How We Match a Copper RFQ to a Shop

Step by step, and what happens to your files

1. You send the RFQ. Files land with us and nowhere else. Nothing is shared at this point.
2. We read the drawing. Grade or requirement, geometry, tolerances, edge condition, finish, plating, quantity and date. If something critical is missing we come back to you before we go anywhere else.
3. We build a preview. Part type, copper grade, envelope, quantity, tightest tolerance, finish, region and deadline. No name, no company, no contact details, no files.
4. The preview goes to shops that fit, up to 3. Fit means their machines, their part envelope and their copper experience match what the drawing needs.
5. A shop takes the lead. Only then does it receive your contact details and your files. If you asked for an NDA, nothing is released until the shop has signed it with you.
6. The shop quotes you directly. We are not in that conversation, we do not mark the price up and we do not see your order.

You hear from us within 24 business hours either way.

The checklist a shop has to pass

This is published so you can hold us to it, and so shops know what they are being judged on before they register.

• Copper is normal work. They run C101, C110 or a free-machining grade often enough to quote it without guessing. A shop that has cut copper twice does not qualify.
• They have an answer on burrs. They can describe how they deburr copper, what is done on the machine and what is hand work. This is the single most predictive question in the whole checklist.
• They are honest about plating. Almost every shop outsources it. We want to know who they use and who owns the result when the finish comes back wrong.
• They can hold soft material. Soft jaws, sleeves, vacuum, sacrificial stock. Something other than clamping copper like steel.
• They quote realistic tolerances on copper, not the numbers they hold in aluminum.
• They reply to buyers within 48 hours.
• They sign an NDA when asked.
• They decline work they cannot hold. A shop that says yes to everything is a shop that will learn on your part.

What disqualifies a shop

• Quoting a part the drawing shows they cannot make
• Going quiet on a buyer after taking the lead
• Refusing an NDA the buyer asked for
• Passing the work to a third shop without telling the buyer
• Re-quoting materially higher after the buyer has committed, without a reason that is in the drawing

We are a new service, so this list is written from what goes wrong in copper sourcing rather than from a history of incidents we have handled. It will get more specific as it gets used.

What happens when we cannot find a fit

We tell you, in plain words, within 24 business hours. We do not pad the list to look busy and we do not send your drawing to a shop that will learn on it.

If the part is a poor fit for machining altogether, for example a high volume fin pack that wants skiving, or a busbar that wants a fabricator rather than a machinist, we say that too. That answer is worth more to you than three quotes for the wrong process.

Your data, at each step

Full detail is in the privacy policy, including how long files are kept and how to have them deleted.

If you are a machine shop

You receive previews that match what you actually run, you see the lead price before you decide, and you pay only for the requests you take. There is no commission on the order and no exclusivity. The full picture is on the page for shops.