by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Most shops know the feeling: a quote goes out for a seemingly straightforward CNC or sheet metal part, but once the job hits the floor, fixturing eats half a day. Custom soft jaws, vacuum tables, modular clamps, or welded fixtures — they all take design time,...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Tooling is one of the most common line items that derails a quote. Whether it’s custom fixtures for a CNC run, molds for injection molding, or progressive dies for sheet metal, tooling costs are often underestimated, buried in overhead, or presented in a way...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Ask ten shop owners how they calculate machine hour rates and you’ll get ten different answers — most of them incomplete. Some use a flat $75/hr for everything. Others take the machine purchase price, divide by five years, and call it a day. Neither approach...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Surface finish is one of the most overlooked cost drivers in digital manufacturing quotes. A part that looks simple on paper can require hours of hand polishing, specialized coating, or CMM inspection that never made it into the original estimate. If you’re...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
You know the drill: a customer sends an RFQ, you open a spreadsheet, hunt for the last similar job, tweak a few numbers, and hit send. It works — until it doesn’t.Maybe the part needs a secondary EDM operation you forgot to price. Or the 3D print requires...
