- [Instructor] Online machine shops offer an easy way
to get parts fabricated from a CAD file.
Most shops accept CAD files
from popular 3D modeling programs
in their native file format.
Before sending a part
to an online machine shop for fabrication,
it's important to find and understand
the machine shop's capabilities and tolerances.
Based on what you find, you may need to adjust
your part tolerances and then evaluate whether your parts
will fit and function after manufacturing.
There are many online machine shops to choose from
that provide additive fabrication services,
subtractive fabrication services,
and bending or forming services.
Here is a selection of several
representative online machine shops.
Plethora is an online machine shop service
that gives designers a downloadable
manufacturability analysis plugin,
which is compatible with several major CAD programs.
This plugin will highlight any features
which can't be manufactured
using Plethora's manufacturing processes.
After a part is deemed to be manufacturable,
the next question to ask is what are the tolerances
of the manufactured part going to be after it is produced?
That answer can be found
on the Capabilities page of the Plethora website.
This page lists standard tolerances
for the manufacturing of metals
of plus or minus 5/1,000 of an inch
and standard tolerances for the manufacturing of plastics
of plus or minus 8/1,000 of an inch.
Under some circumstances,
Plethora can provide tighter tolerances
down to plus or minus 1/1,000 of an inch.
Xometry is a quoting platform
that connects designers to machine shops around the country.
Their website provides both manufacturing tolerances
on the Manufacturing Standards page
and a series of manufacturing design guides
on their Design Guide page.
The tolerances listed on the Manufacturing Standards page
include information for multiple manufacturing processes
and multiple materials.
The design guides additionally provide useful information
about how to design parts which can be successfully
manufactured using a given material and process.
eMachineShop is online machine shop service
that encourages users to download
their proprietary Microsoft Windows CAD software.
This software incorporates the manufacturing constraints
for eMachineShop's tools.
It helps ensure that parts designed
using this proprietary CAD software
can be successfully manufactured by eMachineShop.
In addition to machining parts
from the proprietary CAD software,
eMachineShop does accept files from mainstream CAD packages.
The tolerances and design rules for fabricating parts
can be found by searching for tolerance limits
on the eMachineShop website.
For two-dimensional machined parts,
these limits are plus or minus 1/100 of an inch
for overall sizes and positions,
plus or minus 5/1,000 of an inch for cutouts,
and plus or minus 2/1,000 of an inch for diameters.
For three-dimensional machined parts,
these limits are plus or minus 5/1,000 of an inch
for the overall part size
and plus or minus 1/1,000 of an inch
for other part features.
Fictiv is a quoting platform that connects designers
to machine shops around the country.
Their website provides an extensive list
of materials and tolerances.
This information can be found in the Capabilities subheading
under the Resources tab on their webpage.
Fictiv also supplies a hardware guide
under the Resources tab, which provides useful information
about how to properly design a part
that can be successfully manufactured
to the customer's dimensions
and tolerance specifications using Fictiv's services.
Protocase provides a wide range of manufacturing services,
but their primary focus is manufacturing
custom sheet metal and CNC-machined electronic enclosures.
Sheet metal parts have a unique set of challenges,
as the parts are being bent into shape rather than machined.
Protocase provides extensive information
regarding acceptable tolerance limits
for a wide variety of sheet metal parts.
This information can be found under the Resources tab
of the Protocase website.