A custom project starts when a customer needs a part that does not exist in a catalogue - an exhaust section for a chassis nobody lists, an intake pipe for a swap, a silicone hose for a machine that was never meant to be modified.
Customers arrive with one of two things: a drawing, or a sample. Both work. They take different routes through the first stage of the project, and they carry different early costs, so it is worth understanding which one you are on before anything is quoted.
If the drawing carries the dimensions, the material and any special requirements, the project can go straight to mold making. That is the shortest path, because the information needed to cut the tool already exists in a usable form.
What makes a drawing usable is less about how professional it looks and more about whether it answers the questions the toolmaker will ask. Dimensions are the obvious part. Just as important are material specification, wall thickness, surface finish, and any requirement that is not visible from the geometry - a colour match, a logo, a specific bore through a weld, a mounting position that must be exact.
Customers who design in CAD can send a 3D file. That is the cleanest input of all, because the shape itself is unambiguous and there is no interpretation step between the file and the tool.
Many customers do not have a drawing, because the part they want to reproduce already exists as a physical object. That is not a problem; it just adds a step.
The sample is sent to our engineers, who gauge its dimensions and produce a drawing from it. That drawing then becomes the input to mold making, exactly as if the customer had supplied it. In effect we do the reverse-engineering step on the customer's behalf, and the customer approves the result.
The practical advice here is to send a sample that is genuinely representative. If the part being copied is worn, bent or has been repaired, the drawing will faithfully reproduce those defects. Send the best example available, and tell us about anything you know is out of shape.
Molds are the largest single cost in a custom project, and there is a decision here that catches people out: a sample mold and a production mold are not the same thing.
A sample mold is smaller and costs less. It exists to produce samples for evaluation. A production mold is built for the volumes the part will actually be made in. Sometimes a customer takes the sample mold route first and commissions the production mold afterwards, once the design is confirmed. Sometimes a customer goes straight to a production mold, which is used both to make the approval samples and to run the eventual production. Which is right depends on how confident you are in the design and how much volume is coming.
Where the decision lands is worth thinking about early, because it determines how much you spend before you have seen a physical part.
After the mold is made, it is tested. If the mold passes, samples are produced from it.
Those samples are then measured and checked by our engineers - dimensions against the drawing, and material properties including hardness - before anything is sent out. Only once the samples are verified internally do they go to the customer for testing.
This is the stage where the customer's own evaluation matters most, and it is where the schedule becomes a shared responsibility. The part has to reach you, and you have to fit it and decide. That step sits in the middle of the timeline and takes as long as shipping and your own engineering review take - which is the most common reason two projects with identical scope finish at different times.
For anything that bolts to a car, test the sample as you would test the finished part: fit it, check clearances through the full range of suspension travel or engine movement, and confirm it does what you needed before you approve production.
Once samples are confirmed, mass production begins. From that point the variables that set the delivery date are the quantity ordered and the number of molds the order justifies, because throughput is a function of how many tools are running.
One practical point: production after the order is normal for custom work. These are not parts pulled from a shelf, so the lead time is the manufacturing time, not a shipping time - and it is worth planning around that rather than expecting stock.
Shipping method follows order size. Smaller orders go by express - DHL or FedEx, door to door - which suits sample runs and single-digit quantities. Bulk orders go by ocean, which is slower and materially cheaper per unit once the volume justifies it.
If your timeline is tight, tell us at the quotation stage rather than after production. The choice between express and ocean is easy to make at the start and expensive to change at the end.
To get a useful quotation rather than a range, send:
You can see what we already produce on our Shop by vehicle and Shop by material pages, and browse work of this kind under titanium fabrication components, performance silicone for custom applications and titanium exhaust systems. The full custom service is described on our customization page.
