Having trouble understanding my overseas supplier

[pwelsh]

Hello All,

i am in the process of getting a product designed over seas. My product is a foam roller, which is basically pvc pipe with foam surrounding the outside. I just received an email from my supplier that I do not understand. It seems they are having trouble with the mould for the design of the foam.

could someone make sense of this email for me?

Dear:


I am just ready to send you email .
The mould hasn't be made. Let me explain to you. We usually make mould with CNC machine, but your foam roller consist of a hex pattern throughout the center. You know the milling cutter is straight , so it can't mill inward. So we are discussing if we can casting the mould , but another problem appear, the mould has two parts, if we cast the mould by two times , maybe joint line has some tolerance, the hex in the middle maybe has 1mm tolerance, if it is ok for you?
I don't know if you can undrstand me very well, if not , pls let me know.
best regards
alyssa

[jboggs]

He is saying that it is difficult to machine the hex configuration with his CNC machine. He is suggesting molding the part rather than machining it. He is also saying that if the part is molded, the two halves of the mold might not line up exactly perfectly. He is wondering what the tolerance of the mismatch might be. How much mismatch is allowable?

If you are having a special product made overseas and you don't have a thorough understanding of the manufacturing process yourself, I strongly suggest you bring in a new local, or at least domestic, team member that does understand these things. You cannot depend on an online forum for your engineering judgment and input.

[manuelmarcelino]

Hi,
Basically CNC machine is used for mould. But he is facing problem with hex configuration with his CNC machine. Here Hex configuration is very important so suggest him to call some specialist for that. Its done by manually nobody can give online solution for that.