Which tends to be cheaper for ~10,000 pcs of small, relatively simple parts (~3" long simple shapes with 2 or 3 1/4" holes in them).... getting them punched or laser cut? The material is 14 gauge stainless.
Joe
14 gauge SS is going to have a very high die wear. Lasers can cut an entire 4' x 8' sheet at once. You will have a slight burr from a laser. Get a competitve price for waterjet.
Depending on the complexity of the die and if you can make the die and have a press, I would recommend punching them. Send me a print, I might want to do them for you. I think Ernie's right about the SS being tough but 10k pieces is nothing. It depends on you're budget...which is? What's your time frame? Do you have a laser cutter lined up yet? (Top posted...the right way!)
Yea...look into water jet unless you expect the job to ever repeat. The water jet cutter should be able to stack sheet to get the cost down. How many they can stack depends on the tolerances you have.
Depending on the profile and tolerances, it may be cheaper to use miltiple press operations with standard dies and simple jigs. the labor goes up but most, if not all, of the dies may already be ont he shelf. Also, may be cheaper if you profile cut on laser or water jet and punch the holes as a second op. This eliminates the piercing portion of the laser/WJ cutting which I've heard (don't quote me) ups the costs.
Koz
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