Water Cutting

[tunna]

Water Cutting

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

[supernova]

Water Cutting

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

[RogueTwoRobots]

Water Cutting

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

[supernova]

Water Cutting

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

[big_nipper]

Water Cutting

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.

[grant_ploughbot]

Water Cutting

Hi Suren, What is the size of the largest part? Kenny has just set-up himself a company and invested in some nice size CNC machines and has been testing hardox cutting on it recently.
If it fits on his machine i am sure he will be able to do it you at a pretty good price. Hes around leeds/huddersfield way.

[supernova]

Water Cutting

Grant,

I cant remember exactly, but its a bit shorter then 1m by 14cm wide. I didnt think you could mill hardox easily. I will contact Kenny, thanks!

Mark,

I have sent them the dxf files, and will see what quote he can come up with. Thanks for the suggestion.

Suren

[psycho_fling]

Water Cutting

control water jet

01246 284000

i had all the pieces for my fw frame done by them about 15 pieces total 6mm aliuminium but i had it sponsored through another company apparantly the company is small so may offer better prices

alex

[supernova]

Water Cutting

Hi Alex, I have tried them, they are more expencive :sad:.

I have found someone in Devon that can do the work, but cant get hold of the material, i have suggested J&L, but is there anywhere in the south that stocks hardox? Shipment is expencive!

Suren

[typhoon_driver]

Water Cutting

Suren,

Have you tried looking at these guys?

http://www.mtlgrp.com/http://www.mtlgrp.com/

One of the other few companies in the UK to deal with Hardox.

[supernova]

Water Cutting

Hi Gary, not tried them. Have send them an email, will see what they can come up with. Thanks

Suren

[johnny_boy]

Water Cutting

If you have any queries about Hardox material then please let me know. I must also tell you that of the companies you have all mentioned only MTL in Sheffield and JL Steel in Scotland are qualified Hardox suppliers. I have never heard of the others.

[big_nipper]

Water Cutting

Johnny your attitude/phrasing on the forum is certianly not helpful. The FanFic sections are mainly non-technical and most are still at school, so please think about your wording before posting there.

As for Advise that is always welcome, more so from an expert. I think most of us here would like to know the answer on the best / cheapests way of cutting it. Wire spark erosion is not rubbish it does work with close tolerances and my boss at work knows the company so had it cut and picked up the cost for me, hence why it was done that way. Should also point out that it was not Hardox that I had cut but Titainium.

Also we have a large milling machine in the garage and oftern wondered if it was possible to mill it. Do you know what grades and cutters if any could do this as this would save us alot of money.

[Kenny]

Water Cutting

mark ive been milling hardox 450 easily with a tegutec cutter with some tips normally used for tool steel, and also have some cobalt slot drills what cut it fine, just remeber to flood it with coolant

[johnny_boy]

Water Cutting

Kenny is right. The more coolant the better. Mark, I take your point regarding the phrasing of my posts. I work with engineers all day and the quicker and more concise my answers are the better. I dont thionk this translates well to the forum. I apologise for any offence I may have caused, and I will try to change the way I write these messages. The main point about cutting Hardox is to minimize the heat that is used in cutting it. Waterjet is the best but is very expensive, laser cutting produces a soft zone on the cut edge of around 0.25mm, and plasma is around 0.4mm.