Anyone have a laser cutter and could cut me out a couple small (~30*14*10mm) pieces?

[Bki26]

Attached a pic of what they're like, the teeth have reduced to 5/6 spikes and much bigger than what's shown in the attached just Don't have the latest drawing on my phone at the moment but otherwise it's accurate enough to give an idea.

 

[Munkul]

That detail will be lost on most laser cutters, its just too thick. That narrow slot in particular will turn out wierd. Rule of thumb is holes should never be less than 0.5x material thickness - ideally 1x.
You'd get away with that shape in 5mm in N2 cutting, but 10mm O2 cutting no way.

 

[Normsthename]

That detail will be lost on most laser cutters, its just too thick. That narrow slot in particular will turn out wierd. Rule of thumb is holes should never be less than 0.5x material thickness - ideally 1x.
You'd get away with that shape in 5mm in N2 cutting, but 10mm O2 cutting no way.

I agree!
Water Jet cutting could be an option???

Andy

 

[Maker]

That's a wire EDM job at that thickness I think. Milling looks like a PIA too.

Could you stack up sheets lasered from thinner stock and dowel them together?

 

[Munkul]

I agree!
Water Jet cutting could be an option???

Andy

Yeah waterjet might be a good option. Wire eroder would be even better for accuracy... Obviously cost goes way up though

 

[Bki26]

I would have thought laser cutting was accurate enough for the job being it's the bees knees of cnc cutting, guess I'll have to hope my 3d printed test piece is good enough to simulate a metal version!

 

[Kram]

Lasers are great at thin stuff. The beam will not be well focused through a 10mm depth, thats why it will loose detail. If you had a stack of 5, 2mm parts brazed together it might work well.

Might be a good part for JLC SLS printing in stainless? I'm not sure how well that will do the gear/ratchet? teeth.
It wouldnt be difficult to manually mill the teeth with a gear cutter but would need a jig to rotate it on the gear centre.

 

[mtt.tr]

Have the bulk laser cut sans splines, machine or hand file the splines

 

[northwest]

That is a wire EDM job and there are quite a number of people out there who would do that at affordable cost. I used to know a really good guy but like all the old timers, he is pushing up daisies :-(

 

[julianf]

I would have thought laser cutting was accurate enough for the job being it's the bees knees of cnc cutting, guess I'll have to hope my 3d printed test piece is good enough to simulate a metal version!

The thicker the metal the less clean the cut becomes. Which, in real terms, means lower resolution.

As Munkul says, it just won't work with a laser.

 

[Prajna]

I would have thought laser cutting was accurate enough for the job being it's the bees knees of cnc cutting, guess I'll have to hope my 3d printed test piece is good enough to simulate a metal version!

You can 3D print in stainless now. That might be a possibility.

 

[Erie Fred]

You can 3D print in stainless now. That might be a possibility.

Is a Harry Homeshop doing it ?
The lab I visited that was doing it was very expensive.

 

[Dev]

I’d throw it at https://jlccnc.com/?source=JLCPCB-top-productbar or https://app.jiga.io/register and get some quotes. Might surprise you.

 

[Kram]

Is a Harry Homeshop doing it ?
The lab I visited that was doing it was very expensive.

Aside from the kit to actually print it, metal powders are a rather niche industrial product and extremely expensive.

If you wanted to do it at home you might want to invest in large ball mill to make the powder yourself!

Im unsure if SLS also requires an inert argon atmosphere, quite likely for some powders that would otherwise be explosive in an air atmosphere.

 

[Munkul]

Is a Harry Homeshop doing it ?
The lab I visited that was doing it was very expensive.

I agree, its horribly expensive and you'd only do it for components that are otherwise impossible to manufacture.

 

[Bki26]

You can 3D print in stainless now. That might be a possibility.

Yea jlc3dp is £6 for a piece in 316 and there's a new user coupon of £5 off, I'll just add it onto my upcoming cnc quote

 

[Erie Fred]

Aside from the kit to actually print it, metal powders are a rather niche industrial product and extremely expensive.

If you wanted to do it at home you might want to invest in large ball mill to make the powder yourself!

Im unsure if SLS also requires an inert argon atmosphere, quite likely for some powders that would otherwise be explosive in an air atmosphere.

Nitrogen blanket on the one I saw, space man suits in handling the powders.

 

[Prajna]

Is a Harry Homeshop doing it ?
The lab I visited that was doing it was very expensive.

I haven't looked deeply into it but I seem to remember that Driving4answers on utube had a small rocket engine printed in SS for a surprisingly low cost. The parts looked beautifully finished.

 

[Erie Fred]

I haven't looked deeply into it but I seem to remember that Driving4answers on utube had a small rocket engine printed in SS for a surprisingly low cost. The parts looked beautifully finished.

There's the rub right there.....

 

[Dev]

I was curious so I quickly traced your drawing and made a 3d model 10mm thick and stuck it in JLCCNC for a quote. Surprisingly low indeed.

those aren't properly involute teeth profiles of course since I just did a more or less freehand trace but for the 3d sintered process that doesn't matter and for the machined one its just gives an idea. Shame they don't machine in steel.

I image you wont have to look too hard to find online EDM services too and it'd be a cinch for them to do that part.