How do I start a metal fabrication project?

The short answer

The route from RFQ to packed parts

A fabrication project is not one process, it is a route. The stages below are the order in which the decisions actually get made, and each one has a clear owner. Keeping it to one approval path is what makes a schedule believable.

What to put in the first email

Quotes slow down for one reason: the supplier is missing a fact that only the buyer has. An RFQ that carries the eight lines below can be priced in hours instead of days, and it eliminates the assumptions that later turn into cost disputes.

The single most useful thing to send is both a 3D model and a 2D drawing. The STEP file carries the geometry and lets the shop check bend relief and assembly relationships; the dimensioned PDF carries what the model cannot express - material, thickness, tolerances, threads, weld symbols, surface roughness and the revision you actually want built. Sending only one of the two usually produces a review that stops halfway.

How long each size of job takes

Lead time is driven by tooling and material availability far more than by machine time. A part that needs no new tooling can move in days; a part that needs a progressive die has to wait for the die.

Standard sheet metal work without new tooling ships in about 5 to 10 business days. A first-article inspection report, a capability study or an unusual alloy adds time to that, and the drawing decides which of those apply - the headline lead time does not. When you need a date you can plan around, ask what in your file set is driving the longest element, then decide whether to change it.

Prototype, first article, production: three gates

Each gate exists to catch a class of problem at the cheapest point where it can be caught. Skipping one moves the cost to the customer, usually at the end of the programme.

For a new or modified part, prototyping before committing to hard tooling is the cheapest insurance available. A supplier that pushes straight to a hard tool without offering a prototype has removed your safety net, and that is worth treating as a caution rather than a schedule advantage.

Six things that delay a project

• More than one revision in the file set. A model at revision C paired with a drawing at revision A guarantees a re-quote or a wrong part.
• Tolerance called out on everything. Blanket plus or minus 0.05 mm on non-functional features adds inspection time and cost without adding function. A tolerance table that distinguishes critical from general features quotes faster and cheaper.
• No quantity structure. Annual volume and batch size decide the process. A prototype quantity quoted against production volume, or the reverse, lands the project on the wrong route.
• Finish left to the last minute. Colour approvals, masking plans and outside coating queues are the longest common delay on an otherwise simple sheet metal assembly.
• Buyer-supplied parts with no date. An assembly waiting on a customer-furnished component cannot be scheduled, only started and set aside.
• Design frozen too late. Every change after a die is cut costs money and production time, and each modified station is priced separately.

Starting a project with SOMI Custom Parts

Send the drawing package, an annual quantity and the date that matters, and we will come back with a DFM review, a process route, the flat pattern and a tolerance for each feature rather than a single number. Building the flat pattern, tooling and first-article inspection under one roof is what keeps the sequence decisions in quoting instead of on the shop floor: see sheet metal fabrication, metal stamping, or start with our inquiry form.