Guys with cnc plasma tables....

MarsFab

MarsFab

Will work for money
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Location
Harrisburg, NC
I'm working on a prototype for a big furniture company and I need some help from one of you guys with cnc cutters.

I'm looking for somebody that can create me a digital image of these that I cut already...
m_004.jpg



I'll need it to be pretty much exactly the same profile. It's roughly 30" x 24" and 2" wide, I'll need 4 cut from 3/16 steel and 4 from 5/16 aluminum with 4 3/4" holes in each.

If anybody is interested in cutting these PM me a price to draw it up, and cut the pieces out. I'll come to you with a template and we'll sit down and draw it out. Someone relatively local to central NC would be best, I need these before next Friday if possible.

If no one is willing to cut them a guy with solidworks that can draw it and convert it to a dxf. would be great. LMK Thanks Chris.
 
Ill supply the material if need be. The hardest part is gonna be drawing the part up. None of the curves are the same radius and one of them actually changes halfway through the cut but its gotta be that way. Unfortunately I realize it'll be a pain. May need to scan an image and trace it. That what I need you CAD guys for.
 
call MUD at MUDPRO he does not get on this board much. He most likely want see your post personally. mudprometalworks.com has his number on it. I can tell you from personal experience the plasma in aluminum of any thickness cnc or not is probably not the cut quality your looking for. If you have trouble getting 5/16 give me a hollar I can maybe help you out. Anchor Richey EVS doesn't stock it but they most likely can get it. Ryersons or Metals USA is who they mostly deal with right now. Hope that helps you out.
 
mud has drawn stuff off of scanned construction paper for me.
 
with the right software and time you can actually take a digital photo now, and scale the drawing off of a few reference points, and have an exact duplicate.
 
we keep 1/4 aluminum in like a 48 X 120 most of the time
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
call MUD at MUDPRO he does not get on this board much. He most likely want see your post personally. mudprometalworks.com has his number on it. I can tell you from personal experience the plasma in aluminum of any thickness cnc or not is probably not the cut quality your looking for. If you have trouble getting 5/16 give me a hollar I can maybe help you out. Anchor Richey EVS doesn't stock it but they most likely can get it. Ryersons or Metals USA is who they mostly deal with right now. Hope that helps you out.
Click to expand...

I'll likely do that. I try to use Scott any chance I get and honestly he has probably the best finished product from his plasma table I've seen. I'm really hoping to find someone a little closer to me if possible. I have a buddy with a water jet right down the street but his machine is very expensive to run and in the early design stages I can't invest that into it.

Ron said:
with the right software and time you can actually take a digital photo now, and scale the drawing off of a few reference points, and have an exact duplicate.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm really hoping to find someone to do. It's a very odd shape and it needs to be that way in order to sit comfortably. I'm also hoping doing it this way will keep down on design time and save me some loot

I know aluminum won't cut near as clean as the steel in this process but these models will strictly be used for setup of all the other materials that attach to the chair frame. So I don't mind a little time with a flap wheel to clean them up.

This project could potentially supply me with the machinery I need to reproduce them in the future but I gotta get these made to get to that point.

The next step is finding someone with a cnc tubing bender to bend this exact profile in 3/4 .065 tube and 3/4 .125 alum. I think it'll have to be done with and extrusion machine but I've had no luck finding a shop that can do it yet. I built the prototype at my shop but it was a pita gettin it right simply because of all the radi. it could all be done with a roll bender except for one bend right in the middle that has to be bent around a die and that desnt really jive. Plus need to be able to replicate it :(
 
I used a good company in TN that did some super tight bends on some super thin wall, small(er) dia tubing for me for some heat exchangers a couple years ago. I'll see if I can dig the name up...

If someone has a scanner that big, converting to a dxf would be cake....
 
If you want to take a few photos and give me a lot of dimensions I can draw you a dxf. My machine isn't big enough to cut it though. I've had pretty good success scaling parts from photos. Nothing quite that large though yet. I'll try though.
 
Chris, this may be a dumb idea, but it's what I've got this AM! :lol: Can you trace the shape on big paper and then use a large format scanner to get an image you can replicate? A reprographics company like Duncan-Parnell should be able to do that...
 
trailhugger said:
Can you trace the shape on big paper and then use a large format scanner to get an image you can replicate? A reprographics company like Duncan-Parnell should be able to do that...
Click to expand...

^^This!^^

I use a laser cutter in WNC (300K+ sq/ft full-service fab shop supplying the majority of big name Sprint Cup shops) that can scan anything from crayon scribbled on a napkin -to- huge (4'x6'?) 2D/3D prints and scale from just a couple of known dimensions... 2 clicks later it's formatted and ready to burn in seconds!
 
Chris, give sean your measurements and he should be able to do it for you. Ill ask him when i get to the house tonight.
 
Will Carter said:
If you want to take a few photos and give me a lot of dimensions I can draw you a dxf. My machine isn't big enough to cut it though. I've had pretty good success scaling parts from photos. Nothing quite that large though yet. I'll try though.
Click to expand...
Thanks I may take you up on that if I can't find somebody a little closer. Thats what I'm hoping will work. I took a template to a guy here in Harrisburg with a water jet today to see what he could do. He basically told me that he couldn't cut it accurately and didn't want to fool with it. He said he'd feel bad charging me what it would cost to take the time to draw it and put dimensions to the shape. He says the only way I'll get it right is to find a guy with a digitizer arm to do it. Which yea that would work great but I find it hard to believe he can't get it accurate with a few hours sitting behind a computer with solidworks.
trailhugger said:
Chris, this may be a dumb idea, but it's what I've got this AM! :lol: Can you trace the shape on big paper and then use a large format scanner to get an image you can replicate? A reprographics company like Duncan-Parnell should be able to do that...
Click to expand...

Caver Dave said:
^^This!^^

I use a laser cutter in WNC (300K+ sq/ft full-service fab shop supplying the majority of big name Sprint Cup shops) that can scan anything from crayon scribbled on a napkin -to- huge (4'x6'?) 2D/3D prints and scale from just a couple of known dimensions... 2 clicks later it's formatted and ready to burn in seconds!
Click to expand...
I agree this is probably the way to go. I'm gonna go see another local shop tomorrow and see what they can come up with. I think the guy today just didn't want to be bothered with it.

Thanks for all the opinions and offers guys and gal I'll see how it goes tomorrow!
 
m_006.jpg m_007.jpg

This is the prototype I've already built that I'll be trying to mass produce.... Hopefully if all goes well.
 
Chris, Sean said if you can give him the part he can make the dxf file and probably write the cut file in cad for you. Just let me know if you cant find anyone else. He seems motivated the last couple of days so if you need him to do it, do it soon.
 
Back
Top