Expertise is beyond compare. Made the job look effortless. Personable. Not in a rush. Excellent work. And to top it all off, going to SMP means supporting local business. Many thanks, Kevin for getting us out of a bind! read more

I had a Zeiss operating microscope mounted on the ceiling that needed to be converted to a movable floor stand. Kevin did an outstanding job by fabricating an adapter to fit the microscope onto a pole, which he mounted onto a heavyweight umbrella stand on casters. Thanks to his craftsmanship, I've now got a usable operating microscope. Incidentally, Zeiss Inc. (which has a headquarters in Dublin, CA) refused to give me any help. Custom machinists like Kevin are hard to find, especially with his talent. read more

I contacted Kevin Binkert at Standard Metal Products to fabricate a relatively small aluminum part (4" x 9" x 5/8") that would be used in my stereo system to play vinyl records. He was able to create the exact piece I had in mind based just on my free-hand drawing. After several visits to get the precise dimensions correct, the project was completed. The final product is beautiful and works exactly as intended. Plus, it makes beautiful music! Kevin was a pleasure to deal with and put a lot of time into getting it just right. I would wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone who needs custom metal work. Thanks Kevin! read more

Standard Metal Products - tonearm mounted on custom arm board - Metal Fabricators Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Our company, "Ocean Power Technologies" (dba Marine Advanced Robotics), has had the pleasure of working with Standard Metal Products for a considerable period of time. We are pleased to report that the quality of the waterjet and machine parts that we have received from them is consistently excellent. Their lead time is perfectly suited to our needs, and we are particularly impressed with the high level of customer service that Kevin and Brent provide. It is a great honor for us to be able to work with such a professional and reliable partner. read more

I've been ordering parts and working with Kevin at SMP for over 15 years. My museum has utilized his shop for over 20 years. The knowledge and capabilities at SMP are increasingly rare in the City, and the shop itself is a testament to old school know how. Kevin and his staff have deep knowledge of fabrication processes, often working with me directly on the design if any questions arise. This place is such a gem, it's remarkable that it's still in the City. read more

SMP crafted candle holders as holiday gifts for my workplace. They not only designed them but also made adjustments upon my request. I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the work and appreciated the professional and prompt delivery. read more

As a startup we come to SMP often for all kinds of metal machining and waterjetting needs. SMP has lots of experience and delivers high quality, precision parts with short lead time. They are the perfect local machine shop for us! read more

I am an artist here in San Francisco and have used Shops in LA and back east to Laser cut and water jet cut Steel and Aluminum sculptures. It was a very lucky day that I was referred to Standard Metal Products. These guys are without question the best [and I do not exaggerate]. Quality of craftsmanship, cost, timeliness and service are wonderful. If you are looking for the best-stop here. We are fortunate to have such good and honest people here in our city. You will not be disappointed with SMP. read more

Took on my stupidly-small little bracket machining BS that no other shop I'd talked to could be bothered with. Really cool to see the SRL and land speed stuff. Neat people. read more

I had a small modification I wanted to make on one of the panels of a pc case that was made out of aluminum. I provided some sketches in Adobe Illustrator on the cut-outs I wanted to make. The shop was very busy during this time (right after Thanksgiving weekend), but they were still able to provide a quick turnaround (within a week). I really appreciated the fact that Standard Metal Products (SMP) was able to take on a project like this which was small yet required some relatively precise cuts through a small and, perhaps, awkward (i.e., the piece is not flat; it has a 90 degree bend on it) piece of metal as well as offer a reasonable price which fit my needs. It was not easy finding a shop in SF that would take this on. Here's the finished product: http://imgur.com/a/1cyL7. read more

Standard Metal Products - This is a cut-out made by SMP through a pc panel that I wanted to make. - Metal Fabricators Near Me - San Francisco, California

Need a part? Prototype and production components made by one of the coolest guys on the planet. Take a trip through the practical, the weird and the wonderful on your way to realizing custom metal parts. He does both CNC (Computer Numerical Control) and conventional machining. I watched Kevin Binkert build his machine shop over the last 12 years and I never cease to be awed and amazed by his ingenuity, hospitality and craftsmanship. I have learned so much about owning and organizing loads of tools, materials and artifacts . Ask him about the Flame Tornado, exhibited recently at the Venice Biennale! Ask him about the Oakland Tribune clock repair! Ask him about the Tower clock repair at Stanford! He's amazing! http://smpmachine.com/ read more

Standard Metal Products - Metal Fabricators Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I needed a steel torque arm for plate for a qs motor. SMP cut it same day! SMP products are amazing great quality quick process thank you again!!! read more

They were super professional and helpful with our last minute request. Everything was perfect and they did such a great job! Really appreciate that they were so patient with us and trying their best to help us with our request as well! read more

*Speedy* *Reliable* *Precise* Last week, I had to get 30 80/20 metal stringers cut and milled on the fly. Kevin gave us a super speedy turn around on a 5 hour job (2 days!). The price was right and the location was great (SOMA). It's good to know that when I need something done with my 80/20 parts that I can go to him in a jiff. Thanks, Kevin & co.! read more

Inventing something? Looking for a reliable source to prototype or machine your ideas into reality. Maybe you are doing it on a tight time line? Well we had two weeks to design, engineer, cut out, assemble, edit, assemble, and showcase our folding cargo scooter. Kevin the man behind SMP was there the entire time with incredibly insightful, and very reasonably priced machining. We couldn't have done it without him. He is amazing. If you want to make prototyping magic happen, this is it! Thanks Kevin! You are awesome! read more

My company makes specialty medical imaging products, primarily for R&D use. We moved to San Francisco a couple of years ago. Our machining needs encompass high precision fixturing, optical mounts, and even some light production, as well as some more fun office improvement type stuff. Our projects tend to be weird - always involving a specialty something, such as oddball tap sizes or really small holes and taps, or pushing the thinness of a part to the limit. That's why we're so lucky that SMP and its owner Kevin Binkert are located here. There's the obvious benefit of having a machine shop that's accessible by bike, as they say, location is key. But the rates are reasonable for a bay area machine shop and we've never found that SMP pads their hours or any of those other things we typically watch machine shops for. Kevin has always been willing to give our weirder projects a shot. And even though we usually send him real engineering drawings, he's worked off of a sketch when we were in a complete crunch. He does tend to be faster than the average machine shop, but he does have crunch times occasionally, so schedule accordingly. Currently we're running some very early stage designs by him, so he can give us some machinist insight before we design something that can't be built. He's kinda helpful that way. Having SMP nearby is a major asset to our company and I strongly encourage anyone in the city to check them out before expanding their search to places that require a drive. (One additional note, I'm more a traditional engineer than a "maker" but I do lurk on a couple of the local maker forums and every time someone is looking for machine work, SMP comes up as one of the best local places to have machining done, even for artists and hobbyists.) read more

I transplated an '07 GSXR 600 front end onto my '06 SV650S and needed the steering stem aperture of the top triple clamp bored out from 25mm to 28mm (from an '05 GSXR 1000, which has the ignition on the right side, same as SVs). $85 bucks, picked it up a couple of days later. I figured I was going to have to do some 'coaxing' with a rubber mallet to get it onto the forks - it literally slipped on like an old glove. Awesome experience with Kevin and SMP, thanks again! read more

These guys are great. I emailed a drawing without all the specs I should have included. They not only completed it PERFECTLY but also finished the following day. Less that 24 hours for 4 custom velocity stack bases. The used the Water Jet so there are no rough edges, cut marks etc... Just a perfect part. Couldn't be happier. Have used them in the past & will continue to send all of my custom needs there. Great job, keep up the good work ! read more

Subject: SMP Metal San Francisco April 2016 I brought a broken aircraft (stainless steel 18"long, 3/4" wide actuator rod) part to be copied by SMP. Old rod had snapped in half. (New rod had to be cut down to length of old rod, two sets of screw holes tapped in, another 1/2" hole drilled in, and a small metal piece to be welded on to one end). Not a big job. Two hours at the most with the proper equipment. I left the old parts and the new part to be worked on at the shop in the 3rd week of Oct 2015. I did not hear from SMP for some six weeks. After six weeks I went to the shop and they told me they were very "busy" and would get back to me. In Jan 2016 I went back to the shop to find out the progress. None. In Feb I went back again and they told me they had lost 1/2 of the original part to be copied. So I had to take the old broken rod back to remeasure (not an easy job, as part of the aircraft had to be dissembled to insert part to see if it would fit and then reassemble) This had to be done three times as aircraft had to be put back in service while waiting for the repair. Finally in April 2016 part was copied and welded. I was not sure if new part would fit. But SMP insisted that I pay in full before leaving the shop.Owner of SMP made no financial concession that he lost my part nor took six months to do the job. When I brought part to aircraft, it did not fit as was improperly welded; in short was useless. SMP did not follow my instructions on where to weld the part. Knowing the history I did not want to go through the aggravation and time wasted of taking the part back to SMP to be redone, so I went to another shop to grind out the weld and re weld. Next shop did the job while I waited. SMP facility is extremely messy and disorganized. Just walk in the front door and take a look.. It does not surprise me they they lost my part nor follow instructions. read more

SMP's location in SOMA is what sold us, the work they completed is what will make us go back for all of our future needs. We found SMP when searching for a place to help complete the physical build of our patented air sampling device. We specifically needed someone who was an expert with a CNC lathe to make the final part. Wow! We couldn't have been luckier to have found Kevin. Our part is composed of 316 stainless steel and SMP proved they are capable of working with any material! Not only that, but they can work with any type of file: From a pencil drawing to a CAD file. read more

I had to get an old victorian door knob that had lost its thread on the male part fixed. Kevin was great, cut down the part for me free. But the best part was on a friday afternoon when anybody else would want to be getting off work rather than taking on a new project, he took the time to talk to me about different ways of going about fixing it. This is far below his technical expertise, but he helped me out, and ended up saving me a lot of money and time if I had to replace the whole lock. Thanks Kevin. read more

SMP delivered exactly what we asked for and on an ambitious timeline. Needed a 10 ' by 2' sign machined from aluminum and letters/logo waterjet w/ holes countersunk plus mounting brackets. Will definitely talk to SMP again for future projects. read more

I've had a couple of minor jobs, and Standard Metal Products has been quick and easy to work with. I think how a company handles a smaller request can reveal a lot about how they approach their work. Good, straightforward people. Thank you, SMP. read more