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Looking to Manufacture Small Parts

melmar

Plastic
Joined
Aug 22, 2019
Hi -

I'm creating a stainless steel pocket compass (similar to a pocket watch style). I've attached the technical drawings and dimensions are as follows:

Outer Ring (photo 1) - 69.61mm in Diameter / depth of 8.18 mm
Back house (photo 2): 67.66 diameter / depth of 2.5mm
Direction house (photo 3): 60.04 diameter / depth of 3.83mm

Can you please help me answer the following questions:

1) Is CNC the best manufacturing process for this?
2) What is the most cost effective way to manufacture this locally (Canada or US)? I am not interested in outsourcing to china / india.
3)What should I be looking for in a CNC manufacturer's capabilities? Is there any specialty machinery they would require to complete something of this nature?
4) We are not machinists, wondering if there is any equipment we can purchase to manufacture this on our own (or is this idea too lofty!)

Any recommendations on augmenting the design to be more cost effective is also welcome.

Thank you in advance.
Cheers
Melissa
 

Attachments

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Quantities mean everything. What volume are you looking at? Then we can direct you on the most economical per piece method of manufacture.
 
I see two tricky bits:

1. The post on the 2.5mm disc -- possibly a pressed-in pin would work OK? Machining this from solid would be costly
2. The engraving within "Direction House" -- being on a slanted surface, the engraving would need to be done with a tilting rotary table or 5-axis machine, which will eliminate many "standard" machine shops.

As to CNC, sure, done in batches of 100, CNC would be the way to go.

Can you do this in-house? Sure, but figure on ~$150,000 investment to get the required type of machine, unless you try to find used machinery in which case it could be anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. In the best case then, you would be spending at least $100 per part (batch of 100, $10,000 machine investment) just to get the machinery. Then there's programming, tooling, power, air, etc.

Regards.

Mike
 
I see two tricky bits:

1. The post on the 2.5mm disc -- possibly a pressed-in pin would work OK? Machining this from solid would be costly
2. The engraving within "Direction House" -- being on a slanted surface, the engraving would need to be done with a tilting rotary table or 5-axis machine, which will eliminate many "standard" machine shops.

As to CNC, sure, done in batches of 100, CNC would be the way to go.

Can you do this in-house? Sure, but figure on ~$150,000 investment to get the required type of machine, unless you try to find used machinery in which case it could be anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. In the best case then, you would be spending at least $100 per part (batch of 100, $10,000 machine investment) just to get the machinery. Then there's programming, tooling, power, air, etc.

Regards.

Mike

Thank you Mike,
Do you know what I should expect to pay for such design for a prototype and a 100 piece run? (stainless steel for the base and back plate and brass for direction house).
 
IMO, at 50-100 pieces no normal person will be able to afford this. Machined parts in this country are expensive. You should make up detailed drawings, with tolerances, and do an RFQ here to get some real numbers. Then you'll probably reconsider going off-shore. It's completely impractical to consider setting up to do it yourself until the quantities are much larger.
 
Prints big enough to read would help. Perhaps do the engraving with a laser since I am sure you need it on an angled surface like that.
 
I have programmed a watch for a customer of mine, we did housing, faceplate and backring. You can see the resualts, beautiful craftmanship.

All done on a Small vertical mill, and manual lathe with some creatively.

Novo Watch – NOVO watch
 
Look at how old pocket watches were made. They were made in the thousands if not more, all well before CNC machines came on the scene.
Maybe a thin sheet stamping to make the back and it presses or epoxys into the bezel (part with N,S,E,W on it) Maybe the bezel could also be pressed or stamped, personally I would like to see machined a part there though.
A small (tiny) spinning lathe could do the back also, instead of stamping it.
 
Melissa,

To avoid filtering through all the comments thus far (typical in most posts). Please e-mail me at [email protected] m

I'll discuss some ideas with you and see if we can do anything.

Regards,

Jason
 
Are all 18 posts for poachin' work? Good job.................................:rolleyes5:

The rules for this section and the machinery and parts for sale section are no longer enforced, plain and simple.
 
The rules for this section and the machinery and parts for sale section are no longer enforced, plain and simple.


You apparently have not read the rules lately.

You need to have 50 posts to post a "My Shoppe Needs Work" ad.

There is nothing stated by the Powers That Be (The Don) that those with few posts cannot bid on work.
Even if there was, we wouldn't know it if they just placed their bid via e-mail or PM.

You don't even need to be a member here to view these posts.
How would you enforce anything?

If you wunna bitch about the rules not being enforced, maybe you need to brush up on the rules?


Now, on the other hand - doo I agree with you?
Sure.
But that's not the hand that I was dealt, nor the ability to enforce it if it were the case.


[edit]

Even without a bunch of posts about his concern for Yankee Health Care on this site, he very well may be a frequent browser.
And on a site that is paid for by advertisers that are looking more at "number of hits" than bullshit posts, this guy may actually be a "contributing member" in other ways.

[/edit]


-------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Last edited:
I see two tricky bits:

1. The post on the 2.5mm disc -- possibly a pressed-in pin would work OK? Machining this from solid would be costly
2. The engraving within "Direction House" -- being on a slanted surface, the engraving would need to be done with a tilting rotary table or 5-axis machine, which will eliminate many "standard" machine shops.

??? Don't follow this logic (#2)

As to CNC, sure, done in batches of 100, CNC would be the way to go.

Can you do this in-house? Sure, but figure on ~$150,000 investment to get the required type of machine, unless you try to find used machinery in which case it could be anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. In the best case then, you would be spending at least $100 per part (batch of 100, $10,000 machine investment) just to get the machinery. Then there's programming, tooling, power, air, etc.

Regards.

Mike

The engraving could be done on a little fixture that would present the tapered/slanted face normal. It would have to be "played" with a bit to get it to look nice enough however. You would see some variance (guessing not much with a small enough ball endmill) as the curvature changes, but if it was me I would project the characters onto the surface, than 3d them. Fixturing would not be ideal as you would need to rotate the part/fixture 4 times for each piece, but doable for a small prototype run.
 
You apparently have not read the rules lately.

You need to have 50 posts to post a "My Shoppe Needs Work" ad.

There is nothing stated by the Powers That Be (The Don) that those with few posts cannot bid on work.
Even if there was, we wouldn't know it if they just placed their bid via e-mail or PM.

You don't even need to be a member here to view these posts.
How would you enforce anything?

If you wunna bitch about the rules not being enforced, maybe you need to brush up on the rules?


Now, on the other hand - doo I agree with you?
Sure.
But that's not the hand that I was dealt, nor the ability to enforce it if it were the case.


[edit]

Even without a bunch of posts about his concern for Yankee Health Care on this site, he very well may be a frequent browser.
And on a site that is paid for by advertisers that are looking more at "number of hits" than bullshit posts, this guy may actually be a "contributing member" in other ways.

[/edit]


-------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

My disdain was mostly directed at the for sale section where people sign up to use this as free E-bay. Some have been warned then turn around and keep listing items. They aren't offering bargains either, usually listing at E-bay asking prices. Due to the abuse contributing members selling something quickly end up bumped down.
 
Kan't say that I heave looked at those boards much in the last several years.

Also - I'm not sure the rules there.

Also - if you noted the other day that I mentioned on one of Beck's posts on the CNC board that I would delete him if I could, but he wasn't within my reach.



--------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 








 
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