From CAD to finished part in 48 hours.
Iterate faster. Validate design sooner. Ship product while it still has a first-mover advantage. Our prototype cell runs one-off parts in parallel with production, so your design cycle doesn't wait behind someone else's volume order.
Standard rapid-prototype turnaround.
Not a marketing promise — this is the standard lead time on most prototype parts in aluminum and standard plastics, from PO to shipment. Titanium and superalloys take longer; we'll quote the honest number up front.
Why faster prototypes win more than they cost.
Every week spent waiting for a prototype is a week of product delay, a week of engineering drift, and a week of your competitor possibly shipping first. Engineering teams that iterate every 5–7 days instead of every 3–4 weeks ship 4–6× more validated designs per quarter.
But faster prototypes only help if the part actually matches the design intent. A prototype that shows up wrong — off by a couple thousandths, wrong surface finish, missing a feature — is worse than no prototype, because now you've burned a week and you're back in the queue. Our prototype cell is staffed by machinists who run production work too, so the parts we cut for you are built to the same standard as the parts we'd run at volume. That's the entire point.
We also don't treat prototypes as a loss-leader. They're quoted at real rates, with the same setup and inspection rigor as a production job. The only difference is quantity and documentation depth — not quality.
What actually happens in those two days.
Not everything goes to plan on every part, but this is the standard flow when material is in stock and the drawing is clear.
Quote & DFM review
An engineer reviews your drawing for manufacturability, issues a firm quote, and flags anything that would drive cost or delay.
CAM programming
Toolpaths generated and simulated. Fixturing decisions made. Material pulled from stock and cut to size.
Machining
Setup, first article, run. In-process inspection at each setup. Non-critical features checked at the machine, critical features verified on the CMM.
Deburr, finish, ship
Deburring, optional finishing, dimensional report, packaging, and shipment. Tracking info sent before the end of the day.
How engineering teams actually use us.
Most prototype customers don't submit one part and disappear. They submit a revision, then a tweak, then a full re-design — and each iteration gets cheaper and faster once we're familiar with the part family.
Design validation
First iteration: does the part exist in the world the way you drew it? We machine Rev A exactly to spec, including tolerances you may have chosen conservatively because you weren't sure yet.
Fitment & function
Second and third iterations: does it fit? Does it function? We machine the tweaks and stay hands-off on features you've locked. Setup time drops because we've already built the fixture.
Bridge to production
Final iteration: design frozen, ready for volume. We quote a bridge run of 50–500 pieces in the same cell to bridge the gap until hard tooling or a production platform is online.
Where the two diverge, and why.
Prototypes and production parts come off the same machines. The differences are in documentation, tooling strategy, and unit economics.
| Dimension | Prototype | Bridge Production | Full Production |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantity range | 1–10 units | 25–500 units | 500+ units |
| Typical lead time | 48 hours | 5–10 business days | Scheduled delivery |
| Documentation | Basic dim report | FAI report + material certs | AS9102, PPAP, SPC |
| Tooling strategy | Soft jaws, general fixtures | Dedicated soft tooling | Hard tooling or dedicated cells |
| Inspection depth | Critical features on CMM | Full dimensional on FAI, SPC on critical | Full AQL sampling |
| Design freeze expected | No — iteration welcome | Mostly frozen | Frozen, ECN-controlled |
| Unit cost trajectory | High (setup amortized over 1s) | Mid (setup amortized over 100s) | Low (setup amortized over 1000s) |
Four teams that lean on us every week.
Pre-seed to Series B
Teams that need to demonstrate a working device at an investor meeting, a trade show, or a customer pilot. Usually prototype-intensive for 3–6 months, then transition to bridge runs before Series B scale-up.
Design validation before DVT
Aerospace engineering teams validating a new bracket or housing before committing to a design validation test (DVT) build. Tolerance-critical, documentation-heavy, and usually machined in titanium or 17-4 PH.
Human factors & bench testing
Medical device R&D teams building physical units for human factors studies or bench-top testing. Materials often overlap with production intent (PEEK, Ti ELI, 316L) so test data translates.
End-of-arm tooling & fixtures
Robotics and automation integrators building custom end-effectors and workholding for a specific deployment. Often one-off parts that must match a real-world installation exactly.
Four volume bands, one continuous path.
No hand-off to a different shop, no re-qualification, no starting over. Each band is a natural extension of the one before it.
Physical validation
Is this the right geometry? Does the mechanism work? Machined in the same cell as production, but with soft-jaw fixturing and minimal documentation.
Fitment & function
Multiple iterations of the same part as the design tightens. Fixtures already exist from the previous run, so setup drops and cost falls with each revision.
Before hard tooling
Pilot builds and early customer shipments while hard tooling is being cut or a production platform is being qualified. Full FAI documentation on every first article.
Dedicated cells
Repeat orders on a dedicated machine, scheduled deliveries, and full SPC documentation. Same shop, same quality system, same engineering contact.
Every prototype quote comes with an engineering review.
What we look at before we quote.
Prototypes are where design decisions get tested in the real world for the first time. If we see something that will cost you money, add time, or fail at volume, we say so in the quote — not after we've machined it.
This isn't a gatekeeping exercise. It's the fastest way to help you ship. A five-minute conversation about a radius or a tolerance call now can save you a revision cycle later.
- Tool access: features we can't reach without a specialty tool, or where we'd have to use a long-reach cutter that risks chatter.
- Tolerance realism: callouts that are tighter than the application needs, or tighter than the geometry allows.
- Wall thickness: sections that are too thin to machine reliably, or that will distort under clamping.
- Corner radii: internal corners that don't match standard tooling sizes and would require an EDM operation.
- Surface finish: requirements that would force a separate finishing pass or add significant cycle time.
- Material choice: alloys that will machine poorly at the geometry you've drawn, or that could be substituted to save cost or time.
No surprise invoices. If we flag an issue, we'll quote two options: the drawing as-is, and the drawing with the change. You choose. The engineer who reviews the part is the same person who quotes it and the same person you can call if something is unclear. There is no layer between you and the shop floor.
Prototyping services, answered.
Got a design that needs to be real by Friday?
Send us the CAD. We'll quote it, flag anything that would slow us down, and get it in the queue.