Has anyone used any of these services previously? If so, how did you find the quality of the parts and what caveats would you inform the potential customer about? TIA
Most of their services that I have needed, I get locally from small vendors.
I know nothing about them but I do not see a location on their website. That concerns me. It reminds me of company with a very nice website I dealt with a few years ago. A very technical service being offered with big promises (quick delivery, money back guarantee). Very helpful on the phone. Took ~$6000 down payment, and then the story became: âthis is very difficultâ, âit is taking much longer than expectedâ, âwe are unable to produce exactly what you need, is this good enoughâ, " can you pay us some for our effort", etc etc. Nothing other than a piece of paper showing specifications of what they claim they had achieved was ever delivered. Turns out it was Boston number and address for a 100% Chinese company. Ever try getting your money back from there? Not saying anything about the company in question, but why would anyone not put their location. 24 hours? Does that mean if their facility in China is closed, their sister site in India will handle the calls?
The phone number on the Contact page is definitely NOT North American:
+86 755 2391 9769
JLC is based in China. I donât think they hide that. Iâve used them for PCBs, and the quality has been what I expected.
I canât speak to any machining service, though.
Neither is the OP.
@QCDvacuum What are you looking to have made?
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âMade in Chinaâ used to be a synonym for unmitigated junk. As time has passed, there are now some Chinese places that produce reasonable quality consumer goods. e.g. My 10 year old MacBook Pro is still running. It depends on what compromises we are prepared to make.
I donât compromise on tools⊠with my preference being for Swiss or German manufactured items. A machined part, made from a digital file using 6061 aluminium? I need a static part which is not in contact with moving machinery. I think it reasonable to accept a good apprentice/improver standard and know that some finishing may be an integral consequence of a much cheaper price.
A final point is that here in the UK there may be a dozen suitably equipped places that are willing to undertake work from customer generated 3D files. It is likely that an expensive (latest and greatest) 5 axis CNC machine, based in China, would pay for itself in a short time. The same machine in the UK may need 5 ~ 10 years before its capital costs are recouped so the same work will be expensive when compared to Chinese CNC industry jobbing.
Hello Neil, I hope all is well with you.
I had a relative look at me setting up a job in wood so as to work out how I may best machine the parts and look at potential pitfalls. He mentioned JLC and by coincidence he has had around 8 different PCBs manufactured by JLC. He has been satisfied with their work and suggested I may like to see what price they may quote for my job.
The work in question is that I wanted to make the belt tensioners of your own design in metal. I think aluminium will be easily sufficient in material and I had wondered about using brass for cosmetic purposes as well as functionality. Maybe the cheap H59 single phase brass would suffice. Of course, there is also bronze and phosphor bronze.
It is expensive and may be the precise enhancement to the appearance of the tensioner which I was considering. All in all, the design of the belt tensioners is so good and it has saved me endless trouble and countless hours of cursing. The tensioners provide predictable accuracy and I would like to highlight the modification with metal parts.
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My first estimate for a company to carve six tensioners in 5083 aluminium from my own digital files was ÂŁ600 plus 20% VAT! Additionally they want original STEP files and will not use any other converted filetype. I would say this is prohibitively expensive and not worth the candle after adding in material costs and delivery. @neilferreri is there any possibility of saving the files from your orginal work as STEP files? Many companies, especially the ones who refused my business were unable to utilise anything else.
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AbsolutelyâŠ
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A lot of people I know (US) have had good luck with https://sendcutsend.com/
Quick turn around, reasonable prices.
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I donât think it will be required now, thank you Neil. I ran a few test cuts in American maple and they were very satisfactory. Time fo rme to think about the cutting of metal and which metal I want to use.
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