I bought my tm-1p and tl-1 to make a product of my own design, to market and sell. Over the near year I have had my machines I have been getting offers lately for doing work for other shops but I have no idea of how to go about bidding the work. Is there some way to know a cycle time without actually running the part or estimate one? How do you bid work?

Thanks
Leroy

KipwareCYC ... Machining cycletime estimating software
KipwareQTE ... Cost estimating software

... info, demos at www.KentechInc.com

Interesting - Thanks BlueChip.

Leroy,
A decent cadcam system will allow you to estimate machining time after you create toolpaths, etc. That gives a raw basis for estimation but is not the last word on it. Every part is a 'new game' as it were, and quantities determine fixturing, and special tools. It is kind of 'seat of the pants', there is probably 50% error in most estimates. After you get repeat part orders, then you can pare the costs with a sharper pencil. IMO. :)

Did I say 50% off? I meant 25% off, so even there, my margin of error was 100% :D

You could always be a B.S. Artist and request a quote from another shop on the prints that you are quoting. If you do this make sure the shop is not local. This is sure to piss someone off if they find out what you are up to but it is nice to see where other shops are from time to time as well. Yes I have done this, No I have not been caught, and yes i have had to re figure quotes that i was just about to submit because i was too low. BTW, have no mercy and remember that you can stay home for free so you dont want to work for free or worse, pay someone to work by figuring a job too low.

Hehe, I had a company asking me for quotes and we'd never get the job (basicaly using us as a quoting mule). I gave him a ridiculously low BUDGETARY quote on one high value project (found out cos we were asked to quote from the main customer too and he told us what the guy came in at).

Needless to say he stuck his quote in and got the job Muahaha.. he made a HUGE loss on it :)

Anyway.. back to the original question- your CAM systm will tell you the run time, factor in your overheads, material, packaging and then UP the total figure by at least 1/4 to 1/2.

You may want to do 1 off prototypes as a loss leader, but be aware that customers will get wise to this, stick a clause in the Contract- something like 50% of the prototype costs will be refunded on any future orders of 1000 or more or something. Remember you're in this to make money. If they ask you (and they will) to lower your price say "hmm ok, I could if I compromise the quality... can you confirm in writing that this is acceptable please?"- that always gets Project Managers jumpy cos they are accepting responsibility.