I thought this group might be able to appreciate this part. I ordered 5 from PCBWay. They are 1/4" mild steel. For just over $30USD each I got them in 16 days. But I have SO MANY questions about their process.
I wanted to share my incredulity with group that might also have their minds blown with this.
PCBway does machining? I thought they were just for circuit boards.
Yeah, me too, but now they do CNC work and sheet metal as well. (In this case, both!)
I’d guess they started with 8mm plate and faced it to get to your 1/4" spec and ensure they meet your specified tolerance.
Probably cheaper than finding accurate 1/4"plate in China.
Probably, but why’d they do it with a tiny little end mill?? You’d think Blanchard grinding or at least using a fly cutter would be way faster/cheaper.
Isn’t this just a Cnc mill and then putting it in a press break after? What’s so special?
They CNC milled the thickness, then laser cut it, them formed it. It’s that first part that shouldn’t have happened.
Funny - my guess is they don’t have easy access to 1/4" stock, so they just machined the thickness down from whatever metric stock is common in China.
That’s my assumption as well, but why they wouldn’t say “hey could you use one of these standard thicknesses?” is beyond me.
This is funny to think about.
Maybe there’s somebody in China right now wondering why the customer would need something as weirdly specific as 6.35mm plate 🤣
