Need some suggestions on where to get stainless steel or aluminum laser cut

[techzen]

So far the places I've found on here have sort of fallen through for me.  emachineshop's 3d viewer gives me errors when I import my design.  Bigbluesaw seems to import the design fine, but they don't laser cut stainless steel apparently and the water cut seems not very precise from the pictures on their site.  I contacted the beast about getting it cut but after initial dealings I haven't heard anything back, which is fine, but I'd like a short turnaround on this.

So any ideas?  I've even contacted some places local to me but they haven't gotten back to me yet.  It's like my money is toxic lol.

This is the first and possibly only time I"ll ever need this service so I just don't know where to go.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/up4rfbj22xpvhq2/Final%20top%20plate.DWG

That's my big ass keypad I'm trying to make for gaming.

[Melvang]

These guys are about an hour south of me.  I don't have any experience with them aside from an initial quote yet.  Currently going through the logistics of verifying tolerances vs price.  But so far the quote for 5 pieces of 16 ga stainless and a piece of 1/4" stainless was very appealing. 

I would give beast a bit of time on the quote and whatnot.  He is probably still busy with school and work.  He has a good reputation on the forums for high quality work.  Just remember this. 

There are three main variables in any trade.  Cost, speed, and quality.  You can only pick two.  If you need it cheap and quick it won't be good.  If you need it good and cheap it won't be quick.  And if you need it good and quick it won't be cheap.

[bearcat]

I got my aluminium cut by ponoko.  It was a little pricey, but it came out well.

[techzen]

These guys are about an hour south of me.  I don't have any experience with them aside from an initial quote yet.  Currently going through the logistics of verifying tolerances vs price.  But so far the quote for 5 pieces of 16 ga stainless and a piece of 1/4" stainless was very appealing. 

I would give beast a bit of time on the quote and whatnot.  He is probably still busy with school and work.  He has a good reputation on the forums for high quality work.  Just remember this. 

There are three main variables in any trade.  Cost, speed, and quality.  You can only pick two.  If you need it cheap and quick it won't be good.  If you need it good and cheap it won't be quick.  And if you need it good and quick it won't be cheap.

Yeah I'll keep looking around but will definitely go with him for the cutting if he gets the time to respond back.  I completely understand his situation and don't think waiting a few days or weeks is unreasonable by any means, but just wanted to know if there was a company who can get it done right away. 

[techzen]

I got my aluminium cut by ponoko.  It was a little pricey, but it came out well.

Thanks I'll check ponoko out tomorrow. 

[Photekq]

techzen, where are you located?

[OverKill]

Just a heads up, your dwg file will not open in solidworks or edrawings. That is probably why it won't work on some sites. Try to save it as an older version of DWG or DXF instead of the newer one. And by older I mean the oldest one that it will allow you to save it as.

[techzen]

techzen, where are you located?

North Carolina, US.

Sorry for the delayed response, got engrossed in building an ahrs.

[techzen]

I got my aluminium cut by ponoko.  It was a little pricey, but it came out well.

Yeah at ponoko they want over 600 dollars to make my design. 

[Photekq]

Jesus. Just looked at the design. That is indeed a big ass gamepad. I'm in the UK so I don't know any places in the states that are good for laser cutting, sorry.

[Melvang]

With that price from ponoko I would guess that they are primarily a very large volume facility, with most of that cost being a setup fee.

[mkawa]

aluminum and stainless steel need to be cut with different lasers. stainless steel requires a very large laser, whereas aluminum just requires a large one. lasers that do both are very very expensive and if you have to ask how much time on them costs...

anyway, without looking at the DWG, i'd talk to acidfire about the aluminum, assuming it's thin. for the stainless stuff i'd honestly just respec the design for all aluminum. 6061 is really cheap and everyone is set up for it.

[bearcat]

$600!?  How big is that??? I'd double check your dimensions for your ponoko quote.

they cut me ~3 keyboards worth of plates for $100.  Not great but not terrible, and very convenient.