[sdiy] laser cutting aluminum

[Tim Parkhurst]

On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 12:28 PM, Danjel van Tijn <danjel at gmail.com> wrote:
> The company is CBR Laser inc.
>
> I did not ask for their tolerances but I specified +/- 0.01mm in my RFQ
>
> I have not asked if they do engraving, if so then we have hit a
> goldmine. They said they provide a 2 day turn around once a quote is
> accepted.
>
> cheers,
>   Danjel
>

+/-0.01mm? Wow, that's really tight! Seriously, you're lucky they gave
you such a great price. Of course, a laser cutter is a fairly accurate
piece of equipment, but I think you could probably go with +/-0.03,
0.05 or even 0.10 and still have everything come together just fine.
For our friends in the USA, +/-0.01mm works out to +/-0.00039" or
basically a tolerance of eight ten-thousandths of an inch (plus and
minus four). Generally, the tighter the tolerances, the higher the
price of the finished goods, so don't set your tolerances any tighter
than necessary. Typical pieces I do have tolerances of +/-0.3mm on the
average, and +/-0.10mm for any critical areas (but usually not over
the entire piece).

And if the same outfit can do engraving, that would be cool. not quite
sure if you could specify several processes (bend & cut sheet metal,
paint and silkscreen for example) and have them all bid by one place.
Worth looking into though.

Tim (getting looser tolerances all the time) Servo

-- 
"Sire, the church of God is an anvil that has worn out many hammers."
- H.L. Hastings