What are some of the costs of having something machined?
Ok so Im in an autocad class and I got the idea of trying to make my own bicycle parts. So I got to thinking about what could I really do with it. So I was thinking about making my own bike parts on the autocad program and then saving the files. So what I'm getting at is would I be able to take the drafts and purchase my own metal blanks and take them to a machine shop and have them make the parts? If so would I be able to save money and would they just charge labor?
I thought about doing the same thing for a set of racing pedals. Although very cool to do yourself, it is just not economically feasible. By the time I factored raw materials, machinists labor (making the part is cheap, it's the set-up cost that gets you) heat treating ( a lot of bike parts are heat treated to make them stronger) and the cost of items like screw and bearings, the $200 the the pedal manufacturer wanted was rather cheap.
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