Looking for a shop

[Melvang]

Alright guys.  Does anyone know of a shop that will accept a piece of metal to mill, waterjet, or laser for a decent price?  Though I would prefer mill or water jet as I don't want that much heat in the stainless.  I will pay for shipping both ways as well.  I want a design cut into a piece of 1/4" thick 304 stainless.  Basically 1/8" and 1/4" slots.  Not worried to much about tolerances.  Just has to look decent.  This does not need to be done to cherry switch hole specs.  Just want the work to look decent.

I have called and emailed about every shop within an hour drive time with either piss off responses or no response at all.

[exitfire401]

http://cuttingsolutionsinc.com/

This is where I just got my plate done. Prices are reasonable, and if you're dealing with Gary, he's very easy to talk to. Just put in a quote request, and they'll get back to you within 48 hours.

edit: also, they do not process credit cards, so you will have to either send a check or Money Order.

[Melvang]

http://cuttingsolutionsinc.com/

This is where I just got my plate done. Prices are reasonable, and if you're dealing with Gary, he's very easy to talk to. Just put in a quote request, and they'll get back to you within 48 hours.

edit: also, they do not process credit cards, so you will have to either send a check or Money Order.

Thanks for the link I will get in touch with them.

[exitfire401]

http://cuttingsolutionsinc.com/

This is where I just got my plate done. Prices are reasonable, and if you're dealing with Gary, he's very easy to talk to. Just put in a quote request, and they'll get back to you within 48 hours.

edit: also, they do not process credit cards, so you will have to either send a check or Money Order.

Thanks for the link I will get in touch with them.

Not a problem! After how seamless working with them was, I'll gladly give them credit. And it doesn't hurt to help out a fellow gher

[mkawa]

i have access to cheap stock via remnants, a good grinder, and 2-axis tapered and 5-axis WJ. the WJ guys eat 304 for breakfast. 304 plate droppings are generally 2$/lb. if your tolerances are loose enough the 2-axis can cut something like 5" thick 304 plate. the first time i was there they were cutting some machine parts out of 2.5" thick stainless, and the taper allows them to straighten out the usual concavity of WJ cuts.

[mkawa]

also, need heat treating? GOT DAT TOO

[Melvang]

i have access to cheap stock via remnants, a good grinder, and 2-axis tapered and 5-axis WJ. the WJ guys eat 304 for breakfast. 304 plate droppings are generally 2$/lb. if your tolerances are loose enough the 2-axis can cut something like 5" thick 304 plate. the first time i was there they were cutting some machine parts out of 2.5" thick stainless, and the taper allows them to straighten out the usual concavity of WJ cuts.

When I get my cad files finished up for the top cover would you be willing to get me a quote?  I am going to mill the case but I don't want to risk screwing up the part that will actually be the most visible with the equipment I have available to me (not CNC).  Plus the radius on the inside corners I want at .113" for the cutouts around the switches.  I have my own piece of stainless but depending on price to ship I wouldn't mind buying another as I am sure I will find a use for the piece I have.

For the record I have watched videos of waterjet cutting 18" thick stainless using abrasives and the water pressure was up around 80kpsi.

[mkawa]

yah. if you get me your drawings and desired stock i can get a quote. actually, if you give me the stock specs i can start looking for a piece next time i'm there (raiding the remaining 7075 stash). 304 plate remnants are so plentiful at IMS i see no reason to pay for shipping here, but we can see. it's easy to calc the appx weight of your stock from dimensions, and get a price from that.

the drawing will determine the cost of the cut, but you drop it a bit by going oversized with stock and not demanding super tight tolerances (i've been doing 5 mil cuts, but his guys are a lot more comfortable around 20-40 mils with stainless).

[nubbinator]

Don't forget the 20% off coupon at IMS mkawa.  I'll be heading up there this weekend to get some stuff to play with.

[Melvang]

yah. if you get me your drawings and desired stock i can get a quote. actually, if you give me the stock specs i can start looking for a piece next time i'm there (raiding the remaining 7075 stash). 304 plate remnants are so plentiful at IMS i see no reason to pay for shipping here, but we can see. it's easy to calc the appx weight of your stock from dimensions, and get a price from that.

the drawing will determine the cost of the cut, but you drop it a bit by going oversized with stock and not demanding super tight tolerances (i've been doing 5 mil cuts, but his guys are a lot more comfortable around 20-40 mils with stainless).

Current outside dimensions are 14.485" x 6.125".  I am still finishing up some details on the cad work for the extras.  I will be pming you on this. 

Next time you are out there can you ask about tolerances they can keep with water jet on 1/4" 304?

[mkawa]

the wj has a 60 mil width, so on 1/4" i'd just give it a full width and budget like 120-180 mils for the cut. a cool thing that they have with their 2-axis is that it has programmable taper up to about 3-4 degrees so that cuts are straighter than a typical WJ, but on the flip side, the jet theta is constantly moving to correct for concavity, and that kills a lot of absolute precision. looking for tolerances that are any smaller than you absolutely need is just going to cost you a bunch of money you don't need to spend.

for tolerances, my guy really needs to see the drawing. for example, jd and i gave him a drawing with a font that had curve interpolation already applied. had we printed this, it would have destroyed the tolerances we were looking for, because the feed rate of the jet is pretty slow and the thing has HUGE amounts of inertia. if you give it an interpolated curve (ie, a curve approximated as a finite number of linear segments), the jet head carriage will judder like crazy and destroy your stock.

i should be able to find a 20 x 10 plate easy. you may have to go thicker though. 0.3 seems to be a pretty common thickness for the droppings at IMS.

[Melvang]

the wj has a 60 mil width, so on 1/4" i'd just give it a full width and budget like 120-180 mils for the cut. a cool thing that they have with their 2-axis is that it has programmable taper up to about 3-4 degrees so that cuts are straighter than a typical WJ, but on the flip side, the jet theta is constantly moving to correct for concavity, and that kills a lot of absolute precision. looking for tolerances that are any smaller than you absolutely need is just going to cost you a bunch of money you don't need to spend.

for tolerances, my guy really needs to see the drawing. for example, jd and i gave him a drawing with a font that had curve interpolation already applied. had we printed this, it would have destroyed the tolerances we were looking for, because the feed rate of the jet is pretty slow and the thing has HUGE amounts of inertia. if you give it an interpolated curve (ie, a curve approximated as a finite number of linear segments), the jet head carriage will judder like crazy and destroy your stock.

i should be able to find a 20 x 10 plate easy. you may have to go thicker though. 0.3 seems to be a pretty common thickness for the droppings at IMS.

If he can keep pretty much the same tolerances on 3/8" plate that would be great.  It would save me a little bit of work and add a touch more weight.  If not I would like to stay with 1/4" plate 304 preferred as the rest of the case is going to be 304.

[mkawa]

iirc i've only seen 304 remnants. they also carry a fair amount of 316 and 316l stock, but the vast majority of stainless purchased is probably 304. toss me a drawing with ~200mil cut widths and i'll send it to him. i should be able to get to IMS this week to look for stock. if i can find 0.2 or 0.25 i'll try to keep it around there, because stainless gets heavy _fast_, and the droppings can be a lot larger in terms of surface area than you need.

[Melvang]

iirc i've only seen 304 remnants. they also carry a fair amount of 316 and 316l stock, but the vast majority of stainless purchased is probably 304. toss me a drawing with ~200mil cut widths and i'll send it to him. i should be able to get to IMS this week to look for stock. if i can find 0.2 or 0.25 i'll try to keep it around there, because stainless gets heavy _fast_, and the droppings can be a lot larger in terms of surface area than you need.

Hmm.  I am beginning to think this might not work.  The cuts I have in the top right of the keyboard are only .0625" wide.  Image can be found at the bottom of the op in my M-64 thread.  I just updated it.  Emailing you file.

[mkawa]

well, he can probably do a single cut to 65 mils width, but the tolerance involved in positioning that cut could be pretty problematic.

[Melvang]

well, he can probably do a single cut to 65 mils width, but the tolerance involved in positioning that cut could be pretty problematic.

Not to worried about the tolerance on that.  Just so long as the cuts are straight and even.