Aalco Essex useless, never give you decent price on small quantities or offcuts.
Better luck from water jet suppliers
Didn't like the teachersWhy so thick?
If machining slots then I personally would go for cast tool plate as it is very stable and suited for heavy machining.600x300x50 is nowhere close to 1.5l : )
Multiply your working by 6...
Thickness as I want to machine slots into it.
600x300x50 is nowhere close to 1.5l : )
Multiply your working by 6...
Thickness as I want to machine slots into it.
Nope, just a normal wood router table.
I've got a small hand held (trend t4 I think) bit want to get a powerful unit (trend t11, or, more likley, the larger Triton one) and put it in a table.
But if you go to Axminster (etc) and look at tables, metal ones start at £400 odd and go up to the best part of a grand.
I spend my life chopping up alluminium, so I figured whats stopping me chopping up a bit for a table.
I mean even the router insert plates retain for £80 ish. They're just a bit of flat anodised with some holes. I buy 8x4 sheets of anodised...
My initial idea was to cast a lump. But then I worked out the volume and it was way larger than my A20 crucible (4l brimmed) would hold.
So I figured I'd just buy a lump... Hence this thread. But the cost is more than the refractory for the cupola furnace that I've been meaning to build for some time, so I think i might do that.
If I buy a lump, and screw up the machining, then I won't be happy, but if I cast a lump from stuff I have lying about here, then the worst that happens is i remelt it.
The convenient work area on my CNC is about 625mm X 300 (it's actually more like X 500, but I have permenant work holding set up and I can never be bothered to move it) so if I manage to cast a slab of about that sort of size, I can just strap it to the machine and flat it, cut all the holes etc.and it will be done.
I need to work out what sort of size direct melt furnace to build. My concern is both storage and the weight of the thing, once all the dense castable is in place (I would use dense castable only)
You might even get away with a couple of layers of 25mm MDF with 5mm alloy sandwiched each side and machined to give the wear resistance.
A trend t4 does not have a massive amount of power though
When I get around to mine il be going with an offcut of oak worktop with a Ali plate set in for the router. M12 so plenty of poke.A trend t4 does not have a massive amount of power though, I would think half a sheet of 10mm or so cut to the right sizes and stacked and bolted together would be ok?
I have recently had a visit from a new Aalco rep and he is saying that they have been losing a lot of business over the last few years due to the prices they have been quoting. He told me my previous experience of them being 40% higher was common and they were going to be doing something about it so could I give them another try. I have not done so yet but may do so next year.