mhajicek
Titanium
- Joined
- May 11, 2017
- Location
- Minneapolis, MN, USA
There's prototype work and then there's prototype work. What you describe sounds to me more like short run production.
I did a lot of medical prototyping. One project where I participated in the design lasted over 12 years. Another working on a prosthetic foot device was a couple years. I didn't have a tool changer mill at the time and neither did another shop working on the projects. I thought about getting a tool changer machine, but it didn't pencil out as an investment because time was not a major issue in making the parts.
Medical can be a whole different issue than some other product development type prototyping. Things have to pass FDA scrutiny, medical insurance, etc, etc. On the medical work I did have Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame when I was interviewed by ABC news during the ceremonial handing over of the $2M NIH grant money we got for the 12 year project.
Medical device is what I do. A first draft bone plate is six parts. A first draft pacemaker connector is six parts. At a guess, the difference between you and me, is that with a CNC with a toolchanger, after I make the first part, the next five are cheap. For you, the sixth part would cost almost the same as the first, so the client is less likely to buy them.