Looking to outsource some CNC routing in UK

[CNCCabinets]

Hi Gerry. Thanks for your reply. I'd be happy to send you a dxf file of the sort of parts that I'd like to have cut, that is very kind of you to offer some advice. I do think that a lot of businesses don't like bothering with small orders from companies that are trying to get up and running so take a punt and put their prices high, it is a shame as everyone has got to start somewhere.

Have you got an email address I can send a dxf file to?

Thanks again.

Phil

[Ger21]

cncwoodworker at comcast dot net

[Sven]

I set up one of my current activities based on outsourcing as many parts as possible, in stainless steel sheet and various plastics.
I also do limited numbers and two to three years in I realised that a small cnc might help me.

In the end it turned out to work better if I tried to make as many parts myself as I could.
I think that if you want to do custom work, having your own cnc is very useful.

If you need to start by outsourcing, which is a good idea, even if doing parts yourself is "better" in the long run, the supplier needs to be flexible too. That probably means that they are focusted on small batches too.

Mixing small batches with very big ones is often hard, unless the business actually focuses on being able to handle both.

Having a local one may be very good. Being able to just pop over to discuss stuff makes stuff much easier.

I think price will come from how much hassle you take out of the job.
If you can send nested cad files or even coded files to the cnc guy that only need cutting, it would be a lot cheaper than sending each individual part file over, adding quantity, thickness.

[Ger21]

If you can send nested cad files or even coded files to the cnc guy that only need cutting, it would be a lot cheaper than sending each individual part file over, adding quantity, thickness.

If I were doing the work, I would not want nested files or machine code. My machine runs the way I want it to run, not the way my customer thinks it should run. If you want to outsource to me, then you have to pay me to program your parts. You'd need a very good working relationship imo to be able to send someone g-code to run for you.

I think that outsourcing is probably much more cost effective with larger jobs, rather than small one off jobs. Both large and small jobs often require a similar amount of programming and setup time, and on larger jobs that cost is spread out among more parts, making them cheaper.