I found this service this morning. Can’t speak to their quality yet, as I have only just placed an order. I can say their prices are very reasonable. This might be an alternative for photoetching for some of you (Craig).
Thanks Burl…
Burl is referencing to my latest project. This is a long term project, but I’m taking it slowly, and trying not to plow my way through the design process but I want to build the entire thing out of brass.
I have looked a bit around at Ponoko but I’m not far enough into the design phase yet to get pricing. My problem is that this is only one of a few designs I want to make out of brass (detail parts of EMD locomotives are near the top of that list as well) so I will have to see what develops pricing wise.
https://www.ponoko.com/laser-cutting
If I was smart, I would make friends with the shop teacher here at the high school, because I think we have a laser cutter. I’m sure if I supplied the brass and the drawings he might be willing to cut it?
Here is the design as it stands of 2/20/19 at 13:20 local PST 
Ponoko only does photo-etching, as far as I know. I don’t know what wattage is required to cut metal, but I don’t think hobbyist laser cutters don’t have enough power. Maybe Cliff could enlighten us on this.
Burl Rice said:
Ponoko only does photo-etching, as far as I know. I don’t know what wattage is required to cut metal, but I don’t think hobbyist laser cutters don’t have enough power. Maybe Cliff could enlighten us on this.
That’s what I’ve heard as well, Burl.
Nice find, thanks for posting it.
Thanks for sharing that link, Burl. I certainly have a few projects up my sleeve that they could help me with.
Brass is only offered in 2 sizes.
.063 and .125
Got my parts in today:
They were both fast & cheap. I set up my artwork on a 8.5 x 11" page, so I got 36 in one cut. Total (with shipping) of $48. I will definitely be using this service again in the future.
Cool!
That’s a lot better pricing than Ponoko…
I just created a login to see what the prices are.
$200 for a 15"x 15" by .032 Thick brass.
For my project I’m looking for something in the .015-.030 range
I would love to have some custom window frames laser cut from brass, but it seems their tolerances aren’t fine enough for what I would want.
Maybe that’s how they keep their prices low… I guess you’re wanting parts smaller than 1/16"?
I have used this place a lot, mostly for plastics but they do some thin metal. They are pretty quick and reasonably priced. https://www.pololu.com/product/749
Burl Rice said:
Maybe that’s how they keep their prices low… I guess you’re wanting parts smaller than 1/16"?
Yep.
Chris Kieffer said:
I have used this place a lot, mostly for plastics but they do some thin metal. They are pretty quick and reasonably priced. https://www.pololu.com/product/749
I see they can do ABS, so that might be the way to go.