Hello everyone. I'm looking for any suggestions or advice on getting sheet metal parts fabricated. Seems to me that a decent number of you all are building with custom sheet metal parts. I have no problem doing the CAD and generating STEP files, but I don't have the equipment to do the fabrication. I'm aware of a few options:
1. China, e.g., pcbway. I've used them before, but shipping and taxes are insane.
2. Online fabricators, e.g., Xometry, Protolabs. The quotes I'm seeing seem insanely high.
3. Local fabricators. There's plenty of them but don't know if they're set up to do one-offs. I plan to look into this.
4. Local makerspaces. There are a handful of them but don't know if they'd have the needed machines. I plan to look into this.
Any options I'm missing? Any suggestions? Any advice will be much appreciated.
1. China, e.g., pcbway. I've used them before, but shipping and taxes are insane.
2. Online fabricators, e.g., Xometry, Protolabs. The quotes I'm seeing seem insanely high.
3. Local fabricators. There's plenty of them but don't know if they're set up to do one-offs. I plan to look into this.
4. Local makerspaces. There are a handful of them but don't know if they'd have the needed machines. I plan to look into this.
Any options I'm missing? Any suggestions? Any advice will be much appreciated.
Sheet metal fabrication for what purpose? You can do a surprising amount with some cheap basic tools and a small garage.
Regards,
Dan
Regards,
Dan
Send Cut Send can do it all and are very quick. They have two locations east and west.
https://sendcutsend.com/
https://sendcutsend.com/
These are junk- https://www.vevor.com/busbar-fabric...lcuOuBUeT7cgxMS91S4wdJ4V5Ny6UGPYIzpBIa5hf_Y2Y BUT, if tuned up a bit, can actually do a lot of useful work. Best for aluminum only.
Definitely look deeper into the local maker spaces. We're fortunate to have a VERY nice one locally that has a small sheet metal shop, welding shop (with a CNC plasma table), machine shop, a fantastic wood shop and much more. Access to the tools and machinery was my main purpose for joining but I've found that access to the knowledge and experience of the staff is, at times, invaluable.
As @dantwomey pointed out, a small shop and a few tools may be all you need though. Sheet metal is easy to cut and a basic brake can be bought relatively cheaply or even DIY'd. Simple flanges can be bent after clamping the material between a couple of pieces of angle iron.
In any case, I'm not an expert but I've done a little and that's my 2 cents. Good luck and have fun.
As @dantwomey pointed out, a small shop and a few tools may be all you need though. Sheet metal is easy to cut and a basic brake can be bought relatively cheaply or even DIY'd. Simple flanges can be bent after clamping the material between a couple of pieces of angle iron.
In any case, I'm not an expert but I've done a little and that's my 2 cents. Good luck and have fun.
Where in the US, pray tell, is it? Just asking because it sounds like the one local to me.
@jjasniew It's the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN) on Bainbridge Island WA. I refer to it as the Golden Ticket maker space... the place makes me giddy
Ahhh, I see you're not TOO far away. I'm in Kingston
Ahhh, I see you're not TOO far away. I'm in Kingston
Harbor freight sells a small metal brake, I bought it and for aluminum I have to notch one side of the plate to make the bend but for thin sheet metal it may work ok.
Cool! "My" local maker space is https://laceymakerspace.org/equipment/
The main gotcha I see is you cant do anything with the automated equipment without knowing CAD. A very specific, expensive one that only runs under Windows 11. I realize they have a student version. I was full $500 member for a year, but didnt really take advantage of it; considered the remainder a support donation to the place.
Wow, thank you all for these helpful replies. I definitely want to learn how to do this and maybe acquire the right tools, so a maker space sounds like the ideal way to start. I'm in Cambridge, MA and a quick online search brings up a couple of options I can check out. The first item I'm wanting to do is a simple perforated base plate for a chassis for a power supply, about 300 mm square. Should be super easy - just a bunch of holes in a grid and 4 90-degree bends.
CAD is awesome, and personally, I like Fusion 360 a lot. I'm a hobbyist, and the free version is more than enough for me. When it comes to CAM, I've got 3D printing, but not yet anything with metal. Want to learn sheet metal next with the immediate forcing function of this base plate that I need.
I will tell you my CAD secret, worth every penny you've paid for it. I often print a drawing with hole locations, cutouts or whatever, at 1:1 scale. Modern printers can be very accurate. Then I use a kid's glue stick to stick it to my project. Cut or drill on the lines as needed. No layout or scribing needed, though I do center-punch holes.
I'll add one more idea to your method. Use light cardboard, tape the paper onto the cardboard, and exacto knife the edge of the cardboard. I've even drilled the cardboard to get screw positions. Not perfect of course, I use it to verify PCB hole locations and close enough as I put some slop in my hole size.
I agree with using a full size printout or drawing. Full sheet adhesive label paper for the printer works well. I'd always used spray glue until a package of the label material mysteriously showed up in my office.
Either way, that and an auto-punch makes life easier
Either way, that and an auto-punch makes life easier
I suppose I just dislike when a particular space is dominated with no alternative. One way of thinking, one approach to it. "The way we've always done it". I can think "I want 5, 1/4" holes spaced evenly radially at a 2" radius on a 6" diameter plate" in milliseconds; probably take me an hour and a half to get it on screen, by the way they thought of how one would go about it.
Personally, I think such would be an excellent application for AI. AI doesnt do the design, it just effectively translates a human speech level command into shapes and patterns on screen. Then generates the requisite file for the CAM machine
You'd communicate your intent to it as you would a CAD jockey. "I want a 13" X 8" X 3" chassis made out of bent 0.030 sheet aluminum". Out comes a flat pattern you can bend up with a hand brake. Forget you need 5/16" lips all around the bottom? Just ask it to add those in.
Maybe try Claude Sonnet for generating F-360 drawings?
My oldest boy runs an outfit that makes stainless ships furniture using a $$$ CNC brake. Access to that would be cool but I'm not asking
My oldest boy runs an outfit that makes stainless ships furniture using a $$$ CNC brake. Access to that would be cool but I'm not asking
I've used that method too, but I really want to learn how to do CNC fabrication.
Me too, but I am open to help. At a quick glance, it looks like using Claude in conjunction with OpenSCAD and then importing that output to Fusion 360 may be a thing.