Manufacturing shop for tools online
Manufacturing shop for tools online
An Internet site has been launched which allows customers to create a 3D image of the ideal tool they would like to acquire and then contacts shops to find out if the tool can be manufactured for the customer.
eMachineShop.com is the world's first online factory, which enables somebody to sit at a home computer, draw up some parts, submit them and 30 days later receive the exact object on the doorstep, without any human contact.
Jim Lewis, the eMachineShop president, said that it takes about 40 hours to design a part, get a quote, straighten out manufacturing problems with the machine shop and put an order in.
He added: "Whether you are designing a new part or are in need for more of an existing part, getting custom parts is time consuming and costly. Until now, you had to buy and learn expensive and complex CAD software, make technical drawings, locate a machine shop, find a way to transmit the drawings to the machine shop, discuss with an accomplished machinist, sift through numerous price quotations, and eventually get your part - often paying much more than necessary while adding weeks of delay."
"eMachineShop is an innovative solution offering the easiest, most cost-effective way to turn ideas into real 3D parts at both prototype and production quantities.
"Whether for a new invention, an existing product or construction of a space rocket, eMachineShop revolutionises the whole process.
"In just its first two quarters of operation, eMachineShop has produced parts for electronic panels, enclosures, signs, scientific devices, parts for airplanes, cars, motorcycles and trucks, ocean buoys, sensor mechanics and cameras."
eMachineShop aims to bridge the gap between the ideas of designers and the reality of what can actually be made by building the knowledge of a machinist into the design software.
Lewis would like the shop to ultimately become the Amazon of the manufacturing segment.
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