Author: mm_access

7 Reasons to Use a Job Shop for Metal Machined Parts

CNC Machining, Contract Machining, Manufacturing, Screw Machine

Working with experts at a job shop for metal machined parts offers many benefits. Some of these benefits are clear from the outset, while others might need further examination. Whether you are working with large volumes, small runs, or prototypes, there are many benefits to working with the right job shop. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons to use a job shop for metal machined parts.

7 Reasons to Use a Job Shop for Metal Machined Parts

1. No Equipment Costs

The right milling, turning, screw machines and other equipment for metal machined parts requires substantial investment. High-quality CNC mills with even the simplest configurations cost over $50,000 for a single machine. And you’re unlikely to use just one machine for your machined parts. One of the first and most obvious reasons to use a job shop for metal machined parts is there’s no upfront investment required on your part—the machine shop tackles this for you.

2. No Training Costs

Even the most advanced equipment isn’t very useful without people who know how to use it. Proper training is essential to not only produce a high-quality product, but also to protect employees from hazards. Training employees to use machine shop equipment takes time. However, machine shop clients don’t have to worry about this aspect of the job.

3. Work With Experts

The right training will show someone how to use advanced milling, turning, or similar machines, but it’s experience that allows them to produce exceptional products at great speed. Working with experts at a machine shop, you can rest assured that your project is in good hands. Look for a job shop that has experience working with your products and materials, so there’s no trial-and-error phase.

4. Reduce Liability

Metalworking equipment poses some obvious hazards. Workers who don’t know how to use or install these machines properly can be exposed to serious risk. Machine shops protect themselves and their workers with the right insurance and employee benefits, as well as training to ensure a safe workplace. Working with a job shop for metal machined parts, you don’t have to take on any of this liability yourself.

5. Design Assistance

There are often multiple ways to machine a part, but usually one way that is most efficient in terms of materials and time. Making one or two small changes to a design can make the machining process more efficient and save thousands of dollars in the long run. With CNC machining, it’s easy to make small changes to a design and then produce an accurate prototype or product. A design expert knows how to make these changes and make your parts with maximum efficiency.

6. Existing Partnerships

Whether you are working with stainless steel, nickel alloys, titanium alloys or another metal, stock metals are expensive. Existing partnerships with suppliers can help you save money, but these take time and effort to forge. Instead of forging these partnerships yourself with stock suppliers, work with a job shop that already has strong supplier relationships.

7. Get the Latest Tech

Job shops specialize in machining services and they have the resources and expertise to get the latest equipment for the job. When you find a job shop that specializes in what you do, you can take advantage of the latest equipment and techniques for doing it. This ultimately means your parts can be created faster, with fewer errors and with the highest level of precision.

There are many reasons to use a job shop for metal machined parts. The right job shop will have the equipment and experience necessary to complete your job quickly and within a reasonable budget. If you have questions about metal machined parts for an upcoming project, get in touch. We’d be happy to tell you more about our job shop, our expertise, design assistance, and more.

The Importance of High-Quality Screw Machining

Screw Machine

From common connectors and fasteners to delicate watch screws and much, much more, screw machines have been an important part of manufacturing for decades. Screw machining technology has continued to improve, allowing for greater accuracy and precision, the ability to work with tougher metals, increased speed, and much more. Finding the right screw machine for your project can help create a high-quality, affordable finished product with a quick turnaround time.

The Importance of High-Quality Screw Machining

Working with The Right Materials

Different screw machines can work with many different materials, including stainless steel, brass, aluminum and more. Choosing the right materials for your components or finished product can help you save significant time and money. As you might expect, tougher metals take more time and require a machine with more power to work with. If the screw machine is not made to work with these metals, it will take much more time and your components are more likely to have defects.

Precision and Accuracy

Precision and accuracy are important for almost every product and component, but they’re especially important for components that are made to connect to or secure other parts. If the screw machine doesn’t operate at the right tolerances, your components will have defects. At best, this will increase expenses and, at worst, it will cause defects in your end product if your fasteners or similar items don’t connect properly. Screw machines with high levels of accuracy will reduce the chances of defects and help to ensure that your products work properly.

Quick Production

Screw machines can operate with great precision as well as great speed. These features have made screw machining equipment a preferred choice for many mass produced components. However, setting up a screw machine improperly can significantly lengthen production times. For this reason, it’s equally important to find the right screw machine as well as experienced operators. With the right equipment and the right set up, screw machines can produce your components in a tight timeline.

Reducing Expenses

Efficiency is one of the most appealing aspects of screw machining. However, if the machine shop isn’t using the right equipment for the job, the efficiency gains can quickly be lost. The right screw machine for the job uses minimal materials, time, and energy, ultimately reducing expenses on your project. Machine shop experts can help you select the right screw machine for the job, with the right size, power and level of detail. This ensures that you aren’t paying for a machine with features that you aren’t using, but your parts will still be constructed optimally.

Finishing On-Time and On-Budget

Whether you are working on the first run of your prototype, specialized parts for a custom build, or another project, it’s important to finish within your timeline and your budget. High-quality screw machines in the hands of experienced machinists can help you stay on-target. Utilizing the wrong equipment can quickly lead to delays and defects, ultimately throwing off your project.

If you’re wondering about screw machining for fasteners, connectors and similar components for your project, we can help. Contact us for more details on screw machining, CNC machining and custom fabrication.

7 Reasons to Choose CNC Machining for Rapid Prototyping

CNC Machining

Computer Numerical Control machining, or CNC machining provides a number of advantages when it comes to creating durable products with speed and accuracy. Let’s take a closer look at CNC machining and why you should choose CNC machining for rapid prototyping.

7 Reasons to Choose CNC Machining for Rapid Prototyping?

1. Precise Tolerances

As the full name implies, Computer Numerical Control machining is controlled by a computer program. Essentially, the machine uses a CAD drawing file to create an item from a solid block of material. And while machines can sometimes break down or experience errors, they’re much more accurate than even the most skilled human operator.

As long as the machine is set up properly and the design files are correct, CNC machining can produce items with very tight tolerances. Some CNC machines are capable of tolerances as close as +0.05mm or 50 microns. This precision makes it easy to create prototypes exactly as you envision them, with intricate detail, multiple components or any design features you need.

2. Mimics Finished Product

Some prototypes are designed to simply mimic the appearance of the finished product, while others are designed to mimic its form as well as its function. When you choose CNC machining for rapid prototyping, the prototype will very closely resemble the finished product, including appearance as well as functionality.

Depending on the design of your prototype, you can use CNC machining to construct a single finished piece, or multiple pieces to assemble the prototype. Other rapid prototyping processes, like 3D printing, often produce visual representations of the prototype or components. CNC machining, on the other hand, creates products very similar to those produced through injection molding, which is commonly used in mass production. Therefore, CNC machining produces durable, functional pieces that will very closely resemble the finished, sale-ready product.

3. Many Different Materials Available

While processes like 3D printing generally work with plastic polymers, CNC machining works with a wide variety of different materials. Aluminum and aluminum alloys are the most common materials used in CNC machining, however there are many other materials available. CNC machines may also use brass and stainless steel, as well as non-metallics like plastics, wood and foam. This makes it easy to construct a prototype with the hardness, tensile strength, wear resistance, and other important characteristics.

4. Easy to Change

Since CNC machining is controlled by a computer program and attached to a computer design file, it’s relatively easy to change and edit your prototype as you continue to improve and develop the design. In a full-production run using injection molding or similar processes, it’s very difficult and expensive to change the design. Choosing CNC machining for rapid prototyping allows you to continue to make improvements.

5. Fast Turnaround

CNC machining is an efficient process that can give you hundreds of units in a very short time. Once the design files are perfected and the process is set up, the machines will work quickly and precisely. While 3D printing can take hours to produce a single unit, CNC machining can produce dozens or hundreds of units in the same time frame.

6. Short Run

CNC machining can produce a few dozen or hundreds of thousands of units. If you have reached the stage in your prototype development where you are ready to test your product with your first users, CNC machining can quickly produce multiple usable, durable prototypes that closely mimic the final product.

7. Finishing Options

With your parts constructed, there are also many finishing options to make it easy to get the look and feel you want for your prototype. This may be especially important if you are comparing the effects of different appearances on sales values such as a painted finish compared to a chrome finish. Or you may wish to ensure that a particular finish performs the way you expect, such as a powder coated part adequately resisting rust. Your prototype may be left as-is, or it may be powder coated, sanded, chrome plated, bead blasted, anodized, and more.

There are many advantages of choosing CNC machining for rapid prototyping. If you have reached the point in your product development where you are ready for a short run of your design, contact us. We can provide you with a quote and help you streamline your design for the most cost-effective CNC machining.

4 Cost-Cutting Tactics for Metal Machined Parts

Contract Machining, Manufacturing, Quality Assurance

Balancing costs and quality is an ongoing production struggle. It can be difficult to know where to cut costs that won’t sacrifice the quality of your project. When working with metal machined parts, there are a few ways to meet your budget while still producing a high-quality component. As you examine your project’s bottom line, consider these cost-cutting tactics for metal machined parts

4 Cost-Cutting Tactics for Metal Machined Parts

1. Choose the Right Materials

This is the first and one of the best cost-cutting tactics for metal machined parts. While quality is essential—and the materials you use are a key factor in quality construction—it’s important to balance quality and expense. In many cases, you can still get the functionality you need from your metal machined parts while still cutting costs.

To find the right material for the job, it’s important to address the part’s function and utility. This way, your part will still function the way that it’s supposed to, without adding extra expense from materials that are unnecessarily tough or complex. For example, if your component is going to be used indoors and won’t be subject to intense temperature extremes or moisture, a carbon alloy will probably meet your needs, and stainless steel may add unnecessary expense.

Consider the following to guide your decisions about materials:

  • Force: In the component’s common and regular use, what type of force will it be subjected to? This includes regular wear and tear or abrasion, weight and pressure, pushing or pulling, and more. If the component must withstand heavy force in its regular use, a tough steel will be important, but a component that won’t see intense use can be made with a lighter, more affordable alloy.
  • Temperature: Temperature considerations are especially important for metal machined parts. Temperature swings will cause some metals to expand, contract or warp significantly, while other metals will hold their shape more consistently. Consider any aspect that might create temperature swings, such as friction, outdoor use, cooling fluids or heating elements, and more.
  • Corrosion: All metals corrode in some form, though some are much more resistant to it than others. If the metal machined part will be subjected to moisture, including washing water, steam, high humidity and other aspects, the metal must be resistant to corrosion. If the component will be mostly enclosed and used indoors where corrosion will be much slower, corrosion resistance probably won’t add much value to the component.

2. Leverage Supplier Relationships

Once you’ve decided on the right material for the job, the next step is deciding where to source the material. If you’re working with a subcontractor for the components, they have existing metal supplier relationships that they can leverage. Or, if you’re subcontracting the labor, but you already have valuable supplier partnerships, you can supply the materials yourself. Choosing the right type of contract and partnership can help you take advantage of the skills and equipment you need.

3. Plan Your Purchases Carefully

Pre-planning is another important cost-cutting tactic for metal machined parts. With a reliable timetable and production schedule in mind, you can take advantage of blanket purchases. These pre-arranged orders with delivery across multiple dates can help your manufacturing partner plan production more easily, and they can help to cut costs.

With a good idea of your production needs, you can also place a bulk order, which can reduce per-unit costs for metal machined parts significantly. Set up costs often account for the bulk of an overall order’s expense, and bulk orders help to spread these expenses across more units. You benefit from economies of scale, and you can be more confident that you will have the components that you need when you need them.

4. Simplify Your Design

Even small details can quickly add expenses for metal machined parts. Simplifying your design is one of the most effective cost-cutting tactics for metal machined parts. Small divots, cuts or holes that are excessively delicate or excessively deep creates unnecessary complexity and expense. Once again, a clear understanding of the component’s common use can help to streamline the design and cut costs.

If you’re unsure how to streamline or simplify your component’s design, talk to an experienced metal fabricating partner. With a detailed understanding of the machines and processes needed to produce the part, an experienced fabrication partner can suggest ways to simplify the design without sacrificing product quality or utility.

Working with an experienced manufacturing partner can help you cut costs on metal machined parts in multiple ways. Experienced designers, engineers, fabricators and project managers can all help to keep your project on-time and on-budget, while still delivering on quality and consistency.

5 Best Materials to Use for Heavy Machinery Equipment Parts

Manufacturing

With such a vast selection of materials to choose from, it’s important that you select one that is right for your heavy machining equipment part. Each material has a list of pros and cons that come along with them, ranging from price to strength and durability. So, how do you know which material is right for your part? Learn more about the most widely-used materials below.

1. Carbon Alloys

Carbon alloys are beneficial to use when creating machinery parts due to its corrosion resistance and extreme temperature stability. The carbon content in our alloys is below 5% by weight, meaning the steel can achieve a greater weldability and formability but still maintain the strength of steel. Carbon alloys are commonly used for parts that require corrosion resistance, strength and wear resistant properties.

2. Aluminum

On the other hand, aluminum can be used for parts that don’t require much strength. Due to the lack of density in aluminum, the energy output for machining is fairly low compared to machining other materials. If your machine has weight restrictions, using aluminum parts may prove to be beneficial due to its low density and light weight. Aluminum also has excellent corrosion resistance, and is easy to work with heavy machinery due to its thermal and electrical conductivity. Because of its lightweight and general availability, aluminum is fairly inexpensive compared to other metals.

3. Brass

Along with having great strength and being resistant to corrosion, brass is often used for heavy machinery that is visible to others due to its favorable appearance and color. Brass is also very resistant to rust, making it a favorable material for machines that will be operating near water or in high humidity atmospheres. Brass is known as being extremely malleable, so it can be easily transformed into any part that you may need. Although regularly more expensive than other materials, it may be easier to work with depending on the part you need for your heavy machining product.

4. Stainless Steel

One of the most widely used metals for machining purposes today is stainless steel. Although it’s very popular, it may be hard to machine due to its intense strength and hardness. However, because of its hardness, it is a great material for heavy machinery that will be used outdoors, as it has a low corrosive property as well. Stainless steel also has a high resistance to heat, allowing it to retain strength at high temperatures.

5. Plastics

Plastic can be used for a variety of different purposes, including creating parts for heavy machinery. Although plastic isn’t very heat resistant due to its low melting temperature, its light weight and high versatility makes it an easy-to-use material for majority of machine parts. Because plastic is generally lower is strength, it would be beneficial to use it for a machine that requires light weight material.