[Jewelry making - Article 00000] - [Orchid] CAD/CAM Oversupply?

[Les Brown]

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    I used to work for a company that, in the beginning, carved their
    own waxes but sent out for molds and casting. After a while the
    hassles associated with the occasional bad mold, bad casting, and
    long delays, led them to the wisdom of doing casting in house. They
    still had their share of bad molds and bad castings but these could
    be addressed immediately and a lot time and money was ultimately
    saved. 

    I think now, in the CAD/CAM age, the same thing may possibly be
    happening with producing models from CAD files. My business model was
    one of doing the design work but letting someone else have the
    headaches of RP/CAM financing, production, and maintenance. And it
    seemed to work for a while. Now, however, with the problems of bad
    models, bad molds, and long delays I, and others I know or know
    about, I'm beginning to think in house CAM milling machine. 

    With the arrival of the "affordable" milling machine there seems to
    be a familiar refrain in the justification/rationalisation song which
    goes: "I'll save a fortune doing my own models and besides, when I'm
    not running my own I can take in outside work from other designers". 

    I'm very curious as to whether or not either of these assumptions
    are valid. Will a craftsperson save a fortune (having started out
    spending one) in machining their own models? Is it that easy now? Do
    the learning curves, production activities, and maintenance routines,
    require a negligible amount of time? 

    And, secondly, will the craftsperson make a bundle putting their
    machine's idle time to profitable use cutting models for the rest of
    us? 

    I don't know, but I'd like to hear what others - people with mills,
    people who send files to people who have mills, and people who are
    still using the various commercial service bureaus out there - think
    about this topic. 

    I hope others are curious as well. 

Les Brown
L.F.Brown Goldwork
17 2nd St. East, Ste. 101
Kalispell, MT 59901
www.goldwork.com
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