In industry, even small choices at the design phase can have an impact on final cost. Clients are often surprised to learn that seemingly small things like part size, tolerances, dimensioning choices can dramatically increase, time to manufacture, and there by cost. Seaborn Manufacturing, has worked on thousands of projects across a broad range of industries. We have seen firsthand how small design errors that add significant cost often stem from a simple oversight that could have been avoided.
CAD vs Life
When engineers or designers are working in CAD, the ability to create complex shapes and tight tolerances is unlimited. However, translating those designs into parts whether laser cut, formed & welded, or machined, introduces real world limitations. If you’re planning to use services like tube laser cutting or sheet laser the accuracy is extremely high for most. But trying to these to work past their standard tolerances costs much more.
GD&T
The efficiency to make the parts depends on design quality. Adding GD&T call out where not required or extreme tolerances may require additional operations, special tooling, or jigs. This all equal higher costs and longer lead times. One of the most common design errors that add cost involves tolerance stacking. Over-specifying tolerances that aren’t functionally necessary can push a standard job into precision territory. Tight tolerances might require additional inspection, slower production speeds, or even manual intervention. If only a few features on your part are truly critical, those can be called out specifically while allowing looser tolerances elsewhere. This can help reduce inspection requirements and speed up production without sacrificing quality.
Gauges
Another frequent issue arises with the use of uncommon material types or gauges. While Seaborn Manufacturing has access to a wide range of material and vendors, choosing a rare or non standard thickness even for sheet metal fabrication can lead to dramatic increases in cost. Purchasing the material may even become a challenge. For sheet laser work, common gauges such as 10ga, 11ga, 12ga 14ga, 16ga, or 18ga are common. But buying 13ga is a totally different story. A design that calls for something just slightly off-standard may require an entirely separate setup or new stock orders, which directly increases your cost.
Location
Hole placement and size can also create hidden costs. Placing holes too close to bends or edges can distort the material during forming, especially in sheet laser cut parts. This may require extra steps such as secondary machining or design modifications after the fact. Similarly, calling for hole diameters that are too small relative to material thickness can be problematic. If the hole is smaller than the material thickness, it may require post-process drilling. In many cases, a small adjustment to hole size or position can eliminate an entire secondary operation.
Sometimes, a feature that looks basic in a CAD model actually requires flipping the part repeatedly while repositioning, or fixturing it multiple times. This increases setup time and reduces throughput. Including us early in the design review can help spot these challenges before they become expensive mistakes.
Finishes
Finish specifications are another area where design errors that add cost frequently occur. Calling for a cosmetic or specialty finish without considering how parts are handled during production may lead to double handling or protective packaging that adds expense. For instance, powder coating over tight-fitting hardware or threads may require masking, which adds both time and labor. Understanding how parts will be fixtured, coated, and shipped can help identify simpler, more cost-effective finishing strategies.
Waste
Material waste is another common byproduct of poor design optimization. In laser cut parts, sheet layout and nesting efficiency greatly influence price. A design with non-uniform spacing, excessive dropouts, or awkward dimensions can result in lower material yield. Using standard sheet sizes and watching component sizes for best nesting practices, you can often reduce both material costs and save time. Standard size of metal sheets in North America is 60” x 120” with 48” x 96” sheets being fairly common.
Closing
Whether you’re buying laser cut components, precision tube laser parts, fabrication or full assemblies, our team at Seaborn Manufacturing is here to help you make smart, effective choices. Call us to learn more or to connect with our team about your project.