Want to know about the current situation of Canadian machining enterprises, who can talk about it briefly?

[a smile]

Forum Who is working in the machining industry? I hope to have some understanding of Canadian machining, if it does not involve trade secrets and personal privacy. I wish I had a picture to refer to.

Or, I welcome private chat, if there is a machining business owners, I hope to talk more.

This is a mechanical processing enterprise in Yantai, Shandong Province that I went to talk about cooperation not long ago (ask for permission to take photos)

 

[Janger]

This should be interesting. I hope we can have an open conversation about this. I hope some of our members who work in machining/fabrication can respond. @a smile if you could start with some specific questions I'm sure people will answer.

 

[a smile]

This should be interesting. I hope we can have an open conversation about this. I hope some of our members who work in machining/fabrication can respond. @a smile if you could start with some specific questions I'm sure people will answer.

Thank you for your reply. I need to know the size of small and medium-sized machining enterprises in Canada. About how many workers are employed? CNC or manual machine tools? What do you usually do? I'd like to see something easy to understand, preferably with photos. Because I am interested in Canadian machining, I may have the opportunity to look for a job in Canada, so a full understanding is very important to me!

 

[Alexander]

I have been in the manufacturing field for about 15 years, based in Calgary. Currently, I'm part of a dedicated team of 40 at our shop.

We handle a variety of tasks including laser cutting, water jet cutting, press brake work, roll forming, welding, CNC machining, and honing. Our pillars are quality and customer service.

If you have any more questions or would like to discuss further, you can reply here or send me a private message. As long as it doesn't involve trade secrets or personal privacy, I'm open to sharing more information.

Looking forward to the conversation,

Alex.

 

[a smile]

I have been in the manufacturing field for about 15 years, based in Calgary. Currently, I'm part of a dedicated team of 40 at our shop.

We handle a variety of tasks including laser cutting, water jet cutting, press brake work, roll forming, welding, CNC machining, and honing. Our pillars are quality and customer service.

If you have any more questions or would like to discuss further, you can reply here or send me a private message. As long as it doesn't involve trade secrets or personal privacy, I'm open to sharing more information.

Looking forward to the conversation,

Alex.

If we could post some photos of the workshop without any trade secrets, I think it would help us get familiar with each other's working environment and deepen our understanding ----- what do you think?

 

[a smile]

Does anyone know of a Canadian company that manufactures bench vice?

 

[Rauce]

If we could post some photos of the workshop without any trade secrets, I think it would help us get familiar with each other's working environment and deepen our understanding ----- what do you think?

I used to work for a service shop for rotating equipment. All of our machines were manual because it was repair work and not production.

I believe this is common in other heavy industry repair shops that do machining.

Here are a few photos.

I would say a place like this is not the most common type of machine shop in Canada but there are some across the country that do this type of work.

It may be hard to believe because of the size but there were 3 machinists, 2 welders and 3 millwrights (mechanics) at this shop

 

[Tomc938]

I don't work in the machining world, but I had a good friend who ran his own shop for many years.

It sounds like you are looking for information on what a "typical" machine shop in Canada has for tools and employees - both how many employees and with what skills.

If this is the case, perhaps you might consider coming at the question from another angle.

What product are you planning to produce? What machines will you need to efficiently produce that produce?

If you are going to be a general machine shop, do you have an idea on what is needed in your area? My great uncle had a shop in California back in 1940-1960s. That was when California was ramping up production of their oil fields. I've attached a picture of him and one of his lathes. (as near as I can tell, he's standing at the 1/2 way point of the shaft) That was the tool required to fill the need he had discovered.

If, however, there is a real need for someone to machine heads for small engine castings, you don't need a lathe at all, but rather the appropriate sized milling machine. If you need to create complex parts with many steps, a CNC mill or lathe might be your first purchase.

No sense spending $100,000 tooling up a shop if you don't have any idea what jobs you will be doing. (unless you have money to burn)

I would find the need in your local area, and get the machines and tools that you need to meet that need. As other opportunities present themselves, you can add the machines and people needed to efficiently carry out the work.

One other thing to consider: my friend with the general machine shop used to fabricate meat cutting saw. This was the project he would work on when he did not have other jobs he was working on. That way he was always busy and productive.

Just some things to consider.

 

[a smile]

z

I used to work for a service shop for rotating equipment. All of our machines were manual because it was repair work and not production.

I believe this is common in other heavy industry repair shops that do machining.

Here are a few photos.

I would say a place like this is not the most common type of machine shop in Canada but there are some across the country that do this type of work.

It may be hard to believe because of the size but there were 3 machinists, 2 welders and 3 millwrights (mechanics) at this shop

This is what I need, I can see the specific equipment, size very well. We can infer their general processing business scope, and we can also compare China as a reference. Thank you for your enthusiasm map and detailed explanation -- my friend!

 

[a smile]

Thank you for your time, although I have seen a lot of pictures, but this kind of actual operation of the photo is actually rare, although the power from the top of the machine is very old, but this is the beginning of the industrial gap between the East and the West, especially my country.

Thank you for your investment advice. I will follow your advice and invest my money carefully. But right now I'm just learning about the industry in Canada and preparing for some possibilities down the road.

I am now in China, and my need for batch machining can be easily realized, and the price is also very advantageous compared with Canada. But in my country, the protection of intellectual property rights is very poor. When preparing to find a factory for mass production, how to protect intellectual property rights and the integrity of the company will be the first consideration.

My own studio can satisfy my hobbies, and I can basically complete the whole process of mechanical design, sample making, testing and other work independently. After maturity, I will consider outsourcing production instead of setting up a factory to complete it. I don't want to turn my hobby into a job.

This is the factory I actually talked to

 

[Tomc938]

Sorry, I guess my assumption was incorrect.

I have heard the stories of intellectual property issues in China, and you do have a challenging road ahead in that regard.

Tom

 

[Susquatch]

@a smile - intellectual property is a thorny subject no matter where you live in the world.

I worked for a very very large corporation all of my career. I learned several lessons about IPR and contracts there. In simple terms I can summarize my opinion of the IPR issue this way:

1. Obtaining a patent is onerous and expensive.

2. Even with a patent, protecting your rights under that patent is equally onerous and expensive.

3. The best way to capitalize on your ideas is to follow one of two paths:
A - Sell the idea to someone else who has the cash, lawyers, and capacity to build and sell it.
B - Keep it a secret and move fast to get the idea to the market, make your profit early and then quit when the competition closes in on you.

4. You cannot run from China & India. They are faster, leaner, and meaner than I could ever be. Their cost of production, labour cost, access to raw materials, and regulatory environment mean I cannot compete.

5. The world is very small. The Internet and air travel are so well developed that no place is more than a day away - seconds away of you don't have to actually go there. No matter what I do, somebody else is doing it tomorrow and selling it the next day.

6. Barriers to entry are actually a much more powerful protection than patents. Protectionism exists under many different names. But scale, margins, regulatory regimes, and cultural attitudes are very powerful factors in the field of product development - IF you can turn them to your advantage.

7. A small niche is easier to capture than a big one. You know exactly who your customer is and what they need, want, and can afford. It's hard for the big guys to compete with you in a small niche.

 

[a smile]

@a smile - intellectual property is a thorny subject no matter where you live in the world.

I worked for a very very large corporation all of my career. I learned several lessons about IPR and contracts there. In simple terms I can summarize my opinion of the IPR issue this way:

1. Obtaining a patent is onerous and expensive.

2. Even with a patent, protecting your rights under that patent is equally onerous and expensive.

3. The best way to capitalize on your ideas is to follow one of two paths:
A - Sell the idea to someone else who has the cash, lawyers, and capacity to build and sell it.
B - Keep it a secret and move fast to get the idea to the market, make your profit early and then quit when the competition closes in on you.

4. You cannot run from China & India. They are faster, leaner, and meaner than I could ever be. Their cost of production, labour cost, access to raw materials, and regulatory environment mean I cannot compete.

5. The world is very small. The Internet and air travel are so well developed that no place is more than a day away - seconds away of you don't have to actually go there. No matter what I do, somebody else is doing it tomorrow and selling it the next day.

6. Barriers to entry are actually a much more powerful protection than patents. Protectionism exists under many different names. But scale, margins, regulatory regimes, and cultural attitudes are very powerful factors in the field of product development - IF you can turn them to your advantage.

7. A small niche is easier to capture than a big one. You know exactly who your customer is and what they need, want, and can afford. It's hard for the big guys to compete with you in a small niche.

Your ideas are detailed and precise, and they are exactly like mine. I am currently implementing 3-A+B, but unfortunately, I do not have some experience in e-commerce platforms, resulting in my sales process is very slow and inefficient. Also, I made metric products and sold them to the imperial region, which was a very big mistake of mine and I am currently correcting it.

So I send this post to do some practical basic understanding, as much as possible to know some machining friends, to understand the actual processing capacity of some processing enterprises. This helps to find possible partners in the future.

Moreover, I can see the equipment needed for complete processing from the actual workshop pictures, which is also of positive significance for the construction of my studio.

 

[Janger]

Does anyone know of a Canadian company that manufactures bench vice?

The manufacture of anything like that in the lower cost end has moved overseas I think. Mostly China, some Taiwan (Vertex, Autowell), some Poland (bison) but that is high end stuff (Easy there Tom K ). I see Kurt vises are made in Minnesota USA which surprises me. I did some looking and Kurt is apparently fully made in USA. Orange vise is another high end vise also made in USA. Canada though I don't know. I bought my Kurt used and also purchased an autowell made in Taiwan. I have some vertex vise and rotary table too. I would be really surprised if there is a Canadian manufacturer - it would be really high end I expect if anything. Like a 5 axis specialized vise or something with customizable soft jaws.

 

[a smile]

The manufacture of anything like that in the lower cost end has moved overseas I think. Mostly China, some Taiwan (Vertex, Autowell), some Poland (bison) but that is high end stuff (Easy there Tom K ). I see Kurt vises are made in Minnesota USA which surprises me. I did some looking and Kurt is apparently fully made in USA. Orange vise is another high end vise also made in USA. Canada though I don't know. I bought my Kurt used and also purchased an autowell made in Taiwan. I have some vertex vise and rotary table too. I would be really surprised if there is a Canadian manufacturer - it would be really high end I expect if anything. Like a 5 axis specialized vise or something with customizable soft jaws.

Yes, your reply basically coincides with my survey results. I have been looking for a long time and have not found a Canadian company manufacturing bench vice, but this will not affect my process of promoting the commercialization of my new bench vice, but the process of progress will be very slow. Having a strong cooperation enterprise will let me get away from the tedious things of production and sales, and concentrate on researching new products. After all, playing with machine tools is my greatest pleasure, and when machine tools become work ------- it is a disaster (for me). I am good at ideation and design. The process of making blueprints into actual samples is the real fun of DIY. I have been doing this for many years ----

 

[Tom Kitta]

There is a company that used to make vises in Canada - https://www.graytools.com/category/vises
They say they are tool manufacturer in Canada - so I assume vises are made in Canada as well.

westward tools & equipment Canada - seems to be Grainger brand -
https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/BENCH-VISE,MECHANICS,SWIVEL,5-IN/p/WSW10D707

But no clue where these are actually made - if in Canada. Many say most things are actually made in Taiwan & sold under the brand.

 

[Janger]

@a smile we have this thread going on fractal and Norgren vises. https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/new-vise-jaw-product.5091/ it's pretty interesting actually.

 

[Janger]

Thank you for your time, although I have seen a lot of pictures, but this kind of actual operation of the photo is actually rare, although the power from the top of the machine is very old, but this is the beginning of the industrial gap between the East and the West, especially my country.

Thank you for your investment advice. I will follow your advice and invest my money carefully. But right now I'm just learning about the industry in Canada and preparing for some possibilities down the road.

I am now in China, and my need for batch machining can be easily realized, and the price is also very advantageous compared with Canada. But in my country, the protection of intellectual property rights is very poor. When preparing to find a factory for mass production, how to protect intellectual property rights and the integrity of the company will be the first consideration.

My own studio can satisfy my hobbies, and I can basically complete the whole process of mechanical design, sample making, testing and other work independently. After maturity, I will consider outsourcing production instead of setting up a factory to complete it. I don't want to turn my hobby into a job.View attachment 35444
This is the factory I actually talked to

@a smile I see lots of big billets of steel in various stages of completion. Do you know what they are making at this factory?

 

[Rauce]

There is a company that used to make vises in Canada - https://www.graytools.com/category/vises
They say they are tool manufacturer in Canada - so I assume vises are made in Canada as well.

westward tools & equipment Canada - seems to be Grainger brand -
https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/BENCH-VISE,MECHANICS,SWIVEL,5-IN/p/WSW10D707

But no clue where these are actually made - if in Canada. Many say most things are actually made in Taiwan & sold under the brand.

Westward stuff is all import in my experience.

I had the same thought about Gray. Couldn’t find any listed country of manufacture for the vices. In a thread on garage journal someone found some public customs paperwork suggesting the Gray vises are made in Argentina. Most of the gray tools are made in Canada, the US or Europe.

Yes, your reply basically coincides with my survey results. I have been looking for a long time and have not found a Canadian company manufacturing bench vice, but this will not affect my process of promoting the commercialization of my new bench vice, but the process of progress will be very slow. Having a strong cooperation enterprise will let me get away from the tedious things of production and sales, and concentrate on researching new products. After all, playing with machine tools is my greatest pleasure, and when machine tools become work ------- it is a disaster (for me). I am good at ideation and design. The process of making blueprints into actual samples is the real fun of DIY. I have been doing this for many years ----

Does this vise design used cast parts? I have a friend who does pattern and mold making and he knows all the foundries here in Ontario.

 

[Alexander]

I think 5thaxis.com has the right idea for cnc machine vices. IMO Kurt has fallen behind a bit. As for bench vices. I personally order from Uline. Anything I order before 3:00 shows up tomorrow.