gimme something...

Rich</TD></TR></TABLE>

Find some local machine shops that are reccomended and ask them if they can quote your part for free. Most shops can handle AutoCAD files.

They may also have some reccomendations on the easiest way to machine it. CNC is a broad term. If its a flange, do you mean CNC mill? Laser cut? Water Jet? EDM? Does it even need to be CNCed? If its a onsie/twosie, can you just mill it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BUJonathan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Find some local machine shops that are reccomended and ask them if they can quote your part for free. Most shops can handle AutoCAD files.

They may also have some reccomendations on the easiest way to machine it. CNC is a broad term. If its a flange, do you mean CNC mill? Laser cut? Water Jet? EDM? Does it even need to be CNCed? If its a onsie/twosie, can you just mill it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats a great idea, but starting is harder than anything. Opening the phone book, its quite a lot of places since I dont know exactly what Im doing when talking to them. Just gotta force myself one day.

coulda been lathe'd either, right. Anyways, I'm just wondering about basic CNC mill (now I got it down pat) for myself and for future reference.

Rich

Thanks to all of you so far, all good advice. thanks guys

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SJcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Thats a great idea, but starting is harder than anything. Opening the phone book, its quite a lot of places since I dont know exactly what Im doing when talking to them. Just gotta force myself one day.

coulda been lathe'd either, right. Anyways, I'm just wondering about basic CNC mill (now I got it down pat) for myself and for future reference.

Rich

Thanks to all of you so far, all good advice. thanks guys</TD></TR></TABLE>
No guy a lathe is for turning round/cylindrical things, i would think this job wouldnt cost that much; material, transfering into a G-code for the mill, a few hours of work and setup time and walla a flange

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo’dMex-A-Keen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No guy a lathe is for turning round/cylindrical things, i would think this job wouldnt cost that much; material, transfering into a G-code for the mill, a few hours of work and setup time and walla a flange</TD></TR></TABLE>

was multi-taskin it, dont know how I made that one.
What a week its been... jesus. I gotta lay off the Rockstar.
Rich

You guys see big black spiders too?