The perceptive Stacy Sullivan over at Proto Labs came across my old blog talking about their First Cut prototyping CNC division. In that blog I noted that quick-turn prototype CNC parts in aluminum would be coming any day now. Stacy tells me that day happened last year. Stacy writes:

You noted, "CNC aluminum cannot be far behind", and we've delivered. Earlier this year [2009] we introduced aluminum to our customers as a material option from our CNC machining service. Aluminum is also being delivered in as fast as one business day; standard turnaround is 1-3 days for all our materials. I've attached a picture of a set of cubes made from resin and aluminum.

Stacy notes that the aluminum part below the plastic one in this picture is machined on all 6 sides, another capability they offer to insure they can make parts as complex as you need. Do be aware of what my machinist buddies taught me years ago. Every time you have to pull a part out of a vice to machine it on another side, that is a chance for inaccuracy and mistakes to creep in, like having a small chip get left on the parallels because the operator did not blow them off just perfect before re-clamping the work piece. Certainly you would not expect to hold sub- thousandth of an inch tolerances on features made on different vice clampings.

Everybody says that innovation is a key thing about making our world a better place. But nobody seems to understand that single-day machining services are a huge enabler of innovation. By turning things quickly, you can see what needs to be done and better yet, the marketing people can show things to the customers to make the product even better and more innovative. With outfits like First Cut, ForeCast3D, and Protomold giving you mechanical parts in a few days, along with Sunstone, PCB-Pool, Proto Express and Advanced Circuits giving you circuit cards in a fews days, along with Screaming Circuits and Advanced Assembly putting those boards together from parts they or you get overnight from Digi-Key, Mouser, Jameco, Newark, and Allied, well, this is the real revolution in innovation. By turning product development into a months-long effort instead of a yearlong one, these outfits will do more for innovation than all the futurists and pundits combined.


http://www.edn.com/blog/1700000170/post/1090051709.html