Request For Quote- small AL6061 part (button actuator) x 10

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skylargray

New Member
Greetings everyone,

I am in need of a milled Aluminum 6061 part.
The part is a pushbutton switch actuator.

See linked PDF for details.
Quantity: 10, 20
Tolerance: ±.002"
Finish: mill / clear anodize
Timeframe: flexible

I would like quotes for 10 of these parts with mill finish, 10 with clear anodize, 20 with mill finish, 20 with clear anodize.
As we are in the prototyping stage, we need only 10-20 now.
Also, we are not in a super rush, so we can accept longer lead times if the price is right.
When we're ready for production we will need 5000-5500 (with anodize), so this could lead to a bigger job.

SolidWorks, IGES, and STEP formats are in the linked zip below. If you need a different format, have problems opening what's attached, or have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your time,
~Skylar Gray
~Equinox Systems
~skylarra@hotmail.com

www.equinoxsystems.net/RFQ/EqFS06_actuator_20080801.zip
www.equinoxsystems.net/RFQ/EqFS06_actuator_20080801.pdf

As an added note:
The square, blind hole in the bottom of this part can have radiused corners for ease of fabrication.
The smaller the radius, the better; I would prefer no larger than 0.039" (1mm) radii.
 
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Dualkit

Member
Does this part really have to have +/- .002 everywhere? I am assuming since it
is a button it needs to be made as cheaply as possible. Those tolerances will
require either slower feeds or clean up passes driving up the price.
 
S

skylargray

New Member
That's a good point.
±0.002" is probably right on the edge of what you can achieve without additional passes.

The square hole on the bottom does need to have a tighter tolerance than the rest of the part.

A more realistic tolerance spec for economy would be ±.005 for the square hole and ±.01 for the rest of the part.

Does this sound like a better solution to you, Dualkit?
Thanks,
~Skylar
 
M

Matt@RFR

New Member
With a +/-.010" tolerance, would unfinished 1x1 square bar be ok to use and not have a machined finish on the base perimeter?
 
S

skylargray

New Member
nmachine,

Yes, the square hole can have clearance in the corners.
For details, see the note at the bottom of my first post.

Thank you,
~Skylar
 
S

skylargray

New Member
Matt@RFR,

Yes, using 1x1 stock is fine.
The bottom of the part (the section that is 1"x1") does not necessarily need to be totally machined.
 
D

dfcyclefab

DRF Machine
Quote sent,
Thank you
Lonnie

skylargray said:
Greetings everyone,

I am in need of a milled Aluminum 6061 part.
The part is a pushbutton switch actuator.

See linked PDF for details.
Quantity: 10, 20
Tolerance: ±.002"
Finish: mill / clear anodize
Timeframe: flexible

I would like quotes for 10 of these parts with mill finish, 10 with clear anodize, 20 with mill finish, 20 with clear anodize.
As we are in the prototyping stage, we need only 10-20 now.
Also, we are not in a super rush, so we can accept longer lead times if the price is right.
When we're ready for production we will need 5000-5500 (with anodize), so this could lead to a bigger job.

SolidWorks, IGES, and STEP formats are in the linked zip below. If you need a different format, have problems opening what's attached, or have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your time,
~Skylar Gray
~Equinox Systems
~skylarra@hotmail.com

www.equinoxsystems.net/RFQ/EqFS06_actuator_20080801.zip
www.equinoxsystems.net/RFQ/EqFS06_actuator_20080801.pdf

As an added note:
The square, blind hole in the bottom of this part can have radiused corners for ease of fabrication.
The smaller the radius, the better; I would prefer no larger than 0.039" (1mm) radii.
Click to expand...
 
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skylargray

New Member
I have just recently awarded this job. Thank you to everyone who has offered a quote. I will attempt to contact everyone who quoted individually to inform them.

The awarded price was more than 75% lower than the average quote.
I received quotes for this job ranging from less than $2.00 up to more than $17.
Using these numbers you should be able to derive a ballpark for what the awarded price was.

Again, I thank everyone for their offers. I have future jobs just around the corner; perhaps I will get a change to do business with some of you.

~Skylar Gray
~Equinox Systems
 
C

Cincinnati

New Member
Labor rates

What gives here? I am new to this forum. I have difficulty seeing how anyone could bid less than $2.00 for a part like this. In fact, it seems many of the quotes in the forum I looked at over the weekend are pitifully low. I'm guessing if this would go into production the actuators would be cast or maybe molded from plastic.

Is this really what machine rates are in this economy?

Are people virtually giving away time hoping to charge regular rates for future work? Or do they really work for minimum wage as a standard practice?
 
D

Dualkit

Member
I think people play the give away game to hope to get future work at regular rates, those people are fools. On small quantity jobs where material is a big part of the cost, those jobs go to "moonlighters" that are stealing the material
and tooling from their day job. I remember one job in particular that would have
required $50 of aluminum even at $2.50 a pound (most people pay more than that) the job went on another form to a USA shop, FOR $50!!!! I have known
people to use their employers machines for outside work, easy to compete with
ZERO overhead. Also there are some machine owners that are flat out desperate
and will fire up a CNC Mill or Lathe for $10-$15 an hour if you include all their
time, I have seen people claiming "free programming and set-up". What amazes
me is I have seen large shops (20,000 sq ft looking at website or terraserver pictures) bidding on $100-$200 jobs. There are desperate people and thieves
out there right now. I have won a total of 2 jobs and I have probably bid on
50-100. I only bid when my machines and skills are a perfect fit so I can crank the parts out faster than the next guy, I don't do $10 an hour machine
time,............Bob
 
C

Cincinnati

New Member
Bob,

Wow- only about a 2% bid award. How much time do you spend quoting 100 projects to get those 2 jobs? Surely that has to be accounted in your profit margin for those jobs. If you only averaged 15 minutes per quote, you'd spend 25 hours bidding to get 2 successful jobs. It's looking discouraging to participate here. Are most awards going to low bidder, or do clients realize something must be amiss in such a low quote?
 
D

Dualkit

Member
Probably 10-15 minutes on each quote, but wait! UPDATE I just got job #3
this week. I think almost everyone goes with low quote unless it is from out
of the country. I am an insomniac so I usually throw quotes aside and do them
in the middle of the night, so it is not like I am wasting quality time doing them.
Also 1 of the 3 I won turned into a repeat customer who gives the work
straight to me now, I make enough off him to make the car payment. I only
bid on jobs where I feel I have an edge, you should probably do the same.
Personally I don't bid on simple manual mill work, too many moonlighters with
Bridgeports in their garage who just want to make enough $$ to buy pizza & beer on Sundays. Complicated manual mill work the average Joe can't
do is worth a bid. Have to also stay away from anything the will consume tooling
if quantities are high, too many noobs will think 304 is the same as 303 just
because the numbers are close. For simple manual lathe work see my reasons for staying away from simple manual mill work. Medium quantity CNC Lathe or
Mill work in my opinion is the only thing you can win and earn a decent rate.
It has to be something that your skills and equipment are well suited for so
you can charge a decent rate and still come out with a low per unit cost.
A lot of stuff on the 3 free bid places I go to go for $10 an hour. I know
because I do ask for and get feedback, and on lots of these parts I know
the lowest possible run time because I push the limits myself, anyway
good luck and happy bidding.
 
Q

Qianli Li

New Member
To: skylargray,

Quote: small AL6061 part(button actuator)
1) 10 of these parts with mill finish: US$120.-
2) 10 with clear anodize: US$80.-
3) 20 with mill finish: US$120.-
4) 20 with clear anodize: US$180.-
Above prices quoted based on FOB Shenzhen
Company name: MTS Mold & Precision Engineering Co., Ltd.
E-mail: salemold.li@gmail.com




Dualkit said:
Probably 10-15 minutes on each quote, but wait! UPDATE I just got job #3
this week. I think almost everyone goes with low quote unless it is from out
of the country. I am an insomniac so I usually throw quotes aside and do them
in the middle of the night, so it is not like I am wasting quality time doing them.
Also 1 of the 3 I won turned into a repeat customer who gives the work
straight to me now, I make enough off him to make the car payment. I only
bid on jobs where I feel I have an edge, you should probably do the same.
Personally I don't bid on simple manual mill work, too many moonlighters with
Bridgeports in their garage who just want to make enough $$ to buy pizza & beer on Sundays. Complicated manual mill work the average Joe can't
do is worth a bid. Have to also stay away from anything the will consume tooling
if quantities are high, too many noobs will think 304 is the same as 303 just
because the numbers are close. For simple manual lathe work see my reasons for staying away from simple manual mill work. Medium quantity CNC Lathe or
Mill work in my opinion is the only thing you can win and earn a decent rate.
It has to be something that your skills and equipment are well suited for so
you can charge a decent rate and still come out with a low per unit cost.
A lot of stuff on the 3 free bid places I go to go for $10 an hour. I know
because I do ask for and get feedback, and on lots of these parts I know
the lowest possible run time because I push the limits myself, anyway
good luck and happy bidding.
Click to expand...
 
D

Dualkit

Member
Qianli Li, why are you quoting me? Also why are you bidding on a closed job?
How come you list your location as Texas? Don't like coming back to these threads for useless posts like yours.
 
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