One of my students turned me on to SendCutSend, a few years ago. I have used it
several times. It works great.
I use SendCutSend for Custom Low Cost Aluminum and Steel parts, up to a 1/2" thick. I send
them a 2D drawing and they send me back 3D parts in roughly a week. The third dimension is the
thickness of the metal part manufactured by SendCutSend.
SendCutSend is FAST and relatively CHEAP. No order is to small. i.e. no minimum order size.
What is "SendCutSend"?
AI Generated Overview SendCutSend is an online rapid manufacturing company that provides fast, customized sheet metal, plastic, and composite parts through laser cutting, waterjet cutting, CNC routing, and fabrication services, allowing users to upload CAD files and receive finished parts delivered to their door quickly, offering services like bending, powder coating, and hardware insertion.
What they do:
- Custom Cutting: Offers precise laser, waterjet, and CNC routing for various materials like steel, aluminum, titanium, acrylic, and wood. Up to a 1/2" thick in steel and aluminum.
- Fabrication: Adds features like tapping, countersinking, dimple forming, and hardware insertion (nuts, studs) to parts.
- Bending & Forming: Uses CNC bending for accurate, tight-tolerance bends.
- Finishing: Provides anodizing, powder coating, plating (zinc, nickel), and tumbling for aesthetics and durability.
- Materials: Works with over 170 materials, including metals, plastics, composites, and wood.
How it works:
- Upload: Users upload their custom CAD files.
- Quote: They receive an instant quote.
- Manufacture: Parts are made in their US facilities.
- Ship: Finished parts are shipped directly to the customer, often within days.
Who uses it:
- Hobbyists, makers, engineers, and businesses needing quick, custom-fabricated parts without large minimum orders.
Key benefits:
- Speed: Fast production and delivery (often 2-4 days standard).
- Convenience: Entirely online process.
- Customization: Tailored to specific designs and materials.
- Location: Proudly Made in USA. Reno, NV | Paris, KY | Arlington, TX
I would add the following points to the above:
- When SendCutSend says "Sheet Metal". Think any metal part up to 1/2" thick. Not just, thin stuff.
- SendCutSend is a lot CHEAPER than similar companies on the web. Especially when ordering small numbers of parts. SendCutSend has NO minimum order size!
- I don't like PLASTIC parts. I like metal parts. SendCutSend is like a 3D printer that prints Steel and Aluminum parts.
SendCutSend Shop Tour
I highly recommend viewing the SendCutSend Shop Tour video. It is a great 3 minute video for people who love
technical things.
Or, read about SendCutSend here sendcutsend.com/about-us/.
Go here www.instagram.com/sendcutsend/ to check out SendCutSend on Instagram. You can
see other peoples projects and great little videos by SendCutSend.
There is a great little SendCurtSend video on Instagram here www.instagram.com/reel/DTlliTvkj95/.
Shipping Takes More Like a Week to My House
I agree with everything SendCutSend says in their advertising. Other than "All delivered to
your door in a matter of days."
They deliver quickly. But, it usually takes roughly a week for me to get parts from them in
Poughkeepsie NY. This is probably because I ask for deburring and power coat painting.
On the other hand. They tell me, when I send in the order it is going to take a little
longer. And then they deliver with in their estimated time.
I really like the way they pack and ship things. See above photos of parts they sent to me.
Examples of My Projects
Here are some examples of things I have sent to SendCutSend.
Stabilizer Holes & Planter Brackets
I made a new Top Bar for my Bosch Stabilizer with More Holes and Brackets to up the Planter Boxes on my Deck.
2D Vector Drawing for SendCutSend
You need to send SendCutSend a 2 dimensional (2D) file of what you want. When they cut it out
of a sheet of aluminum, etc. The thickness of the aluminum will be the third dimension (3D).
SendCutSend ONLY accepts Vector files. They accept .dxf files from CAD programs, .ai files
from Adobe Illustrator, or .eps files from CorelDraw or Inkscape. The scale should be 1:1 with only
one part per file.
The files MUST be vector files. Not rasterized files like image or photo files. Not .jpg,
.tiff, etc. files.
Lines in vector files are defined by two x/y points. Click here for a good
Vector vs Raster files explanation by SendCutSend. It also contains a good explanation of how you
may be able to convert a raster file (picture) to a vector file.
CAD Programs
"FreeCAD" is a FREE, relatively simple CAD program that I have used to create .dxf files for
SendCutSend. You can download it from www.freecad.org/
Tinkercad is another
free CAD program poplar with the 3D Printing people.
SendCutSend will teach you how to use a CAD program. Click here to get started. I think
they teach "Fusion 360" CAD from Autodesk. Fusion 360 may be great, but it is not cheap.
You can ask SendCutSend to create a .dxf file from your drawing, or what ever. But, it is not
cheap. I did this once. Then decided it was to expensive to ask them to make changes, etc.
Carl Uses OpenOffice Draw
I decided, I did not want to spend a lot of time learning how to use a CAD program. I already
known how to use the "OpenOffice Draw" program to make 2D drawings. It is definitely, not the best.
But, I have already wasted way to much time, learning to use Draw and live with it limitations.
OpenOffice Draw will NOT output a .dxf file. But you can output a VECTOR .svg file. Then use
"FreeCAD" to convert the .svg file to a .dxf file for SendCutSend. See my OpenOffice
Draw to DXF File for SendCutSend blog entry for the WACKY process I use.
Note to SendCutSend People. It would be really nice if you just accepted SVG files. This
would make my life a lot easier. They can easily be created in FREE OpenOffice Draw program, and
other poplar graphics programs. With no, or little learning curve.
Anticipate Improvements
You should anticipate improvements when you order parts from SendCutSend. Don't order to many
of something that may quickly become obsolete after you try the part out and come up with an
improvement.
My friends, say, "Carl, has never seen a tool, he can't improve!". There may be some truth to
this.
The above photo shows the progression of my Tenon Size Jig for Record Power SC2 Chuck.
I started with the one on the left. Decided, I did not like, text cut into the part. To hard
to read. Decided to make my own labels.
See the middle one in above photo.
Then I decided, to make the jig double ended. Eliminated the big hole for safety reasons.
Added shallow round cutouts to each side. To make the jig easier to hold. See the one on the right
in above photo. I think, I am done now.
SendCutSend Deburring
The Laser Cutting Process used by SendCutSend to cut out aluminum and steel parts leaves a
burr on the parts. See magenta arrow in above photo.
I find the burr is is highly undesirable and needs to be removed! Sanding or grinding this
burr off is a real pain in the back side. The green arrow in above photo points to a steel part
that I MANUALLY deburred with a belt sander. It was NOT FUN! It gets real old real fast!
You can ask SendCutSend to remove the burr from aluminum parts. It adds cost and processing
time to each part. Free deburring is included if you ask for "Powered Coating" or " "Anodizing" of
steel or aluminum parts.
HOWEVER, SendCutSend will not just deburr steel parts! Err… You have to ask for
"Powder Coating" to get steel parts deburred.
HOWEVER, You can not "Anodize" or "Powder Coat" a steel part if you want to weld something
onto the steel part!. I almost always want to weld the steel part. Thus, No deburring ONLY
of steel parts by SendCutSend, really irks me!
I sent email to
SendCutSend. They replied with some crap about the steel parts will "rust" if they just deburr
them. I don't give a damn! I don't want to deburr lots of parts on my own. When SendCutSend
has a really nice fancy machine that deburrs things. You can see it on their shop tour video.
They must air dry parts before powder coating them. Why can't they just send me the air dried
part? Or coat it in oil like the Chinese and Taiwanese do when they ship steel things to USA.
Click here to read more about Deburring on SendCutSend web site.
SendCutSend Powder Coating and Anodizing
SendCutSend Powder Coating
SendCutSend will Powder Coat paint your aluminum or steel parts. It adds cost and processing
time to each part.
Powder coating is like spay painting your parts and then baking on the paint to make it
really tough. They actually spray on a plastic powder that is electrostaticlly attracted to metal
parts. After the powered is baked it forms a tough thin plastic layer. I really like it!
SendCutSend does Powered Coating in Black, Gray, White, Blue, Green, Red and Yellow colors.
If you Powder Coat a part you get free deburring of aluminum and steel parts.
Click here to read more about Power Coating on SendCutSend web site.
SendCutSend Anodizing
SendCutSend will Anodize your aluminum parts. It adds cost and processing time to each part.
You can NOT Anodize steel parts.
SendCutSend does sulfuric anodizing on aluminum parts. Anodizing is like wood dye. It adds a
thin coat of color.
Most COLORED aluminum parts that you see in the world are anodized.
SendCutSend does Anodizing in Blue, Red, Black, Gold and Clear.
If you Anodize a part you get free deburring of aluminum parts.
Click here to read more about Anodizing on SendCutSend web site.
Laser Cut Holes (Not Drilled)
Holes in your Laser Cut parts are Laser Cut. They are not drilled. The laser leaves a little
burr INSIDE the hole where it starts or stops. Sorry, I can't get a good photo of a hole with a
burr. It is just to hard to see. But, it is definitely there.
If you try to install a 1/2" bolt in a 1/2" (12.7 mm) hole in your part it may not fit. The
burr INSIDE the hole gets in the way.
You need to drill out the holes or ream them out. Reaming is the way to go if you want to
create very accurately sized holes! You can purchase cheap reamers on Amazon. Reamers need to be
mounted in a drill press. You can NOT handhold a reamer! See photo on right.
Holes get a little smaller if you parts are Powder Coated. You should add 0.1 mm to your hole
size to allow for Powder Coat.
1/2″ Hole Reamer
You can purchase a 1/2" hole reamer from Amazon. $10 on 2/2026.
Google Amazon Uxcell Chucking Reamer 1/2" 6 Straight Flutes.
Almost Free Rounded Corners & Cut Out
When I made some changes. I noticed that the SendCutSend price for making the above Tool Rest
parts in 1/2" steel is almost the same.
SendCutSend does not reveal it's pricing algorithm. However, it appears to be based more on
the cost of the steel rather than the complexity of the laser cutting path. Your mileage may vary!
I use to grind all the
corners on my parts to round them over. Ordering them with rounded corners, saves me time and
trouble.
Adding the cut out for my tool post. Makes welding the tool post to the top that I ordered
from SendCutSend a lot easier. The cutout lines things up nice and square. See photo on right.
2D Drawings in Metric, Rather than Inches
I recommend drawing things in millimeters (mm) rather than inches for SendCutSend. See Use Millimeters, Rather Than Inches in my Drawing Complex Shapes for SendCutSend blog entry.
More SendCutSend related Blog Entries
Click here to check out all of my SendCutSend related blog entries.