Has anyone out there had any parts laser cut, and if so, was it particularly expensive? I'm thinking of getting some parts cut for rear uprights to get them spot on.

Merlin 'the laserman' does that sort of thing, though I haven't seen him post in ages..

Ned.

I have a laser at work. I'll will cut out all sheetmetal parts.

Cost are normally quit high, but I only pay for the materials, so that almost for free.

cool u get paid to play with lasers u got a great job

Doesn't Joelp have a plasma cutter? or am i imagining things again.

-note to self :pull a sicky when hungover-

I know some colleges that have cutters of several varieties ranging from new to old. They often look for work on the side to help colege budgets. They also know their equipment as well as a compnay!

I was told that the biggest cost was producing the set of instructions for cutting - the cost of producing 100 items was little more than the cost of the first item, little more than the cost of the metal itself.

(if that makes sense... )

David

Yeah, Merlin's said similar.

The cost of firing up the laser (for anything) is (IIRC) about 30 quid. After that he was chucking in whatever he wanted!

James

Don't forget HP water cutting too!
Flamecutting (cnc) is now very accurate/clean. I've canvased a few companies for some example prices. I'll keep you posted when I get responses -

1st one ..................................


Dear Sir,

Yes we can accommodate most trial / small batch qty enquiries / orders and supply numerous automotive / custombuild car parts already.
In order to provide price we would require some representation of drawings / sizes / qtys etc..

current capacity covers mildsteel upto 20 thk - stainless upto 15 thk - brass upto 6 thk and aluminium upto 10 thk

Best regards


Andrew
Andrew.Hanks@esplaser.com
http://www.esplaser.com/contact.html
Rescued attachment a_cover.jpg

No one fancy getting a quote for some wire cutting?

Anyone else seen it being done? It's way cool and you can do really 'deep' cuts with it. Cost a blinkin fortune though!

James

Girlfriends dad is a toll maker and they have wire cutting facilities, i have seen it cut through 4 inch tool steel in one pass and leave a square hole on the top side and turn it over and it has a circular one on the bottom! Awesome technology.

off topic,

What is a toll maker??

Think it was a typo, meant to say tool, at a guess

Never mind we all do it

Cheers

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Originally posted by colmaccoll
Doesn't Joelp have a plasma cutter? or am i imagining things again.

-note to self :pull a sicky when hungover-

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We used to jigsaw templates out of shuttering ply, good for low quantity production runs

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Originally posted by James
No one fancy getting a quote for some wire cutting?

Anyone else seen it being done? It's way cool and you can do really 'deep' cuts with it. Cost a blinkin fortune though!

James

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That looks very interesting.. I wonder what specifics you need to get it working, the principle looks simple enough.

I want a homebrew EDM machine to go with my homebrew TIG..

Here's a good explanation:

http://www.xactedm.com/pages/edmtech.html

I've now ordered my parts from ESP laser cutting http://www.esplaser.com/ Individual parts are reasonably priced (others I tried were just stupid money!) the face of my uprights (custom design) which is an irregular shape about 6" x 3" - 3/16" thick with four mounting holes and one large central hole is about £7 inc vat, metal and delivery. Smaller bits like mountings that go on the top are about 50p each. So not bad prices really if you're looking for really acurate work.

Well done Matt, they were very responsive - wanting some drawings to quote on. You've gone a step further and given them a job.
I must admit, bracket making is the most tedious job in some cases - 1/4 inch plate - ouch! - made a diff brace by hand once - never again.

Right - must get in garage and sort what I need!

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Originally posted by Alan B
and I'm not aware of any car part applications...it is really a VERY high end toolroom process accurate to tenths of thousandths of an inch (micron territory

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Originally posted by James

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Originally posted by Alan B
and I'm not aware of any car part applications...it is really a VERY high end toolroom process accurate to tenths of thousandths of an inch (micron territory

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Formula 1 gears IIRC!

Maybe you meant production cars though?

James

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Originally posted by Alan B
....not disputing your comment about F1 gears, because it would obviously work very well.....I can't imagine it is a regular thing....but hey I've been wrong before..

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What sort of requitements did they have on the designs? drawings, templates?

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Originally posted by James

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Originally posted by Alan B
....not disputing your comment about F1 gears, because it would obviously work very well.....I can't imagine it is a regular thing....but hey I've been wrong before..

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Go on, please dispute it- and then put money on it!

Go on, dare you to bet me $100 they don't!

James

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I sent them a drawing in .dxf format from Autocad. They produced the parts straight from that. But when I asked they said they would have been happy with faxed through drawings.

If you are after hub flanges from which to make rear uprights, then i can sell the flanges we use on our irs uprights and de dion kit. Pic attached. Email off list darren@gtstuning.co.uk
Rescued attachment DSCF0186.JPG

A little bit off topic but, i'll be after one of your axles soon. how easy is the kit form to weld up.

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Originally posted by Alan B

Aha...you see I didn't say they didn't (because I don't know)....just that I thought that wire cut gears would be in the minority..IMO...if more than 50% of F1 gears are wire cut then I'll hold up my hand....

<begin excuses> As I say though we all learn all the time and if I'm wrong (entirely possible) then I will have learned my new thing for the day...and after all it is 10 years since I designed my last gear.....<end excuses>

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OK then - another car application (F1 again):

Benneton apperently used wire cut titanium hubs/carriers/uprights or something - I didn't know this but read it off a web site (can't remember which one).

Phil

Pretty much every F1 car had wire cut titanium uprights. Now more and more are using investment cast tianium instead.

Kind regards,

Darren

It's good to hear about these applications for wire EDM.....when I was involved maybe15 years ago production jobs were very rare....some wear pieces cut from solid carbide blanks for an aircraft part is an example that springs to mind.....

To me learning how stuff is made or can be made is quite fascinating....I'm amazed most days when I learn of new ways stuff can be done.....

And I guess seeing which of these ideas/methods can be adapted for home use is part of the whole locosting concept...

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Originally posted by Alan B
And I guess seeing which of these ideas/methods can be adapted for home use is part of the whole locosting concept...

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Originally posted by timf

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Originally posted by Alan B
And I guess seeing which of these ideas/methods can be adapted for home use is part of the whole locosting concept...

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spark erosion lends itself to this very well.

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Originally posted by Syd Bridge
I don't know if I'm getting confused, but are 'wire cutting' and 'spark erosion' different things? I say this, because I know that some of the F1 teams had their uprights made by spark erosion. Very expensive, gotta make the sparker first. Investment casting makes a lot more sense.

Just remember to use the right colour wax ! I caused a few laughs recently when I turned up with 'pretty pink' wax patterns. Dental wax was sent to me instead of industrial green.

They certainly remembered when I turned up to collect the castings!

Cheers,
Syd.

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Originally posted by Alan B

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Originally posted by timf

quote:

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Originally posted by Alan B
And I guess seeing which of these ideas/methods can be adapted for home use is part of the whole locosting concept...

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spark erosion lends itself to this very well.

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Yeah yeah...maybe not the best example....but you get the point...

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IIRC Model Engineers Workshop magazine carried a series of articles on building a home build EDM machine (Also a home build cnc lathe-miller) also think there was some talk of a homebuild wire edm machine but not to sure but i am sure there was an article on producing gears for a traction engine with wire edm all intresting stuff tbh .

btw i,m pretty sure the EDM machine was mains powered and used a stepper motor and home produced circuit boards , dont know if it would be up to making locost parts though

[Edited on 20/2/04 by Screwy]

Its horses for courses, you can get wiring done for £14 per hour if you run it over night etc.. Depending on the part and the number of parts you want etc it could be cost effective. At the end of the day its a lot more expensive than laser cutting, more accurate though.

Kind regards,

Darren