Has anyone ever used emachineshop to fabricate parts?

[bnoon]

http://www.emachineshop.com/

I've been tinkering with their softeware for a few weeks in order to make up a few things that I can't make in my home shop. Apparently, their CNC/waterjet/ and laser guided machines are more accurate than machining material stock with a grinder and a drill press in my garage... who knew???

They have tons of machines at their disposal and the software even gives you pricing information when you're done with your design... I'm about ready to order a run of some things for thirdgen birds and wanted to know if anyone has dealt with them before.

[Matt@RFR]

They won't use any tooling that they don't allready have in stock. Their prices are astranomical unless you order big quantities with a slow turnaround, and their software is crude at best. No offense, but it seems that most people using a service like that don't know how to do machine work, and the software won't suggest changes to your design to make it more feasible and/or cost effective. Example:

You have a radius (fillet) in your design of R.033", but the only have tooling to do .030" or .035" radii. So instead of changing your radius to match their tooling, they're gonna surface that bad boy for 2 hours to get the .033" radius.

Find a person you can talk to (shameless plug: like me! ) that can help you design your parts, and then take care of the machining. It'll get done right, and the price will be much more reasonable.

[Fluid Power]

I word agree with Matt 100%. Nothing beats dealing with a competent machinist. Relationships are a fantastic way to do business, get know someone local or on this board and the feedback from a pro will more than offset (if any) price difference. I have a local guy that I deal with and it is amazing the work he will do for me at a fair price. His suggestions have helped a lot on various projects. I have done so much work with him that he even lets me use stuff like his surface plate and dig thru his scrap pile if I buy lunch!

Darren

[nancejd]

Matt, what kind of drawings do you need to machine a part? Can you use solid modeling, or do you need more traditional machine drawings?

[Matt@RFR]

James, I can read Pro/E, AutoCad, IGES, parasolid, STEP, DXF, DWG, and bar napkins. Hand drawings and shop drawings are just fine if you don't want to put time into a solid.

[bnoon]

They won't use any tooling that they don't allready have in stock. Their prices are astranomical unless you order big quantities with a slow turnaround, and their software is crude at best. No offense, but it seems that most people using a service like that don't know how to do machine work, and the software won't suggest changes to your design to make it more feasible and/or cost effective. Example:

You have a radius (fillet) in your design of R.033", but the only have tooling to do .030" or .035" radii. So instead of changing your radius to match their tooling, they're gonna surface that bad boy for 2 hours to get the .033" radius.

Find a person you can talk to (shameless plug: like me! ) that can help you design your parts, and then take care of the machining. It'll get done right, and the price will be much more reasonable.

Matt, I had no idea... I don't have a machine shop and the locals around here only seem to deal with big time businesses. The smaller shops had just as outlandish pricing for doing prototype work for some small run parts (100 or so) I need done for my side business. The main problem is time... I learned their simple software in about 10 minutes and can doodle here at work to make a simple/quick 3D drawing.

Is there a program (free I hope) that I can use to save it in a format that you can read? Their program saves it as an EMS file and nothing else... I have Visio that can do some drawing, but I'm not used to their 3d stuff if they have any...

[1976SR71]

Hey Guys,
Is someone looking for a Machinist?
I happen to know a good one....
Me! I have been in the profession for 18 Years.
My daily job is setting up, programming and running a veritcal machining center.
I work for a pretty deicent place that lets me use the macines on my time.
I don't think some small projects would be to difficult to fit in.
I have been kicking around the idea that instead of opening up my own Hot Rod shop.
That getting my own machines and doing work like this would be verrry cool.
Helping other guys build thier hot rods /PT cars. would be rewarding.

LMK if I can help.
Thanx, Jeff

[Matt@RFR]

small run parts (100 or so)

That's a big run for me, as I usually get stuff made two or so at a time. 100 should be no problem at all.

Their program saves it as an EMS file and nothing else

I'm assuming the EMS file stands for E Machine Shop, in which case, it won't be useable by anything else, and I seriously doubt there's any program that will read it. SolidWorks can open an amazing amount of different file types, but EMS isn't one of them. Just another way to keep their customers from going anywhere else...

A hand drawing is just fine to start with. After that, I can send you drawings so you can make changes or accept.

Thanks for the interest!

[bnoon]

That's a big run for me, as I usually get stuff made two or so at a time. 100 should be no problem at all. I'm assuming the EMS file stands for E Machine Shop, in which case, it won't be useable by anything else, and I seriously doubt there's any program that will read it. SolidWorks can open an amazing amount of different file types, but EMS isn't one of them. Just another way to keep their customers from going anywhere else...

A hand drawing is just fine to start with. After that, I can send you drawings so you can make changes or accept.

Thanks for the interest!

The one good thing about their stuff is that it at least has the number for distance, depth, etc so that I can give you a 3d drawing, top, bottom, left, and right views and write in those dimensions or print them out to show scale. Better yet I can do some screen shots showing the stuff on the screen. Once I figure out what I want to do for certain, I'll let you know and send you some drawings/etc to see what things would cost me. We can work around them any way I see fit. MMMMMMMuuuuuuuuuuHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Matt@RFR]

screen shots

Excellent idea. Stick it to the man!! lol

[bnoon]

Excellent idea. Stick it to the man!! lol

Wait a minute, wait a minute!!!!!! I can export to DXF files!!! I can't "save as", but I can export it. WAHOOOOOOOOOO! When it goes into a DXF, does it retain the measurements?

[bnoon]

I just uploaded them to my web space.
http://www.bnmotorsports.com/gauge_rings.dxf
http://www.bnmotorsports.com/gauge_rings_side.dxf

It's basically just a ring for my stock gauge cluster covers, of which there will be four per set. Some guy across the big pond made some, but didn't have much interest in making them for the US market... The thirdgen guys went nuts for them, so I want to step up to the plate.

Here's a jpg of it too. http://www.bnmotorsports.com/gauges.jpg

[Matt@RFR]

Hey man, those guys are trying to be tricky... .DXF's (as far as I know) are good only for 2D sketches/drawings. The picture below is what it came across as. It'll orient the lines in 3D, but I need more info than that.

I suggest a screen shot, print that, draw in dimensions if you have to, and scan or fax it...I think it's just gonna be easier that way. Or just hand draw it.

[SShep71]

Matt,
DXF files are good for any number of drawings and types of drawings. I opened the file with AutoCAD 2005 and it worked perfectly fine. I checked it in 3D orbit and it looks good. DXF files are good because the right programming will convert it to the necesary G-code for CNC work. I prefer manual stuff but running 200+ pieces will get to you after awhile. If you need any autocad drawings done let me know. I can print them out and send them to you if your program will not read the files correctly.


-Shep

[bnoon]

Huh... It works in Visio too... even Paint Shop Pro is putting it as two flat drawings with a grid to show measurements that look better than that.

[bnoon]

I've made some changes to the numbers since the other drawing was done just as a cost idea with emachine shop. I now have the actual dimensions needed for my parts and here they are with some drawings to go by.

Aluminum material thickness = 3/4"

Inner circle diameter = 3.8""
Outer circle diameter = 4.7""

Side profile


The inner edge of the bevel is cut at a 45 to give the front side of the ring a point towards the outer edge. The sides are stepped inwards about 1/4" down the sides at a 4.18" diameter circle edge (a .26" step inward).

I'll start with an initial run of ten sets of 4 rings each and go from there (40 total pieces) after the initial prototype is done (which could be made from wood as far as I'm concerned). The aluminum used in the production run doesn't have to be the strongest around as these are just press fit into the factory plastic housings, but I will be polishing some sets if that is of any concern.

Let me know if you need something else and FYI, the price to beat for 40 units is $25.27 for each ring made of T6 plus prototype costs of $140 for a single plastic or wood ring sent as the first one.

[bnoon]

I changed the drawing a little bit and added the numbers right to it to make it easier for you...

[Matt@RFR]

Shep, I don't know what the deal is. Most times I can get a .DXF from someone and it'll import just fine, but lately they are either missing entities altogether, or just don't look quite right (especially logos that end up as a bunch of splines tangent to each other). However, I just used a .DXF from a customer today and it worked fine. I've looked everywhere, and there's no user-adjustable settings for importing these. Any suggestions?

bnoon, like this?

[MoeBawlz]

a lot of times changing software and importing new stuff etc. etc. you lose a lot in the translation at least in solid modeling. most times, you just lose the ability to change the file but sometimes you lose the dimensions as well.

Some programs like Unigraphics you can import DXF files into, and then create curve geometry from that and extrue or revolve. DXFs are for 2D drawings, and while some programs like AutoCAD can do 3D... their 3D modeling SUCKS in compairison to Pro E or UG.

Looking at that eMachineShop, its really cheesy. it is easy to use, but for 2D im much more proficient in AutoCAD so id personally rather use something like that where you can add dimensions really easy and just send someone a file of a plot or plot it and mail it to them.

As Matt said, a lot of simple stuff can be done with just hand drawings. When it gets into complex parts that have many features and dimensions and tolerances are critical then it might be a good idea to run it in AutoCAD or some form of Solid modeling for a visual aid as well as creating prints that are easy to read rather than having a bunch of numbers piled on top of eachother for the machinist to read.

[Matt@RFR]

Moe, what I meant was that my customers can give me hand drawings to get things started. I don't do anything without a solid model. I make the model off of the initial drawing (or even no drawing, but a phone conversation), and then the part is improved/added onto from there. It can take awhile sometimes, but the end result is a part that the customer can see before he sends any money, and that they can change completely before any metal is cut.