Pricing a low budget complete metal work shop for audio DIY chassis.

What essentials do you think one would need to build a low budget metal work shop for making chassis and milling front panels? What tools would you recommend purchasing? How much do you think this would end up costing?

you mean one-of products and small custom jobs?
or small production runs?

Either way a cnc mill/drill is handy.
Folding sheet metal is a must for making complete enclosures.

Is there a middle of the road option? Lets say for about 80 chassis within the next year.

I would need a sheet metal bender, rivits, and milling machine.

Thanks,

-Jon

There are many places you can buy ready made blank chassis. If you are only going to do about 80 a year I would standardise on a small number of  readily available (= cheaper than you can make them) chassis types and concentrate on making holes in them.

Cheers

Ian

determine how much your time is worth and if that is how you want to spend it.
find a metal shop and see how much can be outsourced or off-the-shelfed.

I agree with the last two posts.  You sound like you don't have much experience with it, so don't forget the learning curve.. how many parts you'll mess up in the process, etc.  Metalwork is not easy to do well, so in the end, you'll have better looking cases if you have someone experienced do them for you.  Personally I am horrible at it, so I get custom cases and just install the parts into them.  PEM fasterners for PCBs, XLR and IEC holes pre made, etc.  The only tools I want to use are screwdrivers, no drills or other stuff.

I still want a CNC router for front panels, cuz I've seen what that can do, and since it's computer based (something I'm very comfortable with) it's pretty easy to get good results once you know the material you're working with and the tool.

Unless you absolutely love doing metal work and have plenty of time to burn, leave that work to professionals. I have plenty of machining equipment, but for any quantities larger than 10 I always contract machine shops. Their time is cheaper than mine and even if it was the same I'd rather spend it for other much more interesting things in life, or just R&D...

Having said that, I greatly enjoy making prototypes and a few pieces runs...

Best, M

I've spent YEARS doing metal work... enough to know why the good tools are priced the way they are, how long it takes to make tooling for repetitive processes, the amount of failure that will happen as you figure things out and the amount of money you'll spend just getting materials onto your production floor (it's cheaper to buy sheet metal in large sheets, which is how you make something more economical).

You're going to wish you had just bought a par-metal case and been done with it...

If this is a small business investment venture, well...you're not going about this the right way.

buildafriend said:

Is there a middle of the road option? Lets say for about 80 chassis within the next year.

I would need a sheet metal bender, rivits, and milling machine.

Thanks,

-Jon

Click to expand...

If you love big heavy expensive toys this sounds like fun... 80 per year, every year, just about justifies some modest gear..(like a small brake, shear, maybe a few mechanical punches).  Then you can probably use a welder or two, drill press, grinder, etc.

Do you have any experience working with metal?  Surely there are small machine shops going out of business all the time  so you can pick up used gear at the auction.  My brother used to have a Bridgeport milling machine and decent sized metal lathe in his home workshop but he was a little crazy, and a serious car nut, who liked making his own unique repair parts... funny when his last job moved him across the country and had to pay the moving company to move his personal shop (heavy stuff).  8)

JR

I think that you seriously underestimate the scope of such an undertaking. The small tools will outnumber and outcost the large ones. 80 boxes a year won't even begin to pay back.

For me the middle of the road is learning a good CAD system and finding a "2.5D" CNC shop that is focused on the quantity and type of work I will send them. It may surprise you how cheap it is to outsource raw machine work and surface finishing if you can get the quantities up to tens at a time.

Just saying that's what I'm planning to do.

Cheers,

Michael

Thank you all for the great advice 

I disagree completely , Do it yourself !

From my own experience it is nothing but a big time pain in my A$$ to get anyone to make me anything. The tollerances are shit, they don't care about your measily 80 boxes a year. That isn't even worth their time. They will rush your job to get to a bigger contract and then if they happen to get a better job they will let yours sit forever on hold.

My average so far is 6 to 8 weeks late on anything I give out. 

I say go for it man! I would if I had a space big enough. The extra cost you spend will ensure 1) you do it right and 2) you retain your mental sanity by not having to rely on lazy / late / apathetic machinists

and finding a "2.5D" CNC shop that is focused on the quantity and type of work I will send them. It may surprise you how cheap it is to outsource raw machine work and surface finishing if you can get the quantities up to tens at a time.

Click to expand...

Really ???? You could not  possibly be talking about the USA...

Maybe I am just having the worst luck ever, but I have gone to dozens of different places and have been let down each and every time. You cannot argue with something that is a fact.  If you want it done right and anywhere remotely close to on time and budget , do it yourself.


Chuck

ChuckD said:

I disagree completely , Do it yourself !

From my own experience it is nothing but a big time pain in my A$$ to get anyone to make me anything. The tollerances are sh*t, they don't care about your measily 80 boxes a year. That isn't even worth their time. They will rush your job to get to a bigger contract and then if they happen to get a better job they will let yours sit forever on hold.

My average so far is 6 to 8 weeks late on anything I give out. 

I say go for it man! I would if I had a space big enough. The extra cost you spend will ensure 1) you do it right and 2) you retain your mental sanity by not having to rely on lazy / late / apathetic machinists

and finding a "2.5D" CNC shop that is focused on the quantity and type of work I will send them. It may surprise you how cheap it is to outsource raw machine work and surface finishing if you can get the quantities up to tens at a time.

Click to expand...

Really ???? You could not  possibly be talking about the USA...

Maybe I am just having the worst luck ever, but I have gone to dozens of different places and have been let down each and every time. You cannot argue with something that is a fact.  If you want it done right and anywhere remotely close to on time and budget , do it yourself.


Chuck

Click to expand...

Insightful, thank you.