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Finding work for DMU65 idle hours

erikh

Plastic
Joined
Mar 20, 2017
I bought a DMU65 for manufacturing my products, but demand is variable. There are weeks where it's at 30% utilization. I don't have much overhead - break-even for this machine is about $40/hr + tooling. For soft metals such as aluminum, copper, brass, I have found carbide tooling cost to be essentially negligible.

I'd be willing to take $60/hr + tooling for straightforward five-axis work. From what I understand, this is unheard of for 5-axis DMG Mori time. More would always be better, of course. Any tips on where I ought to look for work? I have Hexagon CMM. ISO certifications don't do anything to improve my products, so I haven't bothered with them. Is ISO pretty much necessary for taking on job shop work?
 
Best option IMO is to develop more products and make stock ahead of demand. Certifications will be required for almost all production work, especially in aerospace or medical, or for anything that goes on a vehicle. What do you plan to charge for your programming and setup time?
 
I've been expecting for a few years the price to drop way out of 5x work as the big push to 5x machines is Shirley going to "oversupply" the need for such, and those guys are still going to need to make that payment, even if it is at a lower threshold.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
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I've been expecting for a few years the price to drop way out of 5x work as the big push to 5x machines is Shirley going to "oversupply" the need for such, and those guys are still going to need to make that payment, even if it is at a lower threshold.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Owning one is one thing. Having people you trust to make parts on it is another.

You guys are crazy to sell 5 axis hours that cheap. You're winning the race to the bottom.
 
Nah! He’s got room to maneuver. It’s all accounting anyway!

I worked at a Tier 1 automotive supplier in the tool room and the 5 axis cell I ran was billed at $28/hr. I was making $20.50.

I’m with Ox on this. I see time and time again shops/folks wanting 5 axis when they don’t NEED 5 axis. Does it save on setups, sure, can it be more accurate, sure, but do you NEED it? When I went shopping for a new machine my first pick was a Hermle, just like I used to run. NOT! I could buy 6+ Brothers for the same price and utilize them MUCH better. I have several products that a 5ax would be stellar for, but I don’t NEED one.

Best of luck to the OP, wish I had a 5ax sitting around with time to kill!
 
About 90% of "5-axis" work done on a terribly expensive 5-axis machine is actually "3+2" work.

And therefore, all the 5-axis dream machines are having to compete with guys owning a Haas with a 4th-axis rotary...or similar...
 
About 90% of "5-axis" work done on a terribly expensive 5-axis machine is actually "3+2" work.

And therefore, all the 5-axis dream machines are having to compete with guys owning a Haas with a 4th-axis rotary...or similar...

I used to do a lot of medical work and I was dying to justify a 5 axis mill. In the ten years that I was heavily into it, I saw maybe 3 RFQ's that were truly 5 axis.
 
I bought the DMU65 to make my own designs, and it's been a dream for that. We do swords and knives, pipes, gun accessories, jewel boxes for Nieman Marcus, expensive furniture, chain saw parts, PC water cooling parts, and generally an eclectic mix of whatever I think is fun. Before shifting gears into manufacturing and design, I was a C++ programmer for 20 years, doing this stuff as a hobby.

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I would not recommend attempting to follow in my footsteps! Putting your net worth into a Mori to make all those ideas you've always had is really unlikely to pan out. I'm persistent beyond sanity and made this work because it absolutely had to. I'm talking sleeping in a cot in front of the machine and running orders 24/7 while eating Ramen for a year.

We pulled through and it's turned into a respectable little business with four employees. Now that things have stabilized and I have some idea what the heck I'm doing, taking on job work to fill idle hours just seems sensible. For 3+2 work, full Siemens 840D SL control with Renishaw probe is time saver. CYCLE800 kicks ass!!!!

I'm not looking to squeeze out everybody else by charging $60 hour. I want to pick up a little work and pay my dues.
 
I used to do a lot of medical work and I was dying to justify a 5 axis mill. In the ten years that I was heavily into it, I saw maybe 3 RFQ's that were truly 5 axis.

I never tried to justify it; just went and got it. Almost killed me!
 
I never tried to justify it; just went and got it. Almost killed me!


OK then, so now you are banished to only asking questions on this board.

You are not allowed to give advise for 5 years....



;)



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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Quick update: I did manage to snag a job, but I couldn't quite get it together by delivery deadline. I put heart and soul into it for two weeks, but tolerances failed on the Hexagon arm in one way or another every time. It caught me by surprise because I ran a prototype nearly to completion before accepting the order. However, the last finishing steps proved to be the problem.

Next time around, I'm going to bring an experienced friend into the NDA up front so he can advise on production methodology. I serve a very different market where form and function are all that matter. Still have a lot to learn about meeting specs from GD&T.
 
Wow - that is hard to put out there. :o

Hope there is recovery in your future!


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
And here I was working up the guts to post to ask advise on a job I lost money on. Kudos to you for sharing your experience.

“The devil is in the details” doesn’t even begin to fully encapsulate 5-axis work.

I give you mad props for doing your best, even if that meant striking out. You might consider bringing your friend on as a consultant during the quoting/bidding process and on a regular basis if you want to grab work.

As you probably already know, there is work that a 5 axis makes easier, and work that REQUIRES a 5 axis. You may want to target the “makes it easier” and try to slowly work into the “REQUIRED” realm as you gain experience.

I ran a 5 axis, did some pretty complicated stuff, programmed some, wrote some macros, but absolutely consider myself a novice. The guy I replaced had 10yrs experience running THAT machine. In my comparatively short blip of experience I learned a lot, but, frankly, would be terrified in your shoes!

Hopefully it was just another bump on the road that you can look back at as a learning experience.
 








 
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