Water Cutting

what does ne1 reccomend the easiest way is to cut
6082t6 13-15mm alluminium plate ??
Im getting problems locally with poeple wanting to machine it,
They must all just be to lazy in east anglia !

I may be able to help Terry i have just had some aluminium water jet cut looks great if you could drop me an e-mail with details???

We have band sawed and jig sawed t6 10-12mm thick
on many occasions just take your time cut slowly and lube with paraffin

Der Boyz

Cheers, I will give the jigsaw and paraffin a try
1st, ive also got e few 60mm holes in the plate to drill but suppose if a jigsaw is ok then maybe a high spec carbide holecutter might go through it ?
As soon as I have auto cad pics I can send some to you alex, what was the average cost per meter of cutting ?

I believe one of the Aussies used a carbide holecutter to drill two holes through 30mm thick Bisalloy; says it took an hour per hole and lots of lube but it got the job done.

Cant guarantee it but it should be fine for the ali as long as the workpiece and tool are kept cool

Use a course blade ,and keep it clean ,go slowly,
plenty of lube, keep blade speed down, Holes I have cut up to 75mm using hole cutters ,same principle
as above,

Der Boyz

Hi Everyone,

Some of you know that im building a new robot. Looking for a cheap place to get a lot of watercutting done. The lifter arm and armour is completely made from hardox 4mm, or that was the plan but so far i have been quoted £770 (thats the cheapest so far) to get the work done. anyone know of somewhere that can do this work cheaply? Or have a watercutting machine in their back yard ;)The armour consists of basic shapes and probably can be cut with a band saw. I want the robot to be ready for rebel robots, have everything but these (kind of vital!) bits. Any suggestions? Look at profile for a basic cad pic, all i have on the work pc.

Suren

JL Steel in Stirling is where a lot of roboteers get their hardox from (either directly or through Gary :P) and they also offer cutting services - not sure if they do watercutting but certainly oxy gas cutting. Perhaps worth a shot?

http://www.jlsteel.co.uk/services.htmlhttp://www.jlsteel.co.uk/services.html

Not sure if the cost of postage would bump up your quote though

Hi jamie,

I have been in contact with them, they have quoted £120 for a 2m x 1m sheet of hardox, but postage is another 120! They also do not watercut to very high tolerences as they usually cut very thick plate.

Thanks for the suggestion, any other suggestions appreciated.

Suren

You might want to try wire spark erosion, thats how we got our jaws and leavers cut a few years back. It was around £500, but was 12mm thick, so yours might be cheaper. The place that did ours was NC Laser Cutting Services Ltd, Rochdale (http://www.andertongroup.comhttp://www.andertongroup.com or direct tel 01706 631277). Though they might have another cheaper way of doing it as they do alot of different stuff, no harm in asking.