Rough Pricing for Cutting and Machining in Las Vegas

[henry_phd]

I'm trying to justify the purchase of a new mill and waterjet cutter or just use outsourcing.

Excluding CAD/nesting/materials, what is a fair cost to be charged for the following:
-cutting time on a waterjet
-milling on a 3, 4 or 5 axis Haas VF5 type machine

We have capabilities in house to create all the CAD/nest files since we already use it on our plasma and oxy fuel cutter but we can't cut certain materials and the tolerances aren't as good as with a waterjet.

We have access to mastercam and camworks. I would think if we generate all the toolpaths and g-code and supplied the location of the tools, all the machinist needs to do is align the stock/tools, clamp it and push the go button.

What's fair market value for use of the machine only? Most of these machines can be in the 60-100k range but used they could be as little as 10-30k. Certainly material clean up, space, electricity, wear and tear, etc need to be factored in but I'm just looking for a rough idea.

We're located in Las Vegas. Thanks.

[Matt@RFR]

Originally Posted by henry_phd We have access to mastercam and camworks. I would think if we generate all the toolpaths and g-code and supplied the location of the tools, all the machinist needs to do is align the stock/tools, clamp it and push the go button.

I love how most people think that just because you have CAM software that it's impossible to crash a very expensive machine. I'm here to tell you that it's a whole lot easier than you might think! Not only can you enter numbers incorrectly, but there's that whole post-processor thing. Beyond that, each machine has its own personality, so to speak, and likes to be ran in a specific way, which includes depths and widths of cut. Some controls use G and M codes differently and have different default settings as well.

My machine, my code. All you would have done is waist time trying to save a buck.

The rest of your questions are too vague to be answered, other than with guesses and speculation.