Any updates on this possible buy? I'm dying to tear up this board lol
No updates yet. Still working on final tweaks on the plate. I'm aiming for this weekend though.
Speaking of the plate, I'm still eager to learn if you've found a vendor that will do multiple layout options, and if so what our layout options will be.
Multiple layouts can happen with some places. Right now, there are two options. A local place can do laser cut plates at a good price, and BigBlueSaw can do water cut plates at a less good price. I'm leaning toward the local one, since it would be cheaper to start with, and there would be no cost to ship the plates to me either. The cost difference of my rough quotes was about $15. Both of these places will do the combined order for multiple layouts. I have made plate designs for the AEKII, AT101, AT101W, and AT102W layouts. JDCarpe has kindly agreed to check my work and give me advice on stabilizers.
Why am I even waffling on this if the cost is so much different? Waterjet looks prettier. Laser cutting causes/suffers from something known as the heat affected zone. This zone can deform and melt during the cutting process. Waterjet does not have this issue since it is an abrasive cutting process. Waterjet cut steel edge will look like a smooth dull face, with some burrs on one side. A laser cut steel edge can start to develop moderate burrs on both sides of the cut edge based on the speed and cooling method of the laser. See
here for some comparison shots of the speed effect on the edge. A comparison of waterjet vs laser edge can be seen on
this site. If we want to go with a really nice edge from the water cut, we can add an additional $5 per unit for a basic finish.
If the big difference is edge effects, what do we want? I'm not sure of the edge quality of the laser cutter I got the quote from. I have sent them an email tonight asking for some info on this, and how much finishing work they do, but I don't expect a response until tomorrow.
What's more: does it even matter? As thin of steel as we are going to be using, the HAZ area may contribute so little to the burrs that it isn't an issue.
This is an IC, so input is welcome on this area. However, if the laser cut guy can show me a sexy edge from things they have done in the past, I won't be above making an executive decision.
Then there is the powder coat finish. Nubbs suggested it originally, and other members of the IC have expressed interest in it. BigBlueSaw does not offer it. My local place doesn't offer it, but they can send it to the shop down the street that does it. I'm still waiting for a quote on that.
edit: fixed link