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Hi folks,

Not specifically guitar related, but I’m prototyping some tooling for instrument making and looking for a way to have a small quantity of metal plates made. Small 1.5” x 1.5” or so squares.

Has anyone found an online supplier for metalwork similar to ePlastics for plastic items? I did find this place but it’s crazy expensive, 20+ dollars for a single piece. https://metalscut4u.com

Any ideas are appreciated as long as it’s not recommending I cut them myself.

Brad


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I've used several of the online metal fab places to build prototype enclosures for electronics and they were all really expensive. Have you checked with local machine shops? Often the local guys will be cheaper for a run of small parts, just send them the specs and drawing (if needed) and ask for a quote.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Why not cut them yourself? If you pick a relatively soft metal like aluminium you can mill it with woodworking tools. I have cut aluminium plate up to 1/2 inch thick on my tablesaw using a carbide tipped sawblade. One caveat - don't use a grinding wheel or abrasive cut off wheel - the metal will gall and heat up the disc and cause it fly apart. Other than that, it can be sawn, drilled and routed if reasonable care is taken (eye protection for flying millings).

Ponoko had the best prices when I looked into having some metal parts made a couple years ago. But I ended up putting the money toward building my own mini mill instead, so I can't speak to the actual service.

Make sure you have the full machining procedure laid out before you cut anything. 80% of machining is figuring out how to hold onto the darn thing. If you start with small pieces, there may not be anywhere to grip without getting in the way of the cutter, or losing grip before all operations are complete.

You can also cut aluminum on a wood bandsaw.

I have been hankering for a portable metal cutting bandsaw which you can setup into a small table. With this kind of setup you can easily cut 1/4" steel.

https://www.swagoffroad.com/SWAG-V30-Portaband-Table_p_55.html

Protolabs has worked well for me at the day job. Instant quote online


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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I have cut brass and nickel silver sheet metals and thin aluminium on my 14 inch bandsaw using a fine tooth metal cutting blade. Steel requires some oil to cool the blade and is messy but some saws are set up for it.

Does it have to be metal? Some plastics (Corian) and phenolics (Richlite) might give the strength you need and better machineability for prototyping. How many squares do you need?

I have one of the SWAG tables, but it's one you clamp in a vise. Works great. I got my saw on sale at Harbor Freight (Bauer brand)s everal years ago, and it's still working great. Paid more for the SWAG table than I did for the saw.

Dave

In my previous life I was an engineer for a metal fabrication plant. We had all sorts of fancy machine tools, the most useful for guitar related things was a computer controlled laser sheet metal cutter. You design a 2 dimensional piece with any good drafting software and output a dfx file to the laser. It cuts as many pieces as you want out of, in our case, either black iron or stainless.

I rarely made any actual pieces for guitars but used it quite a bit for making templates and jigs. Because the machine was big and expensive my company tried to keep it working and would do cutting for outside customers. If you didn't have a 2 drafting ability the would do the engineering at a nominal cost. They would furnish "normal" materials, if the customer wanted something special that would be up to them.

I think there are lots of little fab companies that will do this kind of work.

Brad, it would be easier to make recommendations if we knew more of what you want. What metal, 1.5" cubes or 1/4" flat plates, or?, how many, all the same, any other specs? Is there a level of accuracy necessary?

I do as much of my metal work as I can myself. When I need more precision there is a semi retired machinist I call on. If it is just cutting metal there are fab shops that can shear metal to size very inexpensively, or punch holes, etc.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

That's a good point, Brian.

I'm looking for flat plates 1/8" thick and 1" x 1.125" with .125"- .25" radius corners. There should be a .25" centered hole through the plate. I would be looking for 20 to start. The material should be aluminum or stainless.

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Brad, you might look into laser cutting, here's one I was interested in once https://www.oshcut.com/. I haven't used them but was looking at them to some templates. If I remember right they charge a set up fee and then a very reasonable part charge.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I might have just hit a bad batch, but a couple of years ago, I had some parts laser cut out of 1/4" 6061 aluminum, and they weren't usable. The edges were far from square and the finish quality wasn't great. I ended up milling my own parts on my milling machine...Like I say, could just be a bad run. It was emachineshop.com that ran the parts. I thought I'd try laser cut because they were a lot less expensive. Live and learn.

I've lasered some templates out of wood and acrylic, and the laser works great for these.

Water Jet is another thing to explore. The water jet pieces I've seen in both aluminum and steel were very very clean.

Dave

Thanks a lot, Jim! Looks like OSH can do this in high strength aluminum for a good price. I will give this a shot.

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