Originally Posted by Edster  Do you really save anything by taking 10 times longer to do a job than the guy with the right equipment. |
Sometimes yes; when the guy with the right equipment has a minimum order in the many hundreds of dollars and you are not sure your design will work.
I have done stainless parts that had to be bent to a precise shape with pre-existing holes finishing up correctly spaced to within around 0.01". It is difficult to predict exactly how the material will stretch and I did not want to get a hundred pieces laser cut and then find sizes and hole positions needed tweaking. I milled the first samples sandwiched between aluminum plate, proved everything out and then had them laser cut.
A hard and fast approach that only one way is the correct way or least expensive way is not always correct.