need short runs of simple parts.-screw machine, or ?

Hello.
i use short pieces of small diameter round bar cut to length- (this has got to be about the simplest part on the planet.)

...the only significant requirement is that the ends be square, flat, and as clean and smooth machining as possible.
(NO cup, crown, cut-off tit, wavy or rough surface, deep or spiral tooling marks,etc)

right now, i'm in a hurry for:

12l14 (no sub.) round bar .250 nom diam.
cut to .700" long +.003, -.003"

no finish,etc. -just a really clean smooth cut-off.

- if you have some suggestion, trick, or secondary operation for cleaner/smoother ends, let me know.
-i'd also consider sending pieces already band sawn to rough length, and then you grind or face-off the ends to length, if there's a practical way to do that (???)

all the parts i use are similar, and either 3/16 or 1/4 diameter 12L14 round bar.

the min. quan. is approx 1,000 pc,
the most i usually buy at a time is 3-5,000 but i'd go for somewhat larger or smaller quans to get the best finish and/or price.

again, right now i'm in a hurry for the .250 diam part above..

===any quotes/questions/info out there?====
thanks for any help.

Have you tried cnc zone or rfg.com yet?
You might have some luck there.

to follow-up on my post looking for parts run- got about a half-dozen quotes to grind the .250 Diam. parts to length, mostly in the .40-.50 cent range. .

That's about double the price i expected.- and as much as getting them faced/chamfered individually on a Lathe...-so that's what we're doing this time around.
---------------
for my other. (187 diam) parts , i would rather have (finely) ground ends (no chamfe) If they're somewhere below 30 cents.
-if not, i'll probably look toward getting those done on a lathe as well.

So for now:
no rush, but still interested in quotes and suggestions- especially for .187 diam parts. (all under 1" long)

And, thanks for your quotes and help.

I have a grinder that will do what your asking on all sizes, could do 1000 in 2 to 3 days turn around, if you sent rough cut how close to size would you be?

I don't know if it would be cost effective with shipping. Just to grind the ends to size would be in the $.40 range each for all sizes with you suppling the cut parts.

Good luck

for me, ground parts would have to be at a lower price. i don't have any particular source for material, but it look like it's be about 2C each.
from what other's have said i'm now thinking something more like:
"YOU NEED TO FIND A LOGAN; HARDINGE OR SOUTHBEND TURRETT LATHER,
DOUBLE COLLET CHUCKING AND AT .5 CENT PER END WOULD BE MARGINALly PROFITABLE ON SMALL QUANITIES."

thanks again.

Even though the part is simple, it amazes me that you can find someone to do them that cheap and stil have a some-what quality part returned to you.

:shrug:

This gentleman is looking to get something for nothing. I took a couple hours to quote the part. To help with efficiencies I dreamed up a couple unconventional things for these parts too. I cut my rates in half, and planned to run a secondary op. at the same time for free. I tried to get some type of an agreement that I would get enough work in the future just to cover the initial set up and tooling. I tried to email him the next day with a couple new thoughts, and it appears that he is blocking my emails.

Now I look back to see if he gets any posts. I'm glad that all the numbers he is getting is quite a bit higher that what I quoted. I am even happier to see people that question what he thinks the parts should cost. I think he needs to get in touch with manufacturing quote.com .

Same here. I offered to eat the tooling cost knowing that I could keep my part time kid busy.

The way I see it is if 'X' amount of quotes are saying a part will cost $.XX +/- .05, then basically it would be a matter of choosing the supplier that you feel most comfortable with.

BELOW IS A COPY OF THE EXCHANGE BEWTEEN ME AND "ROSIE":

Brass
Member # 10856 posted 03-14-2007 08:31 PM
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I was wondering if you had a target price you were looking for?
For 250 pcs. this part seems like a losing proposition. With this in mind what are the odds of getting more work from you? Quantities and target prices?

I'm not trying to be difficult, I just have some nice equipment that costs money. I'm also not the typical wannabe newbe machinist that buys crap equipment and low balls everyone else. I charge a reasonable rate and give supperior quality. My turning center is 3 axis with live tooling. So if you had parts that require cross holes or whatever I could do that too.


Rosenthal Machine
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Posts: 25 | From: Wisconsin

peter senn
Plastic
Member # 20062 posted 03-14-2007 08:45 PM
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Hello, this is a short-run / small job.

the quans described in the ad are pretty-much the limit i'd buy at any given time: 1K-5K of any one part.
(there are another 4-6 similar parts we also use)

i've paid bewteen 8 and 25 cents for these parts in a variety of circumstances and smaller quans.

so, we can say that:
approx. max quan. is 5K,
the min price .08-.10 ea,
and that there are 3-6 similar size parts.(but no hurry for the others)
-thanks for your help

=============\
4/4/07:
I think anyone here can conclude that if after that exchange, Rosie then decides to take "a couple of Hours" working up a quote, that his questionable use of his time is hardly MY fault!
- and yet, the guy comes back, on a public forum, to bitch about everyone else-including the folks here who had no problem with their suggestions, quotes, and operating the same email address that he finds so challenging.

just to bring this up to date, let me say that the original job's long since been completed.
(by another fellow here/ thanks!) and that i've already contacted 'square tech' about placing the next small job with them.

So, one more time:
Thanks to thefolks on this forum for their help and REASONABLE quotes,- and good luck to Rosie, too.
thanks

Peter,
I'm glad you have a source for your parts.

I just looked over your original post a few times. I was under the assumption you needed 250 pcs. total. I can't for the life of me see that in your original post now. If you were looking for 1000 pcs it's almost worth doing.

What you have to understand, is I was questioning even getting 100 pcs per hour off a turning center. Then I was going to mill off the back side on a mill for free. With your $.25 each it figures out to $25/hr. I can't see running a machine capable of 3 axis' with live tooling for $25/hr, and then doing secondary operations for nothing. If you remember I told you I would do it for $.25 each, which included me purchasing materials and shipping to you.

I was open minded enough to see if I could possibly get enough parts an hour for a reasonable shop rate. Other people quoted much higher, and other people thought the same way I did.

I stand behind everything I said, and I openly appologize for pissing you off if I did. The reason I put my post on, was to see how many other people thought the way I did. Plus I don't see how I "bitch about everyone else" in any of my posts, here or elsewhere.

Rosie

Hello-rosie
your claims include;
"this guy is trying to get something for nothing", that you'd been led to invest hours of your time on quotes that weren't accepted, that somebody blocked your email, and that you were asked to quote on 250 ten-cent parts.-But none of that happened.

as you have begun to discover, you picked the 250pc number out of the air. and AFTER i gave you a clear idea of the possible range for quans and prices, you then "spent hours on a quote"
and launched a series of posts here complaining about how you've been misunderstood.

so 'stand behind' all that if you think it makes you look good, but to me it looks a bit more like a need to explain over and over again why you can't make this part on your big-time machinery.- even though nobody ever asked you that question!
(just as nobody ever asked you about 250pc, or made you to spend hours on a quote)
-i call that something more like 'making up stuff to bitch about.'
-and i'll 'stand behind' that
good luck to you-