John Edmark added to the top of this list in July of 2016:
Original message:
I’m looking for someone to fabricate a base (riser) for an exhibit I’m building. It consists of a 14"x14”x2” square steel base of cut, bent and welded ~0.08” mild steel that I will then have powder coated (see attached photo.) I’d appreciate any recommendations, preferably, but not necessarily, local. I’d be having them make 1-3 parts.
Responses:
From Mike Lin:
I'd recommend Luigi Oldani, a good friend and fabricator based in Oakland.
Luigi Oldani <oldanidesignstudio@gmail.com>
http://www.oldaniartstudio.com/
510 658 6839
From Tom Cohlmia:
I've had good experience with EM Manufacturing.
http://www.emmanufacturing.com/
They're located out near Stockton, but for practical purposes they're pretty "local." There's also Eclipse Metal Fabrication, Vander-Bend, and others.
From Peter Russo:
SMP (metal fabrication in SF), Joel Hirschfeld (metal fabrication in Alameda), and Champion Powder Coating (in SF) are all great.
SMP is a full machine shop w/ CNC, water jet, etc., and Hirschfeld is more of a welding shop, but that base should be no problem for either.
Champion can powder coat just about anything, and they’re reasonably priced and easy to work with (and originally recommended to me by Kevin @ SMP, I think).
Standard Metal Products (SMP) / Kevin Binkert
http://www.smpmachine.com
Hirschfeld Fabrications / Joel Hirschfeld
http://hirschfeldfab.com
Champion Powder Coating
http://www.championcoating.com
From Anne Fletcher:
Oldani Art Studio in Oakland.
Don't let the name fool you. They are artists, yes, but also mechanical engineers (sound familiar?) and primarily do custom steel fabrication for restaurants and other places where aesthetics matter. Plasma cutting, welding, furniture, structural elements, etc.
They can work from engineering drawings or napkin sketches. Rates are reasonable, and depending on their load, turnaround can be quick. They work closely with a powder coater, and can be a one-stop-shop.
Tell Luigi I sent you!
From Art Sandoval:
Eclipse - cheap, fast, you may need to stay on them if you need tight tolerances/complex assemblies, and they’d be ok doing small quantity, are often the best value
· And I would second EM that is on the list – great consistency
*****************END OF EDMARK'S ADDITIONS***********************
HEY FOLKS! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR RESPONSES. THERE ARE PLENTY OF SHEETMETAL PROTOTYPE VENDORS OUT THERE TO CHOOSE FROM. -STEPHAN
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Hello all,
A friend of mine here in New York is looking to get some smallish, complicated sheet metal parts prototyped. Laser cut probably with lots of bending.
Are there any online vendors out there–or Bay Area ones that can work well remotely? I suspect that there's not much here in New York...
Thanks,
Stephan
--
Stephan von Muehlen
Director of Design and Co-Founder
EnergyHub, Inc.
t. 718.522.7051
e. vonmuehlen@energyhub.net
RESPONSES:
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These guys rock!!!
www.rapidsheetmetal.com
Super fast and not too expensive! We’ve used them quite extensively and they usually turn stuff around in less than a week.
Mike
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Check out Brunk industries: http://www.brunk.com/index_medical.html
Al
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Last year I used a shop up in Ithaca to do some small, somewhat simple, but precise 1/2 Hard stainless parts with multi-axis bends that they knocked out in 3 days (or thereabouts) and were spot on.: 1-607-277-7070
http://www.incodema.com
They had a web front end on a human-arbitrated quoting system, so you could get a quote back faster if you called an hour or so after you submitted the CAD Solid Model.
Brian Rulifson
Consulting Product Design Engineer
rulifsonb@asme.org
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Hi Stephan,
We've had good luck with www.DPT-Fast.com making some of those sheet metal parts that I showed you. They weren't cheap, but they had several tough bends and came out accurate. -- DPT-Fast are now QuickSheetMetal, part of QuickParts (edited 4/17/14)
It's been a long time now, but I also had good luck with CNC punch press fabrication of sheet metal parts done by Babinec Sheet Metal http://babinecmetal.com/ They made a dozen LCD frames for me.
David
David Cowan
inch-inc.
55 Washington Street, suite 654
Brooklyn NY 11201
718 260-0069
815 328-2855 fax
http://www.inch-inc.com
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Stephan,
I have used these guys quite a bit in the past for prototype sheet metal parts.
http://www.peridotcorp.com/peridot_sheetmetal.htm
Small and precise are right up their alley. They can work from 2D or 3D data and work well via email/FTP.
Elliot
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I have just the guy for you. His name is Tim. He does really nice work. He's great about working with you to make your parts easier/cheaper to put together. They do exactly what you are asking for.
Tell him I sent you.
chris
--
Chris Luomanen | Thing Tank LLC
72 Missouri Street San Francisco CA 94107
thing-tank.com | 415.335.0670
- Hey Stephan -
Not sure how small or how complicated your parts are, but we've used Rapid Sheet Metal (www.rapidsheetmetal.com) for several projects in the past and they have been great for those. I'm not sure how their prices compare to other shops (usually a couple hundred dollars per part), but they're reasonable for the quality we get back. Their standard turnaround is about a week (a little more if you want powdercoating or silkscreening), but can do next day turnaround if you pay expedite fees. They're in New Hampshire, too.
Will
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Hey Stephan,
I’d highly recommend using Rapid Sheet Metal in NH. They’ve done a bunch of complicated prototype sheetmetal for me over the years and they’re super-fast.
www.rapidsheetmetal.com
Hope things are well with you!
-Sascha
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Hey Stephan,
I’d highly recommend using Rapid Sheet Metal in NH. They’ve done a bunch of complicated prototype sheetmetal for me over the years and they’re super-fast.
www.rapidsheetmetal.com
Hope things are well with you!
-Sascha
-
Hello Stephan,
We have used Haig Precision for lots of proto sheet metal. They are local here.
They have an online quote system. If you can design the part so that their CNC benders & punches can make it the prices are Unbelievable cheap.
Thanks,
Abraham Farag | CEO | Sparkfactor Design.
Flexible Product Design Resources
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effo steffo,
i've had really good luck with EM manufacturing:
they are super fast and work to match the net formed shape from your 3-D file (so you don't have to detail as rigorously in a drawing for prototypes).
daniel
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I am a big fan of Spacesonic.
http://spacesonic.com/
They are very capable, lots of lasers, NC press breaks, welding grinding, painting… Anything sheetmetal except plating and anodizing.
NOTE: I have never actually made anything through them, but I have known them for a long time and they are good people. (used to live very closeby in San Carlos)
-Nick
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If there is prospect of production business of some volume try Estes Laser in Schaumburg Ill.
Estes Laser & Mfg Inc. 930 Lunt Ave, Schaumburg, IL 60193 (847) 301--8231 (no website that I can find, edited 4/17/14)
Steve Tokarz runs the company and they do fantastic work and understand how to do quick temporary form tooling. Steve used to run the prototyping and short run production shop for Flextronics in Chicago.
-dave titzler
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