Prototyping

PRINT TO PART PROTOTYPING:

At Bent River Machine we also specialize in print to part prototyping. This means that clients send Bent River Machine an engineering print of a part that they want to have made, and we create a prototype.  In this type of relationship, the client is completely responsible for the design, and Bent River is completely responsible for the execution of the design.

Who We Help:

Manufacturers are always in need of parts, typically machined, to put into the products that they are building. In the part to print relationship, Bent River Machine makes parts to help support the costumer’s assembly process which generally happens in their facility.

When large manufacturers need specific small pieces of tooling that they are not expecting or do not have time to make, Bent River is a great option because we can procure the parts, assemble the tooling and test it for the company.

The Process:

The process begins when we receive a request for a quote, which includes engineering drawings, and specifications. Then we create a quote according to the request and drawings. If the request is for tooling or some sort of assembly, we’ll usually have to analyze it in order to understand what it is supposed to do, so that we can make sure that we can build something that is going to be functional and fit our customers’ requirements.  Next there is generally some discussion between us and the customer to iron out any problems and ensure that our customer is satisfied with the arrangement. The customer transmits the prints, gives us a purchase order, we make the part, and we ship it to them.

Often in the print to part work that we do, there can be very specific working conditions that need to be taken into consideration. In these situations we are willing to work together with clients to come up with a solution that will fit the needs of each project. For example, we had a customer that we had to develop a process for machining a very special kind of plastic that they needed.  It was actually for the medical field and they needed a plastic with very special qualities for the process that they were trying to do, it also happened that that type of plastic did not machine well.  It took us multiple tries and developing a whole new process to try to figure out the characteristics of the plastic, how to approach it and what kind of cutting tools to use, to be able to get our customer the final product that they needed. It is those kinds of value-added, specialty projects, which we really excel at.