CNC Machine - Manufacturer

[Tigris]

Hi guys,

is there anyone here UK based who could make bicycle parts with there CNC machines? Chainrings, anodised screws, brake rotors etc?

I have found some internationally but would love to keep the manufacturing UK if I could.

Look forward to hearing back

 

[Craftymetal]

Hi

my neighbour does cnc turning. I’ve also got a few contacts for milling etc depends what your parts need these are all based in the south west.

You can also use services like fractory where you can order online and then they will outsource to companies

 

[Rob Johnson]

I'm in the bicycle industry. I think you'll struggle to get enough margin if you are out sourcing. If you look at the likes of Hope, Unite, Superstar that all produce in house. Bergtec outsource to China or Taiwan, not 100% sure. It's difficult to make outsourcing in the UK work unless you are involving multimaterial assemblies.

 

[Tigris]

I'm in the bicycle industry. I think you'll struggle to get enough margin if you are out sourcing. If you look at the likes of Hope, Unite, Superstar that all produce in house. Bergtec outsource to China or Taiwan, not 100% sure. It's difficult to make outsourcing in the UK work unless you are involving multimaterial assemblies.

It's looking more and more like ile have to go China/Taiwan. I did message a few UK companies but they want the cad designs to quote.

Did look at small CNC machines but ile need a laser cutter and other machines as well to do it in-house. Apparently one of the machines at Uniteco cost almost 100k

 

[Rob Johnson]

It's looking more and more like ile have to go China/Taiwan. I did message a few UK companies but they want the cad designs to quote.

Did look at small CNC machines but ile need a laser cutter and other machines as well to do it in-house. Apparently one of the machines at Uniteco cost almost 100k

You can get secondhand machines but there is more than just the machine cost to consider - premises, insurance, maintenance, finishing...
Our company was founded from a design background (we had to learn marketing all the other business related tasks) so it's hard to comprehend not having the control the in-house design brings. I'm not saying you're doing it wrong, we certainly found growth difficult as we naively thought that a good product would sell itself.
If you're outsourcing design remember that it's not just the initial design but the development process. It's unlikely it will be correct first time and testing is important. Many UK machine shops are set up to do one offs so I'd prototype here then send send it to the far East to be copied.
Good luck

 

[Tigris]

You can get secondhand machines but there is more than just the machine cost to consider - premises, insurance, maintenance, finishing...
Our company was founded from a design background (we had to learn marketing all the other business related tasks) so it's hard to comprehend not having the control the in-house design brings. I'm not saying you're doing it wrong, we certainly found growth difficult as we naively thought that a good product would sell itself.
If you're outsourcing design remember that it's not just the initial design but the development process. It's unlikely it will be correct first time and testing is important. Many UK machine shops are set up to do one offs so I'd prototype here then send send it to the far East to be copied.
Good luck

For now to get something of the ground I feel it might be best to keep it East Asia sourced. Providing shipping costs haven't increased crazy amounts with brexit. I keep seeing on certain facebook groups people say they have been stung with an extra fee when importing. I usually use DDP air shipping personally but I have only really ordered 100-200 units of products i've sold.

I've spent the last 2 years learning facebook and instagram ads as I tried drop shipping (different products) previously and growing social media pages so I hope this will come in handy when the website is launched.