SummitFever
Eats Squid
A few days ago I had a very rare combination of circumstances that meant I could run some parts on my toolroom cnc machining centre. It's normally only for prototype work but covid has meant I've been running it for production work as well. For some time, I've been meaning to make some mounts that will allow me to position the bottle cages on my various bikes exactly where I want them. I ended up making three mounts, one which is a bit more complicated from the Trance and two for my Anthem.
These are made parametrically. I don't design them in CAD and then generate the G-Code. I write the G-Code essentially by hand but using a variety of subroutines that do the things I want. What this means is, if I want a mount that relocates a bottle 16.37mm then I just put this value into a variable in the G-Code and whole thing is worked out from there. No going back to some CAD software and regenerating tools paths or any BS like that.
An interesting question is how much does it cost to make something like this? Well, for me it costs nothing but time and electricity (as even the raw stock I used is 6061-M61 precision plate that I have left over from the last production run). But, this is a wanky answer, so how do we put a cost on something like this?
Xometry is great place to start. Do your design in CAD and upload your file and they give you an instant, real-time quote on what it costs to make this part in the US and in China. You can tweak materials, tolerances, surface finishes and processes. It's brilliant. With that in mind, I created a CAD model of my part so I could get a Xometry quote and there are the results.
To make one part with very shit tolerances (+/- 5 thou of a inch!) will set you back US$180 (made in US) or $US94 (made in China) plus shipping.
If you want 10 of these with black anodized finish, price drops to US$75 / $35 each.
What about 100? Price drops to $31 / $14 each.
Making stuff is expensive and if I could have just bought something off-the-shelf that had the exact offsets I wanted then there would be no way I'd waste my time making something like this.
These are made parametrically. I don't design them in CAD and then generate the G-Code. I write the G-Code essentially by hand but using a variety of subroutines that do the things I want. What this means is, if I want a mount that relocates a bottle 16.37mm then I just put this value into a variable in the G-Code and whole thing is worked out from there. No going back to some CAD software and regenerating tools paths or any BS like that.
An interesting question is how much does it cost to make something like this? Well, for me it costs nothing but time and electricity (as even the raw stock I used is 6061-M61 precision plate that I have left over from the last production run). But, this is a wanky answer, so how do we put a cost on something like this?
Xometry is great place to start. Do your design in CAD and upload your file and they give you an instant, real-time quote on what it costs to make this part in the US and in China. You can tweak materials, tolerances, surface finishes and processes. It's brilliant. With that in mind, I created a CAD model of my part so I could get a Xometry quote and there are the results.
To make one part with very shit tolerances (+/- 5 thou of a inch!) will set you back US$180 (made in US) or $US94 (made in China) plus shipping.
If you want 10 of these with black anodized finish, price drops to US$75 / $35 each.
What about 100? Price drops to $31 / $14 each.
Making stuff is expensive and if I could have just bought something off-the-shelf that had the exact offsets I wanted then there would be no way I'd waste my time making something like this.
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