How long would it take to cut this?

[david90]

How long would it take to cut this design using a sherline desktop mill?

http://www.motostorm.com/images/hond...s%20emblem.jpg

assuming the dimension is 1x3x.25 inch aluminum.

[grinderdust]

Looking at those sharp inside corners, I would say that piece is better cast.

[wwendorf]

He's right, casting would be best. If you were going to cut something similar with a sherline tho, you would be talking hours. I have a sherline (it's actually for sale), and, while they work great, they are slow compared to my X3. I think a taig would actually be more rigid and faster than a sherline.

Wade

[Neil_J]

I used to own a sherline CNC. It would take me hours to make something like that. And whereas some machines could do that kind of stuff unattended, the Sherline needs constant supervision throughout the process... especially clearing chips off the ways (they're made out of aluminum you know.. small scratches ruined mine). A larger cast-iron machine (or maybe a Taig) could make that in 15 minutes or so unsupervised (save a tool-change or two)

[Harryman]

Besides casting, you could get it cut with a waterjet. That's how I'd do it if you were doing it commercially. It's a lot easier to polish plate than cast pieces too.

As previously mentioned, it'd be tough to get those sharp inside corners with a mill. You'd need a teeny tool which would mean slow feeds and shallow passes.

[david90]

How long would it take a taig cnc to cut a 2d art like this out of aluminum?

http://i12.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/ac/ba/6043_2.JPG



Assuming it is 2x3 inch 1/8 thick 6061 aluminum.

[Stepper Monkey]

That wouldn't take long at all, but from the two examples you've shown you might really want to look into doing the design work yourself and having a local waterjet cutting firm do the cuts for you. A lot cheaper and less hassle than trying to do it yourself. Just the replacement cost of the tooling - the cost of constantly replacing the micro endmills required for work that size - would probably cost more than the cutting charge for a waterjet service.
The idea of casting is also a good one, if you know someone who does it. I personally would cut them from wax and have them cast if I was doing it, but that is only because I already own a casting shop. If I didn't I'd probably just go waterjet.

[david90]

How long do the tools usually last assuming proper use and how much do they cost?

How much do you charge for casting?

[sansbury]

All depends on how many you want to make. A mini-mill is useful in prototyping when you need to work out fit and losts of sizing things but for this, you can print the drawing out at actual size and get all the details you need that way.

eMachineShop or Big Blue Saw would probably quote you up to a few hundred bucks to make one unit of either. Most of the cost is setup time so you can make 5 or 10 pieces for only a little bit more, bringing the unit cost way down. Between 25-100 pieces you've fully amortized setup costs and are paying for materials and machine time. Somewhere in there you can consider having a blanking die made and then you can stamp them out for next to nothing, but the die will set you back real money.

Casting is in between all of these. One way to do it would be to stencil the pattern onto sheets of foam then cut it with a hot wire. You could probably stack a dozen sheets of thin foam and cut them all at once. This would be a lot faster than wax.

[david90]

how much would it cost if I want to cast 500 1x2x.25 inch letter "A" out of aluminum?

[sansbury]

For that number I'd look into stamping it with a die. Making the die could cost a few thousand but then you can stamp out thousands for pennies a piece + material cost. How do you want to finish the parts--paint, anodize, etc?

[david90]

Thanks for the help sansbury.

I would like to produce lettering similar to the one in the link below
http://youremblem.com/images/samples/3.jpg

Since I would like to to make it out of plastic, I think mold injection is the way to go. After that chrome plate it.

In your opinion, how much do you think it will cost make the mold, produce the piece and chroming it?

I'm doing research for custom emblem business.