[cncsteve777]

Hi guys,

Wondering if anyone could help me looking to produce loads of small components from thin sheet of tin and perspex possibly around 1mm possibly slightly more......


So could anyone recomment a machine that would suit this job.... can I write the programme on a laptop and connect it up...

Any help would be much appreciated

Steve

[wizard]

Hi guys,

Wondering if anyone could help me looking to produce loads of small components from thin sheet of tin and perspex possibly around 1mm possibly slightly more......

Depending upon what you mean by loads, a mill or router is not the solution for sheetmetal. At least not in the volume I would consider to be loads of parts.

So could anyone recomment a machine that would suit this job.... can I write the programme on a laptop and connect it up...

You can write any program you want. A working program is another story.

Any help would be much appreciated

Steve

Details, detail, details. Honestly it doesn't sound like a milling or routing machine is what you need. I could be wrong but if you offer up more details you might get more replies.

[awerby]

If you had a mill, you could make a die that would simplify the production of your sheet metal parts. Are you talking about pure tin sheet, or tinned steel? Tin is a lot softer, and wouldn't require as powerful a press.

As for the acrylic, that's best cut with a laser.

[cncsteve777]

Yes would be made from a sheet of tin... how much could I get a lazer cutter from.... was only think of mini mill or router as thought I would beable to produce both with this and with the tin I can fold into shape after its been cut.......Attachment 238178

[SCzEngrgGroup]

A mill or router would not be high on my list of machines for making those parts. I'd find a local shop that does laser or water jet cutting, and metal forming. They could knock out a ton of those in no time, for little money. You'd have to do a HUGE quantity of them to recoup the cost of buying any machine, and by the time you were done, you'd probably still have a couple of hours of your time in each one.

Regards,
Ray L.

[wizard]

Yes would be made from a sheet of tin... how much could I get a lazer cutter from.... was only think of mini mill or router as thought I would beable to produce both with this and with the tin I can fold into shape after its been cut.......

I have to agree with Ray above you need to consider contracting those parts out. Now I'm not against building up a shop just that to get started commercial machines to cut out those parts would be a bit on the expensive side. This especially when it comes to the Lexan part which can be done a sheet at a time on a water jet, laser or even a router.

The tin object is a bit different but even then a good shop can knock those out pretty fast most likely using a couple of different machines.

You have not indicated quantities here but if it does become mass production ( for the lexan part) I'd look at a larger format machine, probably a laser, that can handle standard sheet goods. The tin part would require a bit more machinery to complete economically so you might want to keep contracting that out for some time.

It should be noted that doing the lexan part on a router type machine might be doable. It is a question of radiuses in the part and acceptable tool (cutter) diameters. The big problem with this sort of material and routers is work holding which is problematic with sheet goods.