Prototype Machining St. Paul, MN
Prototype machining St. Paul, MN. From idea to shelf, prototyping is the first step to creating products primed for mass-production. To get it right the first time around, you need to work with a prototype machine shop in St. Paul that can not just bring your designs to life, but have specialists on staff that can also make revisions to the product to make it even better.
At Roberson Machine Company, we are a leader in rapid prototyping for a number of industries. If you can dream it, we have the capabilities to make it a reality—no matter the complexity! Our team of contract manufacturing professionals are prepared to help in your product development initiatives.
Contact us or call 573-646-3996 for a free quote on CNC prototype machining in St. Paul, MN.
Prototype Services St. Paul
We have a large factory floor with mills, lathes, and EDM machines for all of your precision CNC prototype needs. The entire staff at Roberson Machine Company is devoted to ensuring your product development efforts go off without a hitch, which is why we meticulously oversee the entire design, fabrication, and programming process to make sure every last detail meets your standards.
Finally, we understand the importance of moving a finished prototype to production as quickly as possible in order to keep the assembly line humming. Once you’re completely satisfied with a product’s final design, we can transition it easily and efficiently into production, all in-house! This allows us to be your one-stop shop for prototyping services of all kinds.
CNC prototyping services offered at Roberson Machine Company:
- 3, 4, and 5-axis machining
- CNC Milling
- Wire EDM
- CNC Turning
- High-level surface finishing capabilities
- Metal fabrication
- Variety of capabilities such as extrusion, bending, folding, stamping, welding, cutting, spinning, etc.
- Variety of materials such as stainless steel, aluminum, etc.
- Both complex and simple part geometries
- Tight tolerances (as tight as 0.0001” inches for some parts)
What is a Prototype?
Prototyping uses specialized manufacturing techniques, such as CNC machines, to create high-quality physical models of a design idea. It can be used for many purposes and is usually the first step in the mass-production of a product. For instance, many companies turn to Roberson Machine Company to build a physical part swiftly in order to validate a design or capture a sales opportunity.
Prototyping is an advantageous technique that is used for:
- Showing customers and investors a physical model of your product in as little amount of time as possible
- Exhibiting the appearance, dimensions, and features of your product
- Generating multiple separate versions of the product with differing colors, surface textures, and finishing processes
- Ensuring that all parts are standardized in terms of size, shape, dimension, and quality
- Testing the market with your product before production
- Identifying and fixing potentially expensive design flaws before reaching market
- Streamlining and improving upon the whole production process
In general, rapid prototyping in St. Paul saves money, time, and hassle by creating one product that can be tested and optimized to peak performance before investing in thousands of units. Contact us to learn more about how this process may help your company realize a variety of cost savings.
Who Uses Prototype Machining?
Many St. Paul, MN industries have recognized the benefits of prototype machining and utilize it to reduce potential disruptions in the development process. Roberson Machine Company has successfully worked with a large number of companies, of all sizes, to achieve their prototype manufacturing needs. We have assisted the following St. Paul, MN industries and more develop prototypes efficiently and under budget:
- With the advent of “just-in-time” manufacturing, the automotive industry needs new parts to be produced as fast as possible and in any quantity. Roberson Tool works with St. Paul, MN automotive manufacturers as small as local custom shops and as large as OEM manufacturers to build prototype parts in several different materials, delivered on time and within budget.
- St. Paul, MN oil and energy firms have notable demands for prototypes: they must be made to withstand the heavy pressure of refining, mining, and underground burial. Roberson answers these demands by excelling in machining prototypes using exotic materials such as alloy steel, plastics, and brass.
- The St. Paul, MN medical industry mandates that parts are developed to some of the most precise tolerances in the machining industry: above all, preventing defective parts from making it to market is truly a matter of life and death. Moreover, medical parts are often quite small and intricate in design. Roberson Machine Company has in our shop the latest 5-axis CNC machining tools that can not only quickly produce medical part prototypes regardless of size, but also provide process and tracking reports mandated by the FDA.
- Aerospace manufacturers demand parts with intricate geometries and dimensions, and in a large number of cases using specialized metals that do not deform at high temperatures and altitude. Moreover, the unique pressures and characteristics of flight necessitate parts made to exacting tolerance and design standards. Our experienced technicians are ready to tackle the unique demands of aerospace prototype manufacturing, and our MN machine shop is focused on delivering aerospace manufacturers parts built to the optimal standard of quality.
This experience in prototype manufacturing for multiple MN industries allows Roberson Machine Company to be a true partner throughout the manufacturing process. Our expert team of specialists can help you recognize flaws in your product, suggest design and usability improvements, and otherwise improve the quality of your St. Paul, MN end product while reducing your R&D costs.
Reasons to Use CNC Machining for Rapid Prototyping in St. Paul, MN
Prototyping can use a variety of methods to complete projects, but CNC machining is far and away one of the most effective. Short for computer numerical control, CNC allows you to design a product digitally, program the design data into the computer, and let the CNC machine take it from there, trimming away bits from a piece of raw material to create a desired end-shape.
Using computers eliminates human error and improves the efficiency of the cuts which, in turn, means that you can produce flawless, quick parts both the first time and every time afterwards. There are a variety of other reasons to choose CNC machining for prototyping, including:
- More precise – Computer-controlled machines use modern cutters that are extremely accurate and precise in order to create parts with very tight tolerances.
- Quicker – Modern CNC machine tools work with sophisticated computer programs that can convert files into finished parts within a matter of hours, which is ideal for getting products to market faster.
- Different materials to choose from – CNC machine tools are able to work with practically any machinable material, which includes many types of plastic substrates and metals. This is a great advantage to product developers who want to test from one different material to the next.
- No fixed tooling necessary – CNC machined parts do not require the use of separate tools and dies, which helps diminish the lead time and initial investment costs for new product development.
- Easy to modify – New product development often requires a series of improvements and modifications to the original design. Altering digital instructions is simple and only takes a few minutes with CNC machining.
Prototype Manufacturing Near Me St. Paul, MN | Roberson Machine Company
CNC machining is used by many businesses who need high-quality and quick parts in small volumes for testing samples and prototyping. When you choose Roberson Machine Company, we will work with you every step of the way to ensure that your designs are crafted to perfection on time and that all of your needs are met.
Contact us for CNC prototyping St. Paul services of all kinds. Call 573-646-3996 for a free quote.