Rapid-Prototype Precision Sheet Metal Fabrication in Ithaca, NY

Speed is the whole idea here. The Ithaca team turns small, complex sheet metal parts around in 5 to 7 business days instead of the 6 to 8 weeks many shops quote, and sends quotes back in about 4 hours.

Because the facility is vertically integrated, prototyping, production, and post-processing all happen under one roof in Ithaca. That gives customers a single point of accountability across the life of a project rather than a chain of vendors to manage.

The team pairs that speed with a value-engineering, can-do approach. It starts with design input and manufacturability analysis up front, then carries through to helping customers finalize part designs and get to market faster. Urgency is part of how the shop runs, not an exception it makes.

The facility produces small, complex sheet-metal parts for demanding applications, including:

Precision sheet metal fabrication starts with the cut, and the Ithaca facility runs several cutting methods so each part gets the right one. Laser cutting delivers accurate, high-quality cuts with minimal heat-affected zones, ideal for fast prototypes and low-volume production.

Water jet cutting uses a high-pressure stream to cut heavy-gauge and tough metals up to 6 inches thick with clean edges and minimal burrs. The MicroCut water jet uses an even finer stream to hold tolerances that rival wire EDM.

For flat parts with complex geometries like encoders, screens, and filters, photochemical machining (performed by Newcut by Fathom) removes material chemically for fine, precise features, and wire EDM handles intricate cuts that other methods cannot.

On site, the cutting capacity includes two fiber and solid-state lasers, one waterjet, two micro waterjet machines, and two wire EDM machines.

This is where Ithaca goes beyond the prototype. The same team that turns parts fast can carry a design into volume production using progressive dies, a capability few small-part shops can match.

Cost-effective semi-automated tooling runs at 15 to 30% of the cost of fully automated production tooling, and put-and-take tooling forms complex features or multiple bends in a single step. Die blanking, four-slide and multi-slide stamping, and modular tooling produce small, intricate parts at volume, quickly and repeatably.

Specialty stamping rounds it out. The toolmakers here design creative tooling for the most challenging stamped parts, and many operators have engineering skills, so they solve problems on the floor to keep work moving. On site, production capacity includes five multi-slide stamping machines and four mid-volume forming and stamping machines.

Machining and tooling support the sheet metal work and keep the turnaround fast. CNC machining centers post-mill features directly into sheet metal parts to meet exact requirements without slowing the schedule, backed by drilling and tapping on site with three drill tap centers and three drill and tap 3-axis machines.

In-house custom tooling is a real strength. The team of engineers and master toolmakers develops creative tooling solutions for special forming requirements, which is what makes the complex bending and precision forming possible.

Quality is verified on site with one CMM and one laser inspection system, along with two manual surface grinders and one heat treat oven for finishing and secondary operations.

The Ithaca operation is led by Odin Wojcik, who works at the intersection of precision and scale, with deep expertise in progressive die manufacturing and the high-volume, tight-tolerance production it enables.

He has built a reputation for turning challenging designs into stable, scalable production programs and for bridging prototype to full-scale production without losing precision or time. Customers come to him when tooling complexity, lead times, and consistency become the bottleneck. Check out Odin Wojcik’s LinkedIn profile to see his full career background.