Has anybody had parts laser cut?
If so where and what sort of price and what do the suppliers need?.
I am thinking of building a Rorty IRS chassis and was thinking of getting the upright parts laser cut.

good suppliers will accept a .dxf file by email and quote on it and then do the cuts from it too.

Prices vary wildly but watch minimum orders, usually £40 or £50, either per drawing or per plate thickness.

I used to get parts laser cut for work. Most of the cost tends to be on the set up, so if you are getting 1 done the costs are higher than if you are getting 10 plus! Start a bulk buy!

Helps if you can provide them with AutoCAD drawings too!

Let me know if you need them converting to CAD.

Mike

Interesting. Do you happen to know what they base their charges on? per inch (mm)?

I've got a dxf of something large (aluminium seat) that I'd like lasered or water cut, but I wouldn't want to waste their time if it's going to be silly money.

Two seats and mounts fit on a 2.5 x 1.25 x 2mm sheet.

Could be worth contacting Jonathan Rarity. His business has a large CNC machine that is more than capable of cutting ally sheet. Amongst other stuff, I know he has done sump baffle plates and air filter backplates.
His email is
jonathan "at" rarity.freeserve.co.uk

depends on the place involved.

My local place (NSI in nuneaton, who are the biggest subcon laser cutters in the UK) would do that for you.

They work on a "is it worth the trouble" basis as far as I can see. If you need a whole sheet for the job then it probably is worth the trouble of putting it on.

If you wanted 1 small bracket from the corner then probably not.

strictly "by the mm" prob doesn't work cos you could request some laser cut mesh that would not be worth doing even though it was a lot of mm.

quote:

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Originally posted by Guinness
I used to get parts laser cut for work. Most of the cost tends to be on the set up, so if you are getting 1 done the costs are higher than if you are getting 10 plus! Start a bulk buy!

Helps if you can provide them with AutoCAD drawings too!

Let me know if you need them converting to CAD.

Mike

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I will look into getting a bulk buy going but first I have emailed Rorty to check that it's ok to use his drawings.

Is it parts like this you're after?

Is it something like this you're after?

I get them cut on a regular basis if you're interested.
Rescued attachment Picture 048.jpg

That looks like part of it but I was hoping to get all of the parts cut for the uprights as they should be made from 3mm steel IIRC and that is a barsteward to cut any amount of.

Do you have the dxf's?

No I don't all I have at the moment all I have is a PDF IIRC with the drawings in them.

quote:

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Originally posted by jroberts
Is it something like this you're after?

I get them cut on a regular basis if you're interested.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tangerine Scream
Could be worth contacting Jonathan Rarity. His business has a large CNC machine that is more than capable of cutting ally sheet. Amongst other stuff, I know he has done sump baffle plates and air filter backplates.
His email is
jonathan "at" rarity.freeserve.co.uk

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And se7ens list contributor - thats the one.

http://gtslocost.locostsites.co.uk/documents/pdf_files/RortyLocostIRSAssembly.pdf
the plans I have are from the above pages 23-1 to 23-11 if anybody could convert the pages into a CAD file I would be most greatful

Thanks to Mike (Guinness) for tipping me off to a local place he used to use (http://www.acornlaser.com/)

I requested an estimate based on the dxf at 1am, by 10am I'd got a quote. It's a lot less than I feared even for prototype quantities.

seat back, base and 2 sides cut from 1000x1250 is around £45+VAT+material if they source it, price reduces steeply with volume as expected.

Ian

Their rep has one of the most impressive business cards I have ever seen, it's normal credit card sized, stainless steel, about 1.2mm thick and all his details, logo, email, phone, fax, address etc are cut through instead of being printed on. Like a very cool mini stencil.

Mike

sounds very good!

By way of comparison, last job I had done was for some CD Deckstands, which were laser cut 380mm x 350mm rectangles, with 2 lugs press bent at 90 degrees, made from 4mm cold rolled mild steel plate, and the quote was £6.00 each incl material but excl VAT, based on 20 off (total bill was £120 + VAT)

I have emailed a local company who may offer this service and sent them some typical drawings for the IRS set up.

quote:

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Originally posted by Schrodinger
http://gtslocost.locostsites.co.uk/documents/pdf_files/RortyLocostIRSAssembly.pdf
the plans I have are from the above pages 23-1 to 23-11 if anybody could convert the pages into a CAD file I would be most greatful

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Thanks for the effort