Crap work from a "high end" Chinese prototype shop

[DDoug]

Hi Strostkovy:
Yeah your reasoning is sound.
Also worth considering is that setting up a complex part where the clamping surfaces have been milled away, or the part has been sliced from a holding block, or you don't have the fixturing they have, can make the repair more expensive than just biting the bitter pill and running a new part, even from scratch.

Some of the stuff I make is impossible to modify once it's sliced off from its handle...it's way too small to hang onto conventionally, so once it goes on the wire for the cutoff, it's done, and if you fucked something up along the way, it goes in the garbage, even if it's something simple like a hole that's a few tenths too small, or a surface that's still a few tenths too high.

Yeah, you wish you could just set it up again and whisker off the bad bits, but too often you just can't.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

Yes, you don't see Intel re-working chipsets much, nor even PCB's.
Easier to simply push the start button on the machinery already set-up.

 

[joecrs]

Good morning Everyone:
I've been getting some pushback lately from a customer who's discovered the magic of Chinese prototype shops.

"Your prices are too high...your deliveries are too long" etc etc.

So they sent a whole raft of parts off to be made and got them back in 3 weeks for some pretty impressive prices.
The shop they used claims to be a high end shop...no names, but that's how they market themselves.
"We're a high precision shop that will do wondrous things for you, fast and cheap."
I almost never get to look at the parts they have made overseas anymore, until there's a problem they can't bodge their way around with a Dremel and a hammer.

I got a call recently..."We can't put it together!".
Turns out they missed on something really simple...the oring pockets are too small for the orings.

"Marcus, can you fix it?"

So I get the part to look at...looks great from a distance, but holy crap is it ever rough when you get to the details:
Here's a shot...looks great right?
View attachment 374524

.

Of course the part wasn't square when I got it so first thing was to grind enough of it so I could get it accurately in the vise.
I recut the oring pockets; no big deal. (BTW they're 3 mm OD 1/2 mm XS)

Then I looked at the part in more detail under the scope while I was fiddling in the orings.
Here's what I found:
View attachment 374525
OK, it's just a countersink, but Jeeze, it sure do look like shit to me.
Nice edge breaks too!

I was getting ready to feel insecure about my ability to continue to compete...I think I just recovered my confidence!

So anyone who might be feeling the hurt of overseas competition...it's not so grim as it looks.
If this is what passes for high end, we can still be relevant!

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

No surprise there , I lost a ton of work to china but it did not last long, the customer came back to me after getting not only garbage but the company in china actually changed materials without telling the customer. The customer noticed a huge reduction in tooling life on the parts so had the material analyzed turns out the company in china changed to a cheaper form of brass. Tens of thousands of parts were rejected back to that company, I will guarentee a few hundred are making it back with every new shipment which will make it nearly impossible for my customer to catch. They will spend extra time making the sample parts look great but once you start sending out production orders watch out. I got back 5 or 6 jobs already and I am getting RFQ's for more every day.