Hi Folks, I’m Trent Shumay, the ‘T’ in Big T’s Chop Shop.
Thanks for the Adventure!
I’m regrettably happy to post that I have now retired from active machining and production work at Big T’s Chop Shop and I’m in the process of moving on to different challenges. In the short run, I wanted to keep this page up for a bit to keep my robotic content and some of the posts online, but I’ll eventually be migrating this content over to a new place. I’d like to thank all of the customers for their support during the years I was active in the business.
I’m still very happy to talk about manufacturing and the things I learned in the process of trying to get a job shop off the ground, so please reach out if you have any questions, but I am no longer doing any active production work at the shop.
History of the Shop
The focus of the shop evolved over the years. Initially, I started this journey as a complement to efforts related to the Internet of Things work we did at IOT Design Shop. Electronics projects often required mechanical as well – enclosures, brackets, mounts, and other integrations.
Pandemic Times and On-Shore Manufacturing
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I found that the inbound requests for mechanical work vastly exceeded the amount of work for consulting services on the IOT side, and so I made a quick pivot to increase the CNC machining capacity of the shop, which is where the idea for Big T’s Chop Shop was born.
This period also introduced me to robotics and automation as it would have been very difficult to hire and onboard staff in that window, so I chose robotic co-workers to help me do my tasks. This was a difficult journey, but a lot was learned from the process. One goal of this site is to share thoughts on automation topics such as low cost CNC Machine Tending with Robots, which I have explored thoroughly.
Why I Decided to Exit the Machining Business
Going into 2024, it became pretty clear that we were returning to our old habits – most of the quotes I sent were challenged because there were offshore options that could make the products at a high level of quality, but at a price point that was literally competitive with raw material here in North America. This is a difficult challenge. While my services and willingness to accommodate customers of all skill levels were a feature, it wasn’t quite enough to bridge that gap.
Likewise, a number of good customers that were operating on venture capital and investment started to fall on tougher times in the post-zero-interest economy following the stimulus plans of the pandemic years and this was a pretty core audience for my work.
I’m not one to lament these things – I like to be heads up and always look forward, but it was clear that the effort and expense of maintaining the machinery in the shop was probably not going to net out that well, so I made the decision to move that gear out and to get on to other endeavours.
