Large 304 stainless steel "washer"

Sounds like an easy job for any shop that has a plasma cutter, CNC or manual with a circle jig. Plasma is much cheaper than laser and produces a much better cut than oxy/acet aka flame cut.

Pete C.

you cannot cut stainless with an oxy/acetelyne flame, must use plasma or laser.

Or water jet.

I could to that easily. Half inch is on my edge though. Best to find some CNC guy with a 1260 Hypertherm or such - I am told I can cut 1/2 and messy cut higher.

How perfect are the edges ? - is it a surface flat or is it show stuff.

I could cut and let you clean the edges as needed. Grinding or hammer/flat steel edge rod... :-)

Martin

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Abrasha wrote:

It will have to be plasma or laser cut. You can't flame cut stainless steel.

Tom

It could be done with a good sized plasma cutter and a template made of something like OSB.

Dan

I meant to say "plasma cut" instead of "flame cut", my bad.

As far as the responses I have received are concerned, with all do respect, I don't care how it's done.

What I need is a price quote or the name and phone number of a place in the San Francisco Bay Area that can do this for me. I have not been able to find any leads yet.

Thanks in advance.

Abrasha:

Try these guys -- their brochure says they offer both abrasive water-jet and plasma cutting in the size range you need, for nickel alloys and stainless steel. They apparently have a San Francisco office.

Regards,

Bob

What are you making? A bracelet for King Kong?

Regards,

Bob

Thanks, I'll give them a call on Monday.

I am making a decorative "ceiling flange", to bridge the gap, between a new stainless steel fireplace flue and the edge of the hole in the wooden ceiling through which this flue passes.

Here is a before picture.

Please note, that this is the old flue. It has terra cotta inside of galvanized steel.

The new flue will be a galvanized steel flue, inside a 14 ga stainless steel sleeve around which this ceiling flange will be installed. The new flue will have a smaller diameter than the old one, so the gap in the photo will be wider.

Good grief! If that's what it's for why on earth do you need .5" thick SS? Surely something in a much lighter gauge would be just fine. I'm big on overkill, but even I wouldn't go that overboard.

Pete C.

I knew someone was going to mention that. I know I could get this in 14 ga or

10 ga and be done with it. However, 1/2" will look a great deal better. A thin one will just look wimpy, and a thicker one will look just right. It's all about aesthetics, not just function. I will post a picture when it's done.

I know the plate will weigh about 25 lbs, so it will be hollowed out from the back, to reduce the weight to about 10 lbs, which will help a great deal during installation.

So why don't I have the whole thing fabricated out of thinner stainless steel sheet? Cost. The fabrication of such a plate, i.e. a 14 ga sheet welded onto

14 ga ring and cleaned up, and then drilled with a 6 hole bolt circle will cost about 5 times as much as a machined 1/2" stainless steel washer.

I have quotes for that already. I am now just trying to get the raw material as cheaply as possible. I already have the machinist lined up who will face both sides of the plate, which will most likely be warped from the heat of plasma cutting, trim the OD and ID to spec and hollow out the back and drill and countersink the holes for the screws.

It will, of course, have your signature inlaid gold ring and rivets...?

Even if you forego the ring, I don't see how you could possibly resist a nice triangular arrangement of gold rivets. Probably need, what, about 1" thick rod to keep them in scale?

Seriously, it might make sense to just forget machining the back and save the bucks, other than drilling the mounting holes -- the difference in weight isn't going to make all that much difference, given you will need to fasten it to the framing in any case. And if you get it water-jet cut, there won't be any distortion. I'm not sure what is cheaper with that size stock, plasma or water-jet, but not machining it might make up the difference in any case. Might not distort even with a plasma cutter -- you see that fancy scroll-work CNC cut stuff all the time, and it doesn't warp, although of course it's much thinner than 1/2 inch stock. . Regards,

Bob

Have you considered making it something other than round? Hexagon or octagon where it could be bent from lighter gauge sheet and only have a few seams to weld vs. an entire perimeter?

Do you have any sort of tech schools in the area? Perhaps it could be fab'd as a class project as low cost (either design).

Pete C.

Most good steel supply companys have a plasma burning table to cut shapes. The cost of cutting at the supplyer I deal with is next to nothing , probably 5 bucks for cutting the plate you need.

John

Now Pete put up another one - a 7 sided or 9 or - maybe an eyebrow shape on one side or both long sides :-)

CAD is wonderful like that - did a foot ball looking C with T A&M within the T bridging and below the A&M - the ampersand within the T.

I do ovals by doing a minor circle and then changing the height - a tall oval. Rotate as needed.

Been doing CAD for so many years in IC's and PCB - now to plasma cut the various metals.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Pete C. wrote:

Great.

Do you know of any "good steel supply companies" in the San Francisco Bay Area that might be able to do just that?

Rotate as needed.

I just added a Hypertherm Powermax 1000 to my collection of toys, haven't got in on CNC yet, but will soon. My current project is upgrading power to my shop.

Pete C.