Aluminum part job needs cnc

[Donkey Hotey]

I don't know how much detail you need but Hotwheels have door handles, panel seams and all kinds of stuff cast into them. How much detail can you afford? I wasn't trying to be a jerk with those prices I quoted above. You can see that nobody is jumping up to beat those prices. Machining the parts will be complex and will eat up a lot of programming and spindle time ($$$).

As for strength, of course the castings won't be nearly as strong as machined billet, but again: can your market support a $100 blade? I'm not exactly sure what it is that you're trying to build and how many you intend to sell.

Look at it this way: by my own estimates, I don't think I can buy an aluminum extrusion, cut a piece with my bandsaw, deburr the edge, package it and ship it for less than $2/each (not really, but at the hourly rate to pay-off a CNC, that's what time & materials cost).

Drill four holes with the CNC, add a couple of simple mill cuts and each part is up to about $4/each. That's my baseline assumption for planning my own products.

Parts just can't be CNC machined for much less, unless you have many machines in the shop (sharing the overhead) and/or really cheap labor. That's why Hotwheels, decorative drawer handles and model trains are all diecast and produced in China instead of machined in the USA.

[tmreitz]

I have the ability to give you some differn't options with our companies expertise on differn't area's of the machining world.

Give me an email at either timreitz@skykingmachining.com or sales@skykingmachining.com I think we can work with you on differn't options that would be effective for differn't quantities needed.

Tim Reitz

[mcraig79]

Closed RFQ

[levelzero]

Yes a mold would work if you needed to make alot of them.