I have been approached by a few people to make projects for them and am new the CNC Router world. I built my machine so that I could cut out airplane parts and to tinker with, but have some inquires as to how much I would charge to cut this out or that out.

What tools are people using to figure out how long it takes to run a project on a router. I am using Meshcam and Sheetcam software and would like to get an idea how the machine will run so that I can provide a quote to my customers.

What is the average rate that people are charging for CNC router machine time? Does this include converting file to G-code or is done as an added expense?

Thanks in advance any help would be greatly appreciated.

Planeflier. :cheers:

Planeflier,
If you are new to CNC, I will be very blunt, you are not going to make any money per hour. This is especially true for hobby type CNC businesses. People just do not want to pay even a reasonable wage for work needing done, mind you they would not work for what they want you to work for, but that is different. This is partly, perhaps mostly, because many asking for work to be done are completely unfamiliar with what is required to got from zero to sixty in regards to CNC machining. Also, because they are unfamiliar with CNC and the fact that there is always someone out there to do it cheaper when you give even a reasonable quote they think they are being ripped off.
Keep in mind also that it is not fair to charge for 5 hours work when it would take an experienced person only 1 hour. Any final quote also needs to be guided by your investment, expenses, experience, tooling, the particular job and your location among other factors that the hobby machinist may not have to consider early on.

In the beginning I would, and did, just get jobs mostly for the experience (if they were not big jobs) , including a few freebies to some right here on the CNCzone, forgetting how much was not being charged and take advantage of the experience gained by doing different jobs and maybe purchase some tooling with what I was paid. At least this way you are getting paid something for learning.

I have found that one off parts are almost always a losing proposition and I shy away from them because of this, if there is some chance that a one off part may turn into more, then that would be a different consideration. To date, one off parts are and have all ended up being hours spent for almost nothing so I pretty much do not do them unless it might be to just help someone.

In theory, you work an hour you should get paid for that hour, but in the hobby CNC business, I wouldn't count on it. The most likely point of profit, although no small task, in my opinion, is to try and come up with a product to manufacturer and sell for your self.

Ken
Good Post I have had the same feeling for a long time.
Steve

Here is my costing method.
Firstly I make sure the person has the drawing file for me, and if they dont I tell them to come back when they do. This protects you from having to deal with thier design deficiencies. If it doesnt work out, you tell them its thier design problem and not your cutting.
I charge a flat fee of 5 cents per cm of cutting. So if the material needs a few passes to cut they pay for the passes in cm's as well. I know this sounds rediculously cheap. Let me assure you it gets people in the door, and those cm's add up real quick indeed. I sometimes cut signs for this guy who builds golf courses. Out of a 60cm x 2.4 m sheet of material I might cut 30 signs in one bash. The cutting takes 1/2 hour to do, and my 5 cents per cm finishes up costing the guy 250 - 300 bucks for the whole sheet cut. He feels happy at 5 cents per cm and I am definately happy at 250 for 1/2 hours cutting. Its all how you present your offer, and how you protect yourself from potential problems.

That is interesting Benny, especially for routing 4'8' sheets.
Good advice on the "Come back when you have plans"


What do you charge for holes :D

Benny I like your pricing philosophy; very subtle. I wonder if it could be modified and extended to machining components out of aluminum; the customer pays 50cents for every gram of material that was in the blank but not in the finished product. That takes care of the hole question.

Geof,
What about engravings :D

Geof,
What about engravings :D

1 cent per square millimeter engraved. This could be one time when metric measure is handy.

I havnt had any jobs that require holes, but if there were holes I would again make the price at a per hole price instead of giving a finished job price. I go to great length to show the customer how I worked out the distances of the cutting.........(After the job is done)
The other thing I do, is make them provide the material. I pick it up from them and deleiver it back, free of charge.
Sometimes I feel bad about the final price, since they were probably not expecting it to cost that much, even though I had given them the price b4 hand, so I say, since I like you heres a discount, and chop of a percentage of the price.

I have had repeat bussiness from many customers using this strategy.

The other thing I do is say to people who I know are getting thier stuff cut else where, is I'll do it for half the price that the other guy is doing it for. This gets attention real quick. I know that the other guy has to pay huge amounts of money, paying off his 100K machine, while I built my machine for 4k. I have no overheads either, since I cut from my home and dont have a machine to pay off or a factory to rent.

All that been said, I agree with Kens first comments that it is hard getting work as a hobbiest. Ive told you all the good stories, the bad stories are while you might get that job earning 250 - 300 bucks for half an hour cutting, you might spend the rest of the week hunting for more work. The biggest obstical is trying to convice people your machine can do the same cut as a 100k machine. That is why I pick up and drop off the work, I dont want my customers to see my machine, or see I am working off an uneven dirt floor and have the wind blowing through my workshop because I dont have any walls. LOL