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Comment by froindt | Hacker News Reader

Good to see a manufacturing startup in YC! I'm currently a grad student in industrial engineering and have been working with geometric analysis for manufacturability for around 2 years now.

What types of analysis are you doing on the parts to determine cost? Slicing, orientation optimization, volume analysis, full toolpaths with estimated time?

Does your analysis automatically look at the tradeoff between injection molding and 3d printing for a particular design which was uploaded?

I noticed the current interface requires all parts to be in the same unit. Any chance of a per-part unit selection (while keeping the batch)?

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We look at object SA, V, and geometry and without slicing estimate print time and material usage. From there we factor in other costs such as machine time, labor, and packing and shipping.

We don't compare to injection molding to calculate price. When we say price competitive between 1 and 10k units, it's based on avg IM mold and units costs. It's pretty hard to find data on that though.

Yeah, good point. We don't yet let users assign different units to different models in the same purchase on our website, but can add that feature!

Oh, I follow now. I was going to mention that your site doesn't advertise PIM at all if that's a service offered! I really wish there were readily accessible data sources with pricing in the manufacturing field. Trying to estimate impact and cost savings is a mess without the data.

What kind of internal fill patterns are you using? What are some of the tests which get run in the machines? Do you have any numbers on how accurate the printers are compared to Joe Schmo who just bought his first $1,000 3d printer?

I agree, but at the end of the day you need some estimate of what's being manufactured to produce a price. Otherwise, we'd only be able to give you some rough prices per g of material, print hr, and labor...

We very our infill depending on the part, but usually just standard hex. We did have some factory-wide precision numbers which I'd have to dig up. If you interested in learning more feel free to shoot me an email at jonathan@voodoomfg.com!

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