Inlay Tools: What it Takes

The Latta Inlay Tools now entering production have been on the road to fruition for nearly a year and a half. We thought it would be insightful to list the various vendors used to be able to produce the complete set of tools, and to give a sense of what it takes.  At first glance, they seem like simple things to make, but the reality is more complicated.  Here is the list:

• Vendor 1.  Design work to create the engineered drawings and computer models needed by the various shops making the parts.  This was a long, drawn-out effort to be sure all information was on the prints and that all parts would fit together as expected.  Once we got to the prototype phase, many revisions were needed to reflect changes made or to correct discrepancies on the prints.
• Vendor 2.  Machine shop  to manufacture most of the metal components. This shop, in addition to sourcing materials, had to provide heat treating, anodizing, and water jet cutting. They made parts from aluminum, two types of brass, and two types of stainless steel.
• Vendor 3.  Machine shop to make another brass component.
• Vendor 4.  Machine shop to manufacture wooden parts.  This shop also installed the medallions with logo into the wood bodies, installed threaded inserts, and put a coat of finish on.  Sharpening of the water jet cutter blanks also done here.
• Vendor 5.  Shop to water jet cut the cutters. Water jet is a machine that uses a very high pressure jet of water, mixed with an abrasive, to cut out small parts form a sheet of metal.
• Vendor 6.  Laser engraving of logo onto all parts.
• Vendor 7. Commercial components such as screws and dowel pins.
• Vendor 8. Supplied brass thumb screws made here in the US.
• Vendor 9.  Custom boxes for tools with printed logo and descriptions.
• Vendor 10.  Laser cutter for cardboard insert for the radius cutter to help organize parts with tool.
• And lastly, our own shop for final assembly and boxing, plus the creation of user guides. 

Pulling everything together with all of these vendors is a big undertaking.  The photo above shows the radius cutter bodies and many of the brass parts already in-house from three on the vendors listed.  It represents a large investment of funds that cannot be realized until all components are completed and assembled.  This will explain why it takes time to satisfy initial market demand; there is not enough cash flow to make everything in large quantities.  We will be making the finished tools in batches of 50, and feel it is important to offer all four at once.  When we release the first batch, probably in late March or April 2025, they may well sell out quickly, but rest assured, there will be more coming as fast as we are able.