Tom M'Guinn

I found this water-jet cutting service online and thought I'd share.

http://www.bigbluesaw.com/

It's a very slick way to make flat brackets, flanges, etc. (or brackets that can be cut flat and bent to final shape). You just upload your cad drawing, pick a material and thickness, and get an immediate quote. The brackets I ordered were in the mail within 2 or 3 work days after ordering. The resulting bracket was spot on to all my cad measurements, and the holes are at least as good as drilled holes -- perfectly fine for tapping.

The bracket I did is to hold the big MSD coil, along with a custom rectangular catch can. I still need to tap it and powder coat, etc., but was so happy with the bracket I wanted to show it off and promote the Big Blue Saw a little.

StuckIn86

Jay Wellwood

Great stuff.

Can't beat water jet cutting for precision and smoooootttthhhh parts.

Crazy Eddie

Man that is a heifer of a bracket
No flimsy metal here ....
Nice

Tom M'Guinn

I wanted to make it thick enough so I could tap the mounting holes, to avoid nuts that are otherwise hard to reach, and have it sturdy enough to hold a full catch can -- but it's probably over-kill with 1/4" 6061 aluminum. My DIY bracket for the MSD box is at least as sturdy

Simon Arthur

Hi Tom,
Simon from Big Blue Saw here.

I'm glad this part worked out for you, and thanks for pointing the rest of the forum in our direction.

Let me know if you have any questions about our service or waterjet cutting in general.

Paulyy

water jets are generally good. Was going to purchase one. but headed in a different direction.
glad it worked out for you.

V2Rocket

how does one obtain suitable software

Paulyy

Jump on their website. tells you.

but search cad programs. heaps around.

Tom M'Guinn

I use this:

http://www.freecadweb.org/

Crazy Eddie

I assume your going to power coat that bracket ??
I could make it real shinny for ya if ya like

Simon Arthur

You can find a bunch of good FREE or low cost CAD software listed here:
http://www.bigbluesaw.com/saw/faqs/f...-blue-saw.html

alxdgr8

Cool site! Will definitely use it in the future for some projects.

alxdgr8

What format did you use to upload to BigBlueSaw? DXF output isn't working right for me with FreeCAD and the website doesn't load when I try and upload a PNG.

Tom M'Guinn

You have to add a few files. See this thread:

http://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6009

Also, don't bother with what units are displayed (which will be mm by default). Just design in inches and ignore the indicated units. So if you want something to be 25.4mm long, for example, enter it as 1 (even if it shows as 1mm when designing)... The big blue saw system will read that as 1 inch (25.4mm) -- at least when using a freecad DXF export. The Big blue saw has it's own simple online cad system too, which I didn't try but looked very easy/simple....