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Even just hearing "tormachs" is already telling. If anybody done serious manufacturing, they know to avoid machining like a curse. I really feel they (and pre

Even just hearing "tormachs" is already telling. If anybody done serious manufacturing, they know to avoid machining like a curse. I really feel they (and pretty much everybody else in this "manufacture in USA" bunch) don't really know what they are doing.

jjk166 5y ago
I'm a manufacturing engineer. Anyone telling you to avoid machining like a curse has no idea what they are talking about. For small production runs it is almost always the most economical option, and even mass produced parts typically need secondary machining for any applications that require tight tolerance. And even if the things you're actually producing can be made without machining, any self respecting factory should have a machine shop for tooling and fixtures. I am also dying to know how you made a scooter without any machined components.
- baybal2 5y ago
  > For small production runs it is almost always the most economical option, and even mass produced parts typically need secondary machining for any applications that require tight tolerance. I haven't said avoid machined parts. I said avoid machining as part of your own manufacturing process. It looks very odd to have a lone, expensive n-axis CNC sitting on the shop floor just to do few parts. > any self respecting factory should have a machine shop for tooling and fixtures. For most of my career by now, it was always faster, and easier to have tooling made by a contractor, than on-site. I can email a solidworks sketch in the morning, and get a perfect mold/die by the evening. > I am also dying to know how you made a scooter without any machined components. As said before without machining, not machined parts. We were buying Yadea kits. Assembly was very straightforward. Slide two parts of a frame with slide locks, and welds. Affix other parts, and panelling. That was all to it, except for local workforce not being able to handle pretty much everything.
  - jjk166 5y ago
    Assembling kits other people manufactured is not manufacturing - that's assembly. If you don't need it to do a lot of work, a cheap used cnc is incredibly cheap. You can easily get a decent one for under 30k and if you can wait for a deal you can probably snag something for under 10. Lathes are even cheaper. They're easily the most accessible machine tools. I used to work for a tool and die shop. It took us weeks from when we quoted a job to when it would ship and people came to us because of how fast we were. I don't know where in the world you're getting same day molds and dies, but that's not normal at all.

jjk166 5y ago

I'm a manufacturing engineer. Anyone telling you to avoid machining like a curse has no idea what they are talking about. For small production runs it is almost always the most economical option, and even mass produced parts typically need secondary machining for any applications that require tight tolerance. And even if the things you're actually producing can be made without machining, any self respecting factory should have a machine shop for tooling and fixtures. I am also dying to know how you made a scooter without any machined components.

baybal2 5y ago
> For small production runs it is almost always the most economical option, and even mass produced parts typically need secondary machining for any applications that require tight tolerance. I haven't said avoid machined parts. I said avoid machining as part of your own manufacturing process. It looks very odd to have a lone, expensive n-axis CNC sitting on the shop floor just to do few parts. > any self respecting factory should have a machine shop for tooling and fixtures. For most of my career by now, it was always faster, and easier to have tooling made by a contractor, than on-site. I can email a solidworks sketch in the morning, and get a perfect mold/die by the evening. > I am also dying to know how you made a scooter without any machined components. As said before without machining, not machined parts. We were buying Yadea kits. Assembly was very straightforward. Slide two parts of a frame with slide locks, and welds. Affix other parts, and panelling. That was all to it, except for local workforce not being able to handle pretty much everything.
- jjk166 5y ago
  Assembling kits other people manufactured is not manufacturing - that's assembly. If you don't need it to do a lot of work, a cheap used cnc is incredibly cheap. You can easily get a decent one for under 30k and if you can wait for a deal you can probably snag something for under 10. Lathes are even cheaper. They're easily the most accessible machine tools. I used to work for a tool and die shop. It took us weeks from when we quoted a job to when it would ship and people came to us because of how fast we were. I don't know where in the world you're getting same day molds and dies, but that's not normal at all.