Anywhere you can order metal.pre cut?

[daveimi]

In my robot building career I've not learnt cad yet, but appreciate that precut metal is a lot more precise than I can get it. I have plans to learn cad after my degree finishes in the summer. But until then wondered if there are any sites where I can order a list of sheets in whatever sizes I want and then drill and bolt it all together?

[Maxamuslead]

I believe K-Cut can work from sketches but even doing a simple cad drawings in SketchUp or Fusion 360 is not that hard

[typhoon_driver]

Sounds like you want the parts cut without doing the CAD work up front. Much like asking a builder to build a house with no plans. I'd recommend learning CAD first. You could pick up the basics in a weekend of tutorials (at least enough to get designing a robot).

[daveimi]

Oh cool ok. Which cad do u all use, I know Inventor and SOLIDWORKS are the main two with Ellis using SOLIDWORKS etc. Which types of files do I need to generate to get to kcut, is fusion 360 the best to start with etc.

[Deathly Hallows]

Try OnShape good tutorials. Free. Updates regularly. Nothing to install runs in browser. App for phone/tablet.

[Andy]

Solidworks isn't free unless you can get it from work/uni/college, inventor you can get a trial on, but fusion is free, so I would recommend starting with that, all three do the same thing pretty much

[daveimi]

What file type is it you all send to kcut

[typhoon_driver]

Get yourself fusion 360 to start.

As far as file types, dxf is the standard profile type that any cutting company should accept. I would recommend keeping your parts to 1:1 scale to avoid sizing issues.

There are many more companies out there than K-cut. I did a quick google search and found I had a water cutters just down the road from me that are far cheaper so I've been going to them.

[Team Helix]

Simple Metal cutting

Fusion 360 is easy to learn, free and simple. I just made simple DXF files and sent them to http://www.lasered.co.uk/ for a quote in 1 week bits were back with me. Parts were perfect.

[daveimi]

That's brilliant thanku so much for all the help.

[I'll Play One Day]

I know it's 3 years since the last reply, but Whengparts will happily cut parts from a sketch, and they're cheap too.