Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Mechanics and Construction => Mechanics and Construction => Topic started by: Qucifer on June 26, 2007, 06:49:16 PM

Title: Help for builders
Post by: Qucifer on June 26, 2007, 06:49:16 PM
Hello everyone, I have never built a robot, but I own something similiar. I own a CNC plasma cutter, which gives me the ability to cut custom parts out or steel or aluminum sheet. While my services dont suit everyone, they might come in handy for some. I am not selling anything here, just offering an avenue for people who might be interseted. Check out my website for more info http://www.MANvsMETAL.com . I dont have any robots on it, but you can get a good idea of what we do.http://
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: HDL_CinC_Dragon on June 26, 2007, 10:05:17 PM
The site isnt very friendly on the eyes and mine arnt even that old :-p I suggest using a new scheme for your colors and such. Nothing wrong with black and white with variations here and there. I didnt even bother navigating around because it hurt my eyes. It could be because im a little tired but still, any situation that creates unrest of the eyes is a situation you might want to fix. How many people who need something fabbed have gotten sleep lately? :-p
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: sotu on June 27, 2007, 03:03:27 AM
I wouldent reccomend coming to this forum just to commrecial for your website and your services!
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: ed1380 on June 27, 2007, 06:16:38 AM
I wouldent reccomend coming to this forum just to commrecial for your website and your services!
yep.
and the color scheme is good
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Admin on June 27, 2007, 07:14:44 AM
What are your achievable tolerances? Are the cut edges smooth or rough? What thickness material can you do? What are your costs?

ps - Ill allow this advertisement because it could be useful for a robot builder with some $$ to throw around :P

I had to look this up (http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab=wi&client=firefox-a&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=CNC%20plasma%20cutter) cause I'd never heard of it before . . .
pretty!
(http://www.art4metalworking.com/photos/Art4metalworking/8Tables/h1Plasma_cutting_leaves.jpg)
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Qucifer on June 27, 2007, 07:08:07 PM
Hey guys,
Thanks for the feedback positive and negative. I know my site isn't visually stimulating, but we are fabricators first, and website designers last ;D
To Admin, thanks for not chucking my post off as spam, thats not my intention. The machine has a tolerance of .005", but that does not account for the kerf width variations and such from the actual plasma cutter. Its probably closer to .05" after final cut, which is much smoother than Oxy/Acet. We do remove slag and smooth out the edges of our parts with a grinder. I wouldnt reccomned plasma cutting for small mechanical parts, but for structural parts, it can be a cheaper way to go. The machine cuts flat metal, steel, stainless steel, and aluminum.  Like I mentioned, it would probably work best for structural parts, underbody's, frames, stuff like that. The thing thats really neat about the machine is once I come up with a workable design, I can save the file, and cut as many more of the identical part as I want later on. For flat parts, with no bending or welding, I sell them based on thier size. An idea would be this sign I made, it is 21" long, and 8 1/2" wide. Its made of 1/8th inch steel, and I would typically sell a sign like this for about 40 bucks unpainted. Aluminum would be a litte more of course since it is more expensive for the materials. I base the price on the total sacrificed area of material that is used, not the number of cuts or intracacies of the design. If you can fit 3 or 4 parts in this same area of steel as this sign, it wouldnt cost any more. Just a quick note, if you have a design for a flat part already in .dxf format, we can upload it, and burn your part. We do also weld, mig and tig. That is an hourly service. Ive attached a picture of the sign I was referencing.
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Admin on June 27, 2007, 08:29:23 PM
hmmm sounds exactly like abrasive water cutting in terms of capabilities and drawbacks . . . right?
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: ed1380 on June 27, 2007, 08:59:05 PM
love the sign.
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: sotu on June 28, 2007, 03:14:55 AM
Qucifer:
Read your guestbook, do you ship your products?
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Qucifer on June 28, 2007, 05:28:16 AM
Well, I have never used abrasive water cutting, but I think plasma is a little bit rougher. The benefit of plasma cut parts is they are cheaper. 1/8" this steel is pretty thick for a small robot, i'm sure something thinner could be used, saving material costs. I might build a small sheetmetal frame and post pics of it here to give an idea of the actual capabilities. I have never built a robot, unless you consider legos technics a valid robot building tool. If people would post pics of thier robots here, I could get a good idea of what could be done. I have no problem building demo parts to give some photo evidence.

I do ship parts.  I can use UPS, FEDEX, or regular USPS. I have not setup an online store yet, that will come soon. I mainly work out of shop at this point, and the majority of my work is automotive performance, but my CNC machine is so versatile that I am stretching my services to the internet. Right now I do online work through email correspondence. Feel free to email me with any questions. I try to answer all emails withing 24 hours.

Q
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: megaman935 on June 28, 2007, 04:39:09 PM
Looks cool, If I ever need a plasma cutter, I guess I now know where to look :)
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Qucifer on June 28, 2007, 05:27:57 PM
I have to do quite a bit of cutting this weekend. I will post some close up pictures of the stuff I do to give you a better idea of everything. I might demo a couple of possible bot parts, or what I would thing would be cool for a bot anyway. Like I said before this is just an\possible avenue for parts, plus I think it would be cool to make some bot parts as well.
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: sotu on June 29, 2007, 03:10:55 AM
When you start up your online store you can take special orders where your customers give you the exact measurements.
AND you can sell pre-made robot chassis!
Just some ideas, and yeh you have to do something with that website, not to be rude be it looks a little weird ::)

Me and my dad is kinda "pro" web designers. We have read several web builders books and we use a software called: Frontpage.
Many cool things to use. If your interested to upgrade your web page a little come back to me, maybe we can switch products :P
Some cutted plates for an awsome web page.
PS: i'm also pretty good at Logo designing, i have designed some logos for my friends and myself, EKS:

Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Qucifer on June 29, 2007, 04:52:54 AM
Haha, I know my website is rough, and I did use Microsoft Frontpage to design it. Its the first website I have ever done, hopefully when I have more time to play with the software, I can make it a little better. Pretty much all of the stuff we sell is new design or custom. In the fabrication business, thats your bread and butter since we charge $80 to $100 an hour depending on our backlog. I do plan on having some prefabbed parts for my online store, and if I can come up with a nice generic design for a chassis that can serve as a universal component that many people can use, the easier and cheaper it can be for everyone. Design time is the killer part, the actualy cutting is a breeze.
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: antrock101 on July 04, 2007, 10:43:18 PM
Me and my dad is kinda "pro" web designers. We have read several web builders books and we use a software called: Frontpage

Sorry m8 but no pro builder would touch frontpage html coding is the way its done and css ect i know cos i work for a web building firm lol
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: sotu on July 05, 2007, 03:00:53 AM
OMG, with frontpage you can open pages where u write ure own html codes, i dident said i dont use it!
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: HDL_CinC_Dragon on July 05, 2007, 05:07:14 PM
Im very good with designing web pages (I use FrontPage sometimes but I only use its HTML editor. I could technically use notepad just as easily but Im not gunna own an expensive program and not use it... lol

If you want I can create one for you for free, just tell me what you want on it and ill whip one up for you.
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Qucifer on July 05, 2007, 07:58:26 PM
Thanks for the offer Dragon, but I like playing around with my site. Its the first one I have ever done, and I am learning from it. I am going to start my own webforum next, still trying to figure that one out.
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: sotu on July 06, 2007, 12:19:14 PM
If u look at the buttom of this forum u can see who the forum is powered by, its a free, downloadeble page to get ure own forum up running,
NOTE: a forum takes a lot of space on your web page, so if your page is powered by those u have to pay after how big ure page is there is easier ways, "smaller" ways to do it!
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Qucifer on July 06, 2007, 12:28:38 PM
I plan on buying another domain name and larger webspace for my forum. Thanks for the tip on using SMF, thats a great idea. Also, I like your logos, they are alot better than mine.
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: S. Karim on July 06, 2007, 01:25:57 PM
you guys can at least get off his back about the website. geez he's here to offer CNC services, he's not asking for web critiques. give him a break on it already ::).
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: Qucifer on July 06, 2007, 04:51:13 PM
Its cool, I dont mind one bit. I do like this forum though. Never really thought about building a robot before, but now I think ive been missing out. I am going to have to build one. I build everything else.
Title: Re: Help for builders
Post by: sotu on July 13, 2007, 04:59:21 AM
Also, I like your logos, they are alot better than mine.

Im sure i can make one for you free just tell me what u want:

> Color
> 3D or 2D
> What do u want to be written on it?
>You want the logo to represent anything? Like a 3D logo "representing" plasma cutting?

If you diden't understand my last question i can explain:
I made my logos representing my Robot building so i made Sotu (dont my why) with a screw going threw the T in soTu, this screw represent robot building.

Edit: I can send it to you if you dont want me to post it on the forum (copyright..:P)