Where Did All My Features Go? The Trouble with Ordering Machined and Sheetmetal Parts On-line.

Convenience comes with a tradeoff. Living in the Amazon age, where everything you need is just a few mouseclicks away, definitely has its advantages, but when it comes to ordering custom manufactured and prototype parts, convenience can turn into a liability.

Have you ever wondered why the parts you order through these automated on-line portals never quite match the CAD files and drawings you uploaded? There is a reason for it, well, several reasons actually, so read on as we unweave the rainbow and tell you how you can get your parts made to your specifications every time thanks to Prototek, the industry’s premier rapid prototyping source.

Engineers are increasingly turning to online portals that offer real-time quotes and parts delivered to their doorstep in just a few days. CNC machining, sheet metal as well as 3D printed parts, both plastics and metals, are the most common fabrication methods used today. 

Many of these on-line hubs do not actually manufacture any parts at all. They’re merely aggregators posting your files for numerous machine shops and sheet metal houses to bid on, then assigning your job to the lowest bidder. Not only are you paying a premium to a middleman but you are exposing potentially confidential files to several outlets that are under no agreement to keep the files or any intellectual property they contain safe.

It’s a troubling arrangement for nearly all involved— with the exception of the online hub taking their hefty mark-up— the mechanical engineer exposes their designs to an open forum and cannot track parts back to the original source, while the manufacturer that won the bid is obligated to make the part at reduced margin. Corners have to be cut and as more and more shops compete for these jobs, quality and consistency decline as manufactures find themselves trying to make parts on razor thin margins. Margins so thin in fact, it will eventually force some out of business entirely.

Ok, that got depressing fast so let’s turn our attention to the automated quoting and manufacturing vendors that actually make their own parts.

The most common reason your part was not made to size, lacks critical features, was made from the wrong materials or is not made to your specific dimensional tolerances is tooling. At Prototek, we custom tool our machines for each job to make sure all features are made to your design. The automated, on-line machine shops have a “take it or leave it” approach. The CNC machines are set-up with standard tooling to make parts in a standard size box from only a handful of available materials. If your part can’t be made with standard tools that are already on the machine, or if your part falls outside their standard size, you’re not getting the part made to your design.

This puts mechanical engineers in a tough position. The purpose of rapid prototyping is to evaluate form, fit, and function. You can’t very well do that when all the holes aren’t drilled, simultaneous and live tooling of intricate features is eliminated, deep wells are a no-go and heli-coils/PEM inserts aren’t even an option. If you part is simple, not tightly toleranced and requires little to no secondary processes, then an on-line manufacturer may be right for you.

However, if you requirement are a little more particular then Prototek is the rapid protype solution best suited for the job. At Prototek, a real person reviews all your CAD files and drawings and evaluates them for manufacturability. There are no surprises or missed features. We can machine aluminum, steel, titanium, magnesium, all varieties of plastics from medical grade to Delrin and ABS to nylon and carbon composites. We even do laser cutting, anodizing, painting, PEM inserts and hardware assembly all in house. This saves time and cuts costs that we then pass on to you.

Consider Prototek as your online manufacturing partner. We may not offer a convenient real time quote, but we will give you real parts, real people, and real attention to meet all of your manufacturing needs.

Contact us for a quote today: [email protected] or call 603.746.2001