Small run fabrication

[Paul Andrews]

Hi,

I'm trying to make a case for one of my clocks and started looking at online fabrication services such as big blue saw. I am basically looking at designing and fabricating one-offs of some simple acrylic pieces (with cut outs/holes etc.). I was wondering if anyone can recommend a service that is reasonable for one-off parts like this? I'm also looking for a reasonably simple CAD package to design them in. I have messed with various CAD packages in the past but I am looking for something that is easy to design the sort of simple 2D parts I am thinking of.

There is also a nearby maker space I could join for $40 a month. It seems like overkill for what I want (at the moment!). Plus I would have to buy materials anyway and they only offer laser cutting rather than water jet cutting.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks - Paul

[Dan Hollis]

Your makerspace is probably your best bet.

waterjet cutting is expensive and few real reasons to use it over
lasercutting.

I use sketchup for simple designs, then use a plugin to export the faces
to SVG for laser cutting.

-Dan

[David Forbes]

I recommend giving the maker space a try. A laser cutter is fine for acrylic,
and they probably have people there with good procedures and design software for
getting from idea to cut plastic.

--
David Forbes, Tucson, AZ

[NeonJohn]

On 01/11/2017 01:33 PM, Paul Andrews wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to make a case for one of my clocks and started looking at
> online fabrication services such as big blue saw. I am basically looking at
> designing and fabricating one-offs of some simple acrylic pieces (with cut
> outs/holes etc.). I was wondering if anyone can recommend a service that is
> reasonable for one-off parts like this?

You might take a look at frontpanelexpress.com. They supply a sorta-CAD
package that you have to submit your design to them with. It prices out
the cost of the panel as you add things to it. The software is so
limited, however, that I end up drawing the features in a real CAD
program, exporting the object to DXF and importing it into the Front
Panel program.

I just had a panel made for our new induction heater which fits in a
Pelican knockoff case. The panel is 200 X 300mm. IT has 2 large
rectangular cut-outs and a couple of small ones. a couple dozen drilled
holes and several DXF objects. Their CAD program calls out each item
and puts a price on it. A drilled hole is 2.5 cents, for example.

This panel is 2.5mm aluminum, anodized red and the legends and logos are
silkscreened white. Cost was $189 single piece. Drops rapidly with
quantity. Quantity 5 is about $150.

We're shopping the piece around to Chinese manufacturers for volume
production but I can live with their price until sales justify a large run.

--
John DeArmond
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
http://www.tnduction.com <-- THE source for induction heaters
http://www.neon-john.com <-- email from here
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- Best damned Blog on the net
PGP key: wwwkeys.pgp.net: BCB68D77

[gregebert]

A co-worker used frontpanelexpress for a stereo project, and it looked stunning. Granted, he paid more for the powder-coat finish and engraved & filled lettering. I started a project with their tool, and found it easy to use/learn. It has interactive cost-estimation, so you can budget/design on-the-fly. As far as an entire case, I believe frontpanelexpress has extruded pieces you can select to make a cabinet. It wont be cheap, but it will look nice and should be rugged.

All of my nixie clock cases are hand-made, mostly with wood. I probably spend as much time making the case as I do designing the PC board. Time is money, so that needs to be considered; apparently I dont value my own time very much when I spend 50-100 hours making a case. 

---------------------------------

I ended-up doing my own case+front panel using laser-printer decals and some 3D-printed pieces (you can see a picture in neonixie by searching for nixie bench supply, around Aug 2016. It was a lot of work to make the entire case from sheet and angle aluminum. If I had my 3D printer at that time, I would have done that instead.

[robin bussell]

I've used frontpanelexpress before too, their engraving and ink fill
service looks very nice and has a good timeless vintage feel. Costs more
than silkscreen though.

I'm working on a lasercut perspex case using openscad as a cad system.
Currently awaiting replies from a couple of laser cutting services
regarding the suitability of the files I exported.
There is a handy openscad library for making tab and slot boxes and so
on here: https://github.com/bmsleight/lasercut

Openscad is free but not to everyone's preference as you basically
program the object you want in a declarative language, there's no
placing objects with the mouse or anything. However it does mean that
you can design to a specific dimension easily without any fiddling about
with grid snap values etc. Also you can make your design parametric so
you can resize it easily.

Cheers,
Robin.

[Nicholas Stock]

Paul, this isn't a cheap proposition in my experience unless you know people in the business. One avenue to try is https://www.ponoko.com to get custom acrylic cut and MDF etc, I've had some simple acrylic plates made by them and they've been very reasonable. Having custom pieces made from aluminium etc can get pricey as most shops charge minimum fees to be bothered with the tooling, materials etc and costs only become palatable (unless it's a true work of art!) with multiples of the same item (obvious economies of scale). For simple 2D CAD you could try FreeCAD which is OK, but not great. Inkscape is a good tool for 2D drawing but the learning curve is steep (although there are plenty of online resources to help if you have patience). I've recently started using Fusion360 for 3D work as it's free for hobbyists and is really easy to get the hang of. I think you could probably design 2D stuff in that pretty easily, but it's designed more 3D objects.

PM me if you want to discuss more as I've had some experience making custom cases for Nixie clocks etc.

Cheers,

Nick

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[Paul Andrews]

Thanks everyone. I am also considering just buying some simple pre-cut blanks from eBay and then drilling holes etc. with a bench drill. I will let you know what happens.

[Mike Mitchell]

I've used Pololu Robotics & Electronics several times for laser-cut acrylic.

You can ship them the material to cut, or choose from their own stock.

See https://www.pololu.com/product/749

[rmp]

If you're looking for complete display cases, you might try shoppopdisplays.com. (No affiliation, etc.). I needed a case for a PV Electronics kit with the Farny 568 tubes, and couldn't find a custom case, so after looking around on the net i tried them.
They offer a custom fabrication service. I didnt find just what i needed so i just sent them an email with a photo of my hand-drawn, dimensioned sketch attached. Note I didnt specify any holes as i had drill bits available.
Service was quick, packing excellent. I am quite satisfied with the product.

[NeonJohn]

On 01/11/2017 10:15 PM, Nicholas Stock wrote:
> For simple 2D CAD you could try FreeCAD which is OK,
> but not great. Inkscape is a good tool for 2D drawing but the learning
> curve is steep (although there are plenty of online resources to help if
> you have patience).

I use InkScape a lot (Linux) but it's not a CAD package, it's a drawing
program a la CorelDraw. The difference is in the amount of effort
required to do precision drawings. That is, drawings that will be fed
into CAM of some sort.

I and my company are firmly committed to FOSS but after a couple of
years of struggling with buggy software, software that would only run in
Windows in a VM and so on, I decided to violate my principles and use a
commercial closed source package called Qcad.

With Qcad one can either key in the coordinates of objects or draw them
close and later fill in the precise dimensions in a "properties" box.

It takes a little while to learn the ways of Qcad but once the light
bulb goes on, it is very fast to work with. It has up to 4 "view ports"
and will take these and do an isometric projection. Not quite 3D but close.

The thing that finally tipped me over to this closed source package is
that its native file format is DXF. No more exporting to DXF. When the
drawing is saved it is in DXF. It does several other formats including
AutoCAD .dwg and .pdf.

John

[Paul Andrews]

I am trying to finish up a case which is basically an acrylic tube like this:

So now I need to make a base, ends and a support for the actual clock. I have ideas for how to do it, just need to figure out how to do the fabrication :-)

[Dan Hollis]

acrylic is pretty easy to do hand fabrication.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCeHx-vvJ7k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osN_yrsN7vw

-Dan

On Thu, 12 Jan 2017, Paul Andrews wrote:

> I am trying to finish up a case which is basically an acrylic tube like
> this:
>

> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uah1mZid8aQ/WHfQN88DDrI/AAAAAAAAAeA/q56U6WwCopoiZ6HpCtnvtCsIrLIdX_uCgCLcB/s1600/IMG_1194.JPG>

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[gregebert]

If you use clear acrylic, it's tricky to get a perfect cemented joint with no visible air bubbles. The few times I tried this, I used excess cement and had to spend extra time buffing-out the areas where the cement evaporated. If the joint was in an area that wasn't visible, I just left the bubbles/smudges. I never attempted to polish a cut surface and cement it; I only bonded the 'native' surfaces that are perfectly smooth.

Surprisingly, it's rather easy to gently heat acrylic and bend it to-shape. Years ago I made my own fish tank, and there was minimal distortion, no cracking, and no bubbling at the bend regions. It was clear acrylic, and I didn't even need to buff it.

Also, if you need to sand-down edges, joints, etc, they will buff-out very nicely if you are patient. A buffed surface will never appear exactly like the native surface, but it will be very close. Even properly cemented seams will be invisible with enough sanding/buffing. Reflections from a distant light source are the best way to assess the surface smoothness.

[Nicholas Stock]

Greg makes a good point. Getting nice clean bubble free joins in acrylic is not for the faint of heart. One trick is to glue them with extra material proud of the joint then flush route to get a clean edge. You then flame polish the cut edge (you'll need a hydrogen/oxygen torch for a good clean polish) but only after letting the joint fix for some time. When done right they look great, but it seems bubbles can appear after some time. Dichloromethane is a good solvent to bond the acrylic together, but use in a well ventilated area....

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[Tidak Ada]

Acrifix© has a very low viscosity cement for Plexiglas under the name Acrifix 1s 0117. The trick  is to use a syringe with a needle to apply the glue.

 

Another way is to dissolve acrylic powder (saw dust) in chloroform or a less ‘suspect’ solvent to make your own glue and after fixing apply a little chloroform by a syringe  along the seam.

 

Anyhow, it is important to use a cement that offers the same refractive index as the material you use.

 

eric

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