I need to get some panels made for a chassis for some electrical equipment I'm building. It's a DAC that I'm working on and I just need a front and rear panel. I'd like them made in 1/2" aluminum anodized black. It would have a recessed hole and a through hole and then some engraving. I can draw up the solidworks files and send them or what not I'm just wondering how much someone her might charge me to run them and for materials and what not? The engravings wouldn't have a fill would just be the bare aluminum underneath and the panels would be 12"x3" and 12.5"x3.5" 1 of each. Anything else you need to know I'm sure I can answer.

In case anyone was wondering what it would entitle, here is the front panel. Right this minute just wondering how much it would cost not sure when I can buy them for sure but would be in the next month or so. There are a few engravings missing because I have to figure out exactly where they should be. As for the rear panel it will basically be .5" thick 12"x3" and have several holes and a few engravings. Hopefully this is enough info to get a quote?

Bad file Doug.

Ken

Bad file Doug.

Ken

Rhino3D dug it.

Here's a dxf.

Rhino3D dug it.

Hmmmmm, that's interesting !

All I get is a File read error, when it did load there was no geometry or solids.

Sorry... I'm not sure if I did it wrong? I have the rear panel now as well but its the same sort of format. I'm not so great with solidworks been learning though.

Oh and if anodizing adds that much money just skip it and let me know just for brushed and the engraves would then be filled black I suppose? Would this save much. Sorry I'm cheap :)

No sure what is going on Doug, still no data when importing.
Must be on my end as Monte seemed to have imported it ok.

Cheap can work with wine and women but not usually with one off machining :D

Well I'll say I'm cheap but reasonable :)

No sure what is going on Doug, still no data when importing.
Must be on my end as Monte seemed to have imported it ok.

Cheap can work with wine and women but not usually with one off machining :D

Shoulda' said Rhino3D v4.0, if that makes a difference.

Monte

Think I will send that file off to support and see if they may find a reason for it not importing.

With your permission Doug?

.

Ummm... I guess? it's probably something I'm doing though :) I haven't used Solidworks much its my friends copy he doesn't use it and let me try it out.

Ken What are you using for software? sometimes if solidworks is a newer version than what you are using for Cam software it becomes a problem. I know this happens between Gibbs cam and solidworks. Solidworks releases a new version and Gibbs cam can take a few weeks to catch up to the new features in solidworks. This could be the issue here?
Mike

Doug maybe save it as an Iges file. this usually has little or no problems in almost all softwares no matter what revision it is.
What version of solidworks are you using? 2008 will probably cause a few problems with some softwares, it is geared more towards the Vista operating system, and has many changes from the previous version.
Mike

Mike,
I am using OneCNC XR3 Mill Pro,
This is the first time I have ever encountered any problem importing .sldprt files, they have always imported perfectly with out fail.

XR3 is the newest version that is why I though it may be of value to send it to support and see if it is a software, file or machine related problem or a Dougie085 problem :D
Lots of stuff to cause a glitch, that's for sure.

Ken

Let me try the Iges.

Try this.

Thanks Ken I was just curious, I would be interested to see what version of solidworks doug is using? I know solidworks changes ther file formats because it can really be an issue with gibbs cam, and they are supposed to be kind of partners.
Mike

2008 SP0.0 I need to update it to SP1....

Doug SP 3.1 is actually out as of last week or the week before. I think you can go right to that. I'm not sure what the difference is.
Mike

That works fine Doug.

One issue on the part will be the square corners in the rectangular hole, can you have any radius here ?
If not, laser, water jet or EDM, all of these are not going to be uh...... reasonable :D

Out side of that is is a very straight forward job.

Yeah could be rounded edges it wouldn't let me add that for some reason. I was trying.

Sure nothing wrong with your efforts Doug, looks good.

When you get the engraving completed on the model it will give us a better idea of the cost for you.

I'll send you a PM with some aproximate price so you can have some idea on that.

Ok I just finished up the engravings and what not. I'd really like to have it anodized black with the raw engravings. So anodize first and then engrave. This zip has both SLDPRTS and IGES files of the front and rear panel. I got a really good price from someone already... I know this is basically a no gain job so I appreciate all of your offers.

Ok I just finished up the engravings and what not. I'd really like to have it anodized black with the raw engravings. So anodize first and then engrave. This zip has both SLDPRTS and IGES files of the front and rear panel. I got a really good price from someone already... I know this is basically a no gain job so I appreciate all of your offers.

Are the engravings on these drawings? I didn't see any.

Monte

Just on the face plate...should be anyways I'm not sure if you have to do anything special to do an engraving in solidworks? I put the text on there though. I'm very new to this program :)

Did you ever get this quoted/done?

Monte

Yeah I got a couple quotes and one that I like a lot. But no I have not gotten the job done yet.

Hi Dougie

Your private box is full.

Yea I fixed it sorry.

This is another job I'm looking at getting done for a friend. We need a quote for either 25 or 50 of these plates either anodized black or powder coated black. Here are the solidworks files.