Coolest service ever!

I realized that the design for the Laminar Flow Nozzle is starting to get a little complex, and by complex I mean things that I can’t manufacture with my little drill press. However, if you need a small hole drilled into something I'm your guy! My previous experiences with manufacturing companies went well. I just called them up, emailed them some documents. They gave me a quote and we went on our way. I never did much shopping around since I only knew a handful of companies.

I was headed down that road again. I emailed 2 companies that I knew could make the part that I needed, but days went by and they never emailed me back. A long time ago a friend of mine told me about this great website MFG.COM. Essentially is an eBay of sort but for manufactures who want jobs. So people and companies submit an idea/documents for something to be manufactured. The manufacturing companies look at the design and submit a bid to make your desired product. I guess it’s more like a silent auction.

So I signed up! It was really easy to sign up and submit a RFQ (Request for Quote). The next morning I looked at my RFQ and there were 20 bids for my parts. They ranged from $4 to $256 for a quantity of 8. WOW! The lowest bids came from over shores. I’m not sure I want to venture out that far just yet so I’m going to go with a company in California.

So they are going to make my parts for me. I will have them in a little over a month.