Rapid Prototyping firms - China

Hi guys, i need to have my design rapid prototyped for an exhibition and was wondering if anyone had any experiences with such firms in china that uses cnc or sla. I’m from Australia and have in the past, (for university) used local firms but it was very expensive and i understand that china can be a lot cheaper. I was wondering if anyone can suggest any firms they know of, or have had personal experiences with. thnx

Our design firm has started using China based RP firms,
One that has great communication (over e-mail and Skype) is Sunpe
The quality is great, technical knowledge excellent pricing is way more competitive than US and Canada, Although we have done jobs with other suppliers who deliver on time and quality at half the price, Sunpe seem to have all the systems in place for peace of mind.

Website:http://www.sunpe.com
Contact info:
Winny Liang / Liang Yan (sales_05@sunpe.com)
Export Department
Zhongshan Sunpe Technology Co., Ltd.
SUNPE PROTOTYPE(HK) CO., LIMITED

Mobile:+86-13590883205
Fax.: +86 760-2221 1992

Good luck
Adrian

A lot of students from the UK at our university used RPWORLD in china to get stuff done. The turnaround is incredible i had bits made and shipped out to me in 4 days.

I would say though that from a UK perspective the SLA is not any cheaper for us because they have to buy the resins from Europe. CNCing however was dirt cheap.

They do offer to do the finishing for you as well and what i saw the finishes were pretty good, however personally I prefer to do that sort of thing myself.

I’ve used xmduch which has been unbelievable. Can pm photos of the results.

Great communication via email and skype and phone.

They do lots of surface finishing and use multiple techniques and they are also extremely cheap!

More info check out their website or pm for a contact.

got 27 individual pieces machines finished and posted to my front door within 9 days from first contact.

Factories; DO NOT email me about this post.

I have received 10 emails already offering services, I am not interested.

Thank you.

thanks for the responses. Examples on work and pricing would be great. Also, how is confidentiality with regards to your design treated? I know china can be a bit iffy with regards to ipr. I’m not saying I’m designing the next Dyson vacuum, just want to be sure they don’t distribute my design to just anyone

+1 for SunPe

I use Arrkeurope.com for machined prototypes that have to look as designed. Their prototypes generally as accurate as our cast parts. They are also really good at finishing.

Actual production is done in Asia but since I’m in Europe communication is with England so things go pretty smoothly. They do however have to ship all parts via the UK for Europe so delivery can be frustrating occasionally. If they have an Australian office I’d give them a shot.

I would be equally interested in learning about what the Chinese companies listed above charge per project. I have a new project in the works, and I may have to go that route in order to get a prototype made.

I do understand that prototyping costs vary from project to project depending on size and complexity. At this point I would simply like to know what to expect in terms of cost (rough numbers) for a small container (bottle like type container) that I am currently developing.

Thank you.
Farined

China is usually going to be pretty cheap for molding. Depending on the size and complexity it can be pretty cheap to expensive (if you need tooling). I would find a company near you that outsources prototype molding to China because they will have a better relationship with that company and probably even an employee in China that can get you a better estimate of the cost and discuss an NDA with you.

Thanks for the information. I’ll have to do some research about the companies in Kansas City that deal with Chinese prototype making businesses, and see what kind of input I’ll get. Thanks again!
Best Regards,
farined

I have used Sunpe based on this post and they do terrific work.
CNC and urethane castings with very good quality.
They are best for projects that need a lot of manual work like finishing and painting.
Price is so much better than domestic rp firms - usually 1/10 the price.

Not a good option for SLAs. They even told me that’s not their game and I should stick with local firms.

Thanks for the tip Virides! I think I will e-mail them and see what their schedule looks like, and possibly get a quote on the project I am working on. Nothing wrong with CNC and Urethane casting; SLA doesn’t seem to be a good return on investment (at least for smaller businesses) considering the current prices of RPMs.
Thank you,
Farined

Hello guys, we happen to have been using a Chinese prototyping firm named Uidea Rapid Prototype (www.uidearp.com) since 2009.
They have been doing excellent jobs for us in CNC, vac casting, rapid tooling and even sheet metal prototyping. I also agree that it is not a very good option for SLA, coz they need buy the Somos material imported from US.

Cheers!
Jason

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the link; I’ll add them to list of prototyping businesses to be contacted as soon as I am done with the 3d files.

Best Regards,
Farined

Farined - we’ve lately been using GSModels in Suzhou. Like the others mentioned; great results, great prices, willing to do what is needed to get results, provides images prior to shipment, etc.

Windy sun <windygsmodel@gmail.com>

I had their website info somewhere awhile back, vetted them and negotiated a no-loss payment on the first job in case they bailed or were a scam but they turned out to be legit and provide good results.

As with all new services, your results may vary. Good luck.

Hi Scott,

Great tips, and thanks for the e-mail address. I will add them to my list of companies to contact.

Best Regards,
Farined

In fact,it is not always ture that the prototype cost in China is much lower than the other country. As a general rule,SLA & SLS is not competitive from China unless you start to do full cosmetic finishing to the raw SL/SLS model. Then it can be about 66% of the western prices.

Jevny Technology Co.,Ltd is professional in Rapid Prototyping,Precision Machining and Plastic Injection Molding in China.

Welcome to your any inquiry(3D drawing+Surface finishing requirement).Jevny will sign your NDA and we will seek to keep your IP secure for keep confidential to the drawing.


Project Manager:Daniel.lou
Email:daniel.lou@jevny.com
Skype:jevnyprototype
Web:www.jevny.com


Add:2/F,B Building Huaidecuigang Industrial Park, Fuyong Town, Bao’an District,Shenzhen City,China

Thanks for the info Daniel! I’ll keep in touch once I am ready to go to the prototyping phase.

Best Regards,
Farined

I agree with Jevny, When using SLS or SLa the Chinese prices are usually more than Europe, this is because of high import taxes on the machinery ( usually they are from out of mainland china, think of the EOS SLS machines from Germany) .Also you have the consider lead-times and forwarders/express delivery times when using Chinese vendors.

Personally i think , still cnc machined mock-ups and silicone molding ( RTV) are technologies that are very competitive in China. We use an other http://www.prototypingchina.com prototyping china company Triple-c, and have good experiences with them on both CNC ( ABS/alu/Steel/POM) and silicone molding.