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Laser-CAMM / CNC outsourcing for furniture/products, prices?

impalajunkie

I have some pieces i'm finishing up in rhino that'll I'll need Cammed/CNC's/cut out, has anyone outsourced this before and what do the typically charge?

 
Nov 21, 05 2:36 pm
garpike

Do you live near a major university?

Nov 21, 05 2:42 pm  · 
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impalajunkie

Yes, the one i graduated from has a CAMM, but won't cut wood of that thickness and size. :(

Nov 21, 05 2:46 pm  · 
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garpike

Hmmm... what city are you in? If it is large, you could get competitive rates. Also, a really important quest: Are you doing 2D cuts? Or 3D forms?

Nov 21, 05 2:54 pm  · 
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impalajunkie

all the cuts will be 2D. it is a 3d object that will be made from 2-d cut panes of plywood, all nothced together. smilar to this Jakob+Macfarlane project:
http://mapage.noos.fr/jmac/ENloewy.htm

Nov 21, 05 4:10 pm  · 
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garpike

Nice!

Well, 2d will definitely save you some dough, but I can't really give you an estimate out of the blue. Signmakers often use cnc for 2d cutting. You may want to look to a signmaker in your area that may be trying to make a little cash on their machine.

Nov 21, 05 4:24 pm  · 
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impalajunkie

good idea! thanks

Nov 21, 05 4:26 pm  · 
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Per Corell

Hi

This is a very nice design and also an interesting discussion about why 2D seem to deliver much better than 3D routing , Still what I would like to see, is a real section lattrice following none of the tradisional planes and where shelves are cut out of the woven structure , --- I find it handy that you can use the shelves as they are ,but you could acturly subtract for shelves in a 3D-H lattrice.

Just emagine how boring this would be, if sections was just following the tradisional 3 planes ;

Nov 21, 05 5:39 pm  · 
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art tech geek

You might try to check in a local B2B phone directory. best machine match depends on material to cut and tolerances. Also Thomas Register.

to save money walk your rhino .dxf thru another CAD program that will take your files 'as is'. see if you have what you want (versus corruptions or little additions that are not what you need to manufacture). Goal is to have flawless clean files - nicely nested, no larger than 128kb. That is the general rule of thumb most applicable out there in the largest group of machines. 6000 entities or less as well (thats individual pieces of geometry as they walk across to g-code).

Provide nested layouts for your material if the parts are one'sy two'sys. Use offsets of thickness of material at least. Provide a black and white layout (.gif) of what the parts removed and original sheet of material are. This will help.

Basically, you want to have your vendor only apply tool paths without much thinking to your file. That will get you the best price. Then shop your file to about 8 vendors. Prices will vary greatly. If your files have orphan points, cross over lines or arcs or disconnected geometry, it requires their programmer to rework your file. Its in your best interest to avoid that. That is costly.

After you look at a couple of bids, you will find the bottom line of what is really competitve in your area. In L.A. its about 55 an hour for plasma cutting, 175 for a hi-wattage laser, 60-80 for waterjet depending on whether its production or not. Cost really depends on how clean your files are and how much trouble they have to go thru.

If you are in LA I can maybe provide some possible vendors recommendations. Have fun!!

Nov 23, 05 12:21 pm  · 
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Cebby

I can help you with 2d cutout shapes using a waterjet cutting machine.

Feb 21, 06 9:48 pm  · 
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jtaras

Associated Fabrication offers contract CNC milling services. We're based in Brooklyn, NY and are proficient at 2D and 3D milling and surfacing. We service architects, furniture makers, artists and students alike.

We'd be happy to provide a quote to cut your parts.

Visit our site at www.associatedfabrication.com

You can reach us at 718.387.4530 or info@associatedfabrication.com

Mar 22, 06 11:20 am  · 
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Barrett
situ studio
Mar 22, 06 3:29 pm  · 
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FOG Lite

I'd go with AssFab. Those guys rock!

Mar 23, 06 1:31 pm  · 
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