How to find local machines shops? 'Ooops I meant "machine guys")

[FXC]

Hi and welcome to the forums. < Just talking to myself, ignore.

So I see all these machines large and small, Pro and/or DIY contraptions, and everybody talking about them and about what's under their hoods. Sure, I' like them too and all they can do, but I stop at the 3D model on my computer screen. My question is, if I have a need for such a machine but I can't afford the cost and time (or space) of having one, who do I turn to when I have something I need to mill or, like I have now, small weekly runs of the same product? Someone who doesn't have a large industrial facility filled with six-figure valued equipment but rather a small desktop router and who would still like to make an extra few hundreds every week or so?

Prototyping firms are prohibitively expensive and machine shops are hard to deal with because of the small order sizes. They tend to just not bother, even after I make it clear that I'm not looking for free or cheap services. Out of the few shops who would take on the job, lead times are around 2-weeks or more.

What can I do?

Thanks a bunch!

[ger21]

Post what you need here and members here will provide bids or offers.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/employment_opportunity/

[CarveOne]

There is an RFQ forum on CNC Zone where you can describe what you need to have made. This link should take you there.

CarveOne

[FXC]

Ok, so this is different than RFQwork. I tried there but replies came only from those large machine shops I was talking about and their aforementioned "issues".

See, I actually went past that section before posting this, I just skipped because I thought it's the same with RFQwork. I actually had a hard time figuring out which section to even ask my question - this site is so confusing, so many categories etc. One would think it's nice and organized which is true, however you lose the power of numbers when dividing things up like that.

Here I am, I barely signed up and already bashing