# gauge plate/laser cutting in Bristol?



## Eric The Viking (6 Mar 2013)

I need to pull my finger out and sort out the Kity (419). There's a nice Freud blade waiting to go on it, but it's thin kerf and the riving knife isn't :-(

I've also got to sort out the riving knife support plate, which (a) isn't flat, and (b) jams the rise/fall mech because of poor design. I have a plan for this, but needs a plate with a riser block fixed to it, and some quadrant slots and a carefully-sized (20mm approx.) hole cut into it.

So, I think I'm after a supplier of gauge plate and someone who can laser cut to a template or drawing. I don't need perfection - all the finishing I can do myself, I think. Gauge plate may be overkill for the support plate, but it should at least be flat!

Can anyone suggest anyone? I'm west Bristol, but can travel, obviously, although I don't have deep pockets for this.

Thanks,

E.


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## twothumbs (6 Mar 2013)

I wonder why you chose gauge steel. Perhaps bright steel would be suitable and easier to work. The thickness will be somewhere around 2.5mm or less so what about stainless or plain sheet steel. If you are not looking for perfection then why not do all the work yourself. Won't take long. A visit to a scarp yard may throw up a suitable piece. I have just realised my reply is all questions !!! Best wishes.


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## Eric The Viking (6 Mar 2013)

I'd love to, but I can't for many reasons, not least lack of tooling. I can't mill and my hands will no longer let me bash steel etc.

Both parts have to be flat, at a guess to within 0.1mm in 200mm. The existing riving knife is very, very slightly bent. If I put it on my glass plate used for sharpening (about 10mm thick - the flattest surface I have), it doesn't rock, either side, but it's not good enough in practice. I can get it to sit in the kerf of the normal blade, but not centrally, and I can't align it with the blade either. It's gauge plate, I think, and very hard to work. I'd stand no chance of flattening it by hand.

It's a nightmare trying to sort out a datum surface on the thing too, and checking accurately the squareness of the arbour spindle to the mounting plate, I don't have accurate enough measurement to true-up the existing mounting, which is either slightly bent or badly made.

If bright steel is a viable alternative, that's good to know. I need to check thicknesses, etc, too. I'm not ready to actually do the project, just in the sorting-out stage (what I need, etc.). If bright steel is flat enough that's fine. there's no need in use for it to be especially tough.

The other thing is that I've no idea what people might charge for materials and cutting - I'm a bit worried they'll see me coming :-(

Cheers,

E.


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## Mark A (6 Mar 2013)

I've bought some Ground Flat Stock from these people in the past.... http://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/160202/ground-flat-stock

Can't you cut it with a jigsaw and finish off with files, using your current riving knife as a template?

Mark


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## Racers (6 Mar 2013)

Hi, Eric

If you cut GFS with a laser it will harden the edges, water jet will be the best way.

Pete


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## AndyT (6 Mar 2013)

This might be a useful lead, or it might just be a frustrating wild goose chase.

Connecting the ideas of laser cutting, metals and Bristol, I remembered reading about the artwork by Platform 1 at Temple Meads Station. 

This image (thanks Wikimedia) shows it:







A little light Googling confirmed that it was put up in 2006 as part of the Brunel bicentenary celebrations. This website tells you more about the project, and mentions the 'ten companies' who joined in: http://www.brunel200.com/legacy/bristol_arts_projects/art_power_arup.htm.

It even shows this picture of the cutting being done, which was probably somewhere in Bristol - but I can't find the name of the outfit that did it! 






I did try the other, duller method of just Googling 'laser cutting Bristol' which gave names of companies in Yate and Fishponds and also this post on a kit car forum which might help: http://bristolkitcarclub.co.uk/smf2/index.php?topic=63.0


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## siggy_7 (6 Mar 2013)

I've never had laser cutting done, but I've made enquiries of colleagues in the past for various things I've cooked up and not yet built. I've heard good things of Emsea http://www.emsea-laser.com/ who are apparently very DIY-friendly and also Laser Master http://www.lasermaster.co.uk/ (who are based in Cornwall). The parts you need sound small and if you supply decent drawings I would have thought getting them cut and posted would be very viable. I think laser-grade steel is flatter than the normal stuff; I would personally choose a stainless grade with a high yield strength. All steel has about the same stiffness, but a higher yield strength means it'll take more load before it permanently bends - you sound like you know what you're on about though so I expect you already know this!


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## Hitch (6 Mar 2013)

Theres a few laser cutters in or near Bristol i can think of....

Laser Industries (Avonmouth) or South west Lasers, (Binegar) One off charges might be prohibitive though.

The riving knife, could you have your existing one ground flat? Put it on a surface grinder and take bit off each side?

For the lasering, it might be worth speaking to one of them, to see what stock they carry.


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## jasonB (6 Mar 2013)

As Pete said if you do go with Gauge plate then get it water jet cut if you want to do any further work on it. I Use Sciss as they are not too far away but they will post for not very much. I usually e-mail a .DXF file to them and they just put that into their software and it spits out a price and then the part.

CR4 is the usual mild steel grade that the lazer and water jet guys cut from and that would do for the other bits.

http://www.sciss.co.uk/

They will supply the metal so one less thing to track down, probably cut the CR4 from off cuts.

J


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## Eric The Viking (6 Mar 2013)

Thanks everyone - as it turns out I have to go to Binegar sometime soon, and Avonmouth is only a few minutes away - I'll investigate! It turns out there's a water-jet cutting outfit in Avonmouth too, who say on their web page that they do one-offs.

I think I can get DXF files out of Corel Draw and/or SketchUp. I've also used EPS (Postscript) and HPGL in the past to feed into machines, as both are somewhat convertible into DXF. 

The saving grace of this task is it's essentially two-dimensional, and needs no layers (they seem to be the the things that go wrong outputting to AutoCad format I've found).

I'll post as I go along, in case anyone's interested.

Cheers,

E.


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## Racers (7 Mar 2013)

Hi, Eric

Lost of 419 users out there, get a few cut I thing you could sell them.

Pete


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## Dibs-h (20 Mar 2013)

Eric

The outfit I've used in the past, relatively local to me, has a minimum charge of £100, and their work is 1st rate - ask anyone who bought one of the plates I had done -  ) I suspect many places may also have such a minimum charge.

As PeteM has pointed out - may be worth a punt for some sort of Group Buy, as many folk may have a Kity419 (I do - :wink: )

Dibs


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