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Sorry, Jeremy. Truly, truly sorry. But... Are you fucking kidding me? Comparing "manufacturing" software products to manufacturing hardware products is as non

Sorry, Jeremy. Truly, truly sorry. But... Are you fucking kidding me? Comparing "manufacturing" software products to manufacturing hardware products is as nonsensical as it can get. One has nothing whatsoever to do with the other. Source: Me. Background: I've been developing software and hardware for over thirty years. I go back to the days of the 8080 processor. Embedded, system, real time, Windows, Linux, OSX and iOS software development over the years. Commercial, industrial, consumer and aerospace environments. At the same time I have been designing and manufacturing the physical side of said products for an equally long period of time. CNC, sheet metal, through hole and SMT electronics, TIG and MIG weldments, plastic and metal 3D printing, composites, injection molded plastics. All in markets from consumer to aerospace. Heck I have a Haas VF2-SS VMC, Bridgeport manual mill, Hardinge lathe, various 3D printers, routers, table saw, half a dozen other saws and metal working equipment and this is only in my house for my hobby and R&D stuff. I've been running AutoCAD since inception, Solidworks since inception, CAMWorks, SolidCAM and MasterCAM for some time as well as Siemens NX (exclusively for aerospace stuff). So, yeah, I'll pat my own back and say I know manufacturing. Please stop this Silicon Valley "we are going to disrupt manufacturing by making CNC machining easier" nonsense. Again, I apologize for being a bit harsh but I have to say you don't have a clue. OK, here it goes. I can beat anything you can possible put together. How? I can send a model to China and have part back in three days flat. 5 axis. Complex. Detailed. Perfectly finished. And reasonably priced. I don't even have to know how they make it. If you work with reputable contract manufacturers out there you get great product at fair prices. It's isn't that hard. I truly don't give a shit what software they use or what machines they might own. There are great CM's which which you can do $200 to million dollar orders and they treat you just the same. Between that and Proto Labs, Protocase, Emachineshop and others the problem of CNC machining parts and making plastic or sheet metal rapid prototypes is pretty much solved. Now, if you want to compete with Proto Labs or Emachineshop and come up with a slicker path to CNC machined parts. By all means, go for it. But please don't say you are going to disrupt manufacturing. CNC machining is a small, very small part of most manufactured products. Oh, yeah, did some aluminum die casting, custom extrusions and casting as well. Sorry, I'm pretty tired of the active rejection of experience, existing industry knowledge and existing optimized processes by these Silicon Valley types who are clueless and think everything can be hammered into a software development model. Not everyone is out there trying to get people to click on yet another call to action button. Here, I'll give you a project: Go design and manufacture a motorcycle from scratch. I mean a real product, not a one-off garage-built prototype. A real product that can be manufactured at a reasonable scale with decent DFM, documentation, certifications, component and system level test engineering, qualification, sourcing, etc. Do this and I'll bet your view of someone asking "why can a small team of software devs push out an app in a few days / weeks when a hardware product takes a sizable kickstarter/VC round and months / years" will land you right-smack where I started this comment: Are you fucking kidding me?

Animats 10y ago
You know they're serious when they have a Bridgeport at home. (Not a Jet.) Want a business that's machining-based but needs better software? Design and make injection molding molds automatically. Injection molding is incredibly cheap per unit, but the molds cost too much (average is around $12,000) and may not work right the first time. Mold design requires highly experienced mold designers. Make that process easier. Be able to start from 3D printer type models. Advise the naive user interactively on how to modify their part for easier injection molding. Figure out all the flow and cooling and release stuff automatically.
- rebootthesystem 10y ago
  Yes. Injection molding is a dark art. One feature in the design can take your mold from a simple tool to a huge monster with side actions, multiple injection ports and all kinds of injection mold voodoo costing tens of thousands of dollars. Love the Bridgeport. I have somehow resisted the temptation to convert it to CNC. Another reason I love it is that I use my garage shop in mentoring a group of kids at the local high school robotics team. Nothing like making parts on a manual mill and lathe to learn about the real world of "just 'cause you can draw it in Solidworks it doesn't mean you can make it that way". One of my favorite moments to witness with the kids is when the make two parts that are to be bolted to each other and they can't. The holes a don't line-up and the hole diameters are not what they expected. What follows is a chat about Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (Light Edition). Fun stuff.
  - Animats 10y ago
    Off-topic: what should TechShop get as a small SMT reflow oven? TechShop bought $200 T962 IR reflow ovens for all the TechShop locations. They're useless because the heat distribution is so non-uniform that they scorch the center of the board. There are various hobbyist mods available, and toaster oven conversions, but they need a low cost, robust, off the shelf product. I've convinced them that what they have is no good, but don't have an alternative to recommend.
    - 10y ago

Animats 10y ago

You know they're serious when they have a Bridgeport at home. (Not a Jet.) Want a business that's machining-based but needs better software? Design and make injection molding molds automatically. Injection molding is incredibly cheap per unit, but the molds cost too much (average is around $12,000) and may not work right the first time. Mold design requires highly experienced mold designers. Make that process easier. Be able to start from 3D printer type models. Advise the naive user interactively on how to modify their part for easier injection molding. Figure out all the flow and cooling and release stuff automatically.

rebootthesystem 10y ago
Yes. Injection molding is a dark art. One feature in the design can take your mold from a simple tool to a huge monster with side actions, multiple injection ports and all kinds of injection mold voodoo costing tens of thousands of dollars. Love the Bridgeport. I have somehow resisted the temptation to convert it to CNC. Another reason I love it is that I use my garage shop in mentoring a group of kids at the local high school robotics team. Nothing like making parts on a manual mill and lathe to learn about the real world of "just 'cause you can draw it in Solidworks it doesn't mean you can make it that way". One of my favorite moments to witness with the kids is when the make two parts that are to be bolted to each other and they can't. The holes a don't line-up and the hole diameters are not what they expected. What follows is a chat about Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (Light Edition). Fun stuff.
- Animats 10y ago
  Off-topic: what should TechShop get as a small SMT reflow oven? TechShop bought $200 T962 IR reflow ovens for all the TechShop locations. They're useless because the heat distribution is so non-uniform that they scorch the center of the board. There are various hobbyist mods available, and toaster oven conversions, but they need a low cost, robust, off the shelf product. I've convinced them that what they have is no good, but don't have an alternative to recommend.
  - 10y ago