Hey everyone, been lurking here for awhile and thought I should finally make an account.
For the last ~5 years My fiancé and I have been operating our own very small wood CNC shop producing an extremely niche product that has seen some success over the last 5 years. It was enough to support us and the workshop while putting food on the table. However with how 2020 has gone and how 2021 is looking, we realize that our main method of advertising our work isn't a viable option anymore (tradeshows) and I personally feel like I'm ready to step up to expand my knowledge and find new challenges with metal. Thankfully our overhead is extremely low, so we are in a position where we can take that risk moving into new territory.
I think my main question here is: is it actually viable to start bidding on government contracts and calling around for small batch jobs with two 3 axis CNC machines that (at the time) met our requirements for our wood cutting, but compared to the big sexy vertical mills aren't "extremely accurate" @ 2.5-5thou resolutions
Reading around, it sounds like in the metal world these tolerances aren't exactly great, but my hope is I can leverage our existing equipment long enough to invest into some real machines that I can compete on the market with.
A few more questions rattling in my head the last few weeks:
1-With our current machines, what kind of soft metal work can I viably and confidently take on?
2-What kind of gigs should I avoid to prevent headaches and disappointment?
3-Is this just a pipedream and I am completely screwed trying to do metal work right out of the gate with our equipment, or is this a viable option?
Thank for taking the time to read my post, I'm quite eager to read your responses!
For the last ~5 years My fiancé and I have been operating our own very small wood CNC shop producing an extremely niche product that has seen some success over the last 5 years. It was enough to support us and the workshop while putting food on the table. However with how 2020 has gone and how 2021 is looking, we realize that our main method of advertising our work isn't a viable option anymore (tradeshows) and I personally feel like I'm ready to step up to expand my knowledge and find new challenges with metal. Thankfully our overhead is extremely low, so we are in a position where we can take that risk moving into new territory.
I think my main question here is: is it actually viable to start bidding on government contracts and calling around for small batch jobs with two 3 axis CNC machines that (at the time) met our requirements for our wood cutting, but compared to the big sexy vertical mills aren't "extremely accurate" @ 2.5-5thou resolutions
Reading around, it sounds like in the metal world these tolerances aren't exactly great, but my hope is I can leverage our existing equipment long enough to invest into some real machines that I can compete on the market with.
A few more questions rattling in my head the last few weeks:
1-With our current machines, what kind of soft metal work can I viably and confidently take on?
2-What kind of gigs should I avoid to prevent headaches and disappointment?
3-Is this just a pipedream and I am completely screwed trying to do metal work right out of the gate with our equipment, or is this a viable option?
Thank for taking the time to read my post, I'm quite eager to read your responses!