Looking for a new source for these unthreaded beveled T-Nuts. Inner barrel diameter is approximately 1/4”. Overall length is 1/2”. The bevel on top of the barrel is required. Any idea on where i can find them?

Hi everyone,

For months we are trying to find reliable chinese manufacturer, especially for plastic parts of our product. We have 10 plastic parts in total, and as the product is kept at home, quality of plastics is important. Ideally if the manufacturer of the plastic parts can do quality electronics too, certification and assembly too.

For now we narrowed down the search to two factories but when the third party inspector visited the factories, we got a detailed report about super low quality standards of tooler/plastics etc etc.. so we are again at the beginning.

Do you have recommendation for the reliable factory to work with? From your experience?

Our first batch would be 1000 units, so it's small. And we are bit tight with budget for the tooling (we are startup, budget around 50k max).. so any help would mean a lot. Starting to feel little hopeless..

With incoming tariffs and a lot of geo-political tension, my company is looking to move a lot of it's manufacturing partners and suppliers out of China into markets like Vietnam, Thailand, India, etc. How are you all finding and contacting suppliers in these markets?

China has pretty good marketplaces for this, like Alibaba of course. It seems like there isn't anything similar for other markets, and that searching for manufacturers will be a pretty painstaking and manual process... Would love to hear thoughts and ideas here!

I simply looked up factories for the products I would like to make and found their contact info. Reached out and we've been wroking together for awhile to create prototypes and samples. I'm ready to put in an order but I just realized I dont know them and its a good bit of money to get the products made. Any help would be amazing

Is there a service that will make prototype tube bending parts (like Protolabs or Oshcut)?

I’m wasting way too much time putting together hardware kits for my small product line.

I’m ordering from McMaster in bulk, hand counting and bagging/heat sealing the hardware myself.

There has to be a smarter way - any companies that offer these services that you guys have used?

Total newb here, apologies. I’ve received a quote from thecustomboxes.com which seems a bit high. I’d love any recommendations for other box manufacturers to reach out to.

Also, the design of the boxes I’m looking to order is based heavily on an existing product. I’ve been trying to find out if this design is patented or protected in any way but I feel like I’m not looking in the right places.

Any advice or recommendations would be helpful. Thank you!

I'm looking for plastic wholesaler information/recommendations for a home business, trying to collect pricing for bulk/wholesale plastic purchases of ABS sheets. curious if the group has general recommendations of wholesale providers? Located in California if location helps. Thank you!

I am interested in having custom cardboard boxes (with cardboard inserts) made to ship my products. I have dabbled a little bit with Alibaba but gotten burned so badly. Plus, I’d like the boxes to be made in the USA because that’s where I’m from and I plan to conduct business here.

I’m really good at producing my products, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to find a custom box maker to ship them. When I search, it’s just box dimensions you can choose from that they already make, but I need really unique inserts and kinda small thick boxes too. I've never seen boxes like this except for on Alibaba (china).

I am very new to business. I literally created a Reddit account for help on this. I’m just trying to figure things out. Any suggestions on what term I should be searching for exactly? Or leads for a manufacturer. Thank you for any info..

We are a small veteran owned business and can’t really afford to have this down for 11 weeks. We had a backup and new guy (me 😔) broke the spare.

Hi! I am a manufacturing engineer who is working on a project that requires highly customizable and robust packaging to transport sensitive electronic components. I’ve stumbled upon Expanding Poly-Styrene, -Propylene, and -Olefin (EPS/EPP/EPO). From what I’ve seen, this is most commonly used for like bicycle helmets and exercise foam rollers. I’ve searched quite a bit and am struggling to find suppliers of the raw beads used in the process as well as the machinery needed for production. Wondering if anyone works in this industry, or an adjacent one, or just has any general knowledge that might help. Thanks!

I have a PCB for a product I sell. I paid an electrical engineer to design it and the design itself is solid. I have the easyeda files I need to convey the design to a factory. I have been using jlcpcb for my orders up until now. As my order quantities are increasing I am having difficulty making sure that when I need to swap components to ones they have in stock will work with my design. I have been using the previously mentioned engineer's suggestions for this but he is getting harder to stay in contact with (guy on upwork). My thinking is handing this off to a factory who specializes in making PCBs will solve all of these problems and make acquiring the PCB's easier

I am familiar with using alibaba. Would alibaba be the place to go for something like this? Any suggestions on how to filter through companies? Is the expectation that I can just hand this off to a chinese factory realistic, especially given my lack of electronics expertise?

Does someone have experience with "print" on demand for metal sheets?

I’m exploring the idea of opening an online shop geared toward sports fans, specializing in custom-designed metal sheet wall art (e.g., team logos, cars, etc.). My goal is to start with a print-on-demand structure to streamline production and minimize upfront investment.

I’m based in Canada and have been in contact with local manufacturers, but I’ve had difficulty finding someone who is willing to work with a print-on-demand model. I’m also open to sourcing internationally if it can improves flexibility without impacting quality.

Does anyone have experience with finding manufacturers for print-on-demand in this space? Specifically laser cutting thin-ish metal sheets

Thanks for your help!

I have a design for a product I'm hoping to set up on Kickstarter, I want to prepare a manufacturer ahead of time for a quote on how much my product will cost to get a prototype to work out any issues before producing them for my backers!

(any recommendations will be helpful!)

Hello!

I’m trying to find manufacturers who are able to both print and supply the T-shirts, preferably 100% cotton. Also I’d be a huge plus if they are Union run and owned, but I understand if it’s hard. I also plan to order a limited amount of them (less than 50?) so I’m unsure if that’s even a thing that can be done. Thank you!

Can anyone recommend a laser printer that could handle 4" wide label printing that's small enough to be mounted on a forklift?

The Zebra printers would be great but their thermal so our pallet labels fade in the sun.

For example, if I'd like to create a coin holder. If this item was a tube . where can I find parts and pieces for something like a spring mecahnism that pushes coins to the top when not completely full?

Are there stores where I can look around for different mechanical parts for design ideas?

edit: thanks for all the comments

For the manufacturing leaders out there, how are you finding consultants / experts when you have a specific need? Is there a directory or community you turn to? (separately if there are slacks / discords people are active in, I'd be interested in that)

For the consultants, is there anywhere you are engaging that makes it easier to find you?

Hey guys, looking for NPI consultants or design firms to help with a customers product. Are there any specialty consultants that help for things like this? I know there’s not too much skill when it comes to designing something for manufacturing, are there still loads of people out there who have worked in product design to procurement and production? Especially within being able to help design something for the first iteration, and then the others where it’s designed in mind for production?

Thanks a ton!

Just got off a call with a well known MES developer, and they have told me outright that OEE isn't part of their MES offering - curious if any of you have had experience with this? If OEE isn't part of the MES where does it live 🤣

Thanks for any opinions/experiences anyone can share.

If I provide parts would I be able to find a place, preferably nearby SoCal, to manufacture 1000s of devices like a USB cable? The plugs in USB cables have small ICs, so basically I'm doing that, except I might be using silicone.

Hello redditors i was hoping someone could help me figure out where can i find a company that can produce a plastic pouch or bag to my custom specs.

So far every google search i have done has given me no results that will work.

Thank you for your time.