Online CNC Machining Recommendation?

Lex4TDI4Life

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Jun 22, 2006
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2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
So I have decided to fab up brackets to mount Morimoto LED projectors to MKIV Golf headlight housings. After failing miserably at cutting my own sheet aluminum, I decided to learn some basic CAD and design them to be CNC machined by someone else. Does anyone have recommendations for a shop I can send my CAD files to to do the machining?

Here is what I am looking at:



 

GoFaster

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Brampton, Ontario, Canada
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2006 Jetta TDI
A flat piece like that out of relatively thin aluminum sheet should be capable of being cut by waterjet. Google-search "waterjet cutting" and your location to find a local place that can do it. I did just that for my own area and that turned up several possibilities.
 

Lex4TDI4Life

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Jun 22, 2006
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NorCal
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2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
A flat piece like that out of relatively thin aluminum sheet should be capable of being cut by waterjet. Google-search "waterjet cutting" and your location to find a local place that can do it. I did just that for my own area and that turned up several possibilities.
Thank you! This is why I bring questions like this to TDIClub :D
 

GoFaster

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Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
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2006 Jetta TDI
Couple small things. If this is constructed as a solid model, integrate your three tabs and the circular piece properly into one solid. If it is lines and curves in 2D, trim off the unused parts of the circles and rectangles - the parts that you don't actually want the waterjet to cut.

Ask the shop if they want you to handle the kerf width, and if so, how. Ideally, your part drawing is the nominal shape, and *they* deal with the kerf offset.
 

Lex4TDI4Life

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
NorCal
TDI
2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
Couple small things. If this is constructed as a solid model, integrate your three tabs and the circular piece properly into one solid. If it is lines and curves in 2D, trim off the unused parts of the circles and rectangles - the parts that you don't actually want the waterjet to cut.

Ask the shop if they want you to handle the kerf width, and if so, how. Ideally, your part drawing is the nominal shape, and *they* deal with the kerf offset.
Thanks! This is my first attempt at playing with CAD, so I appreciate the tips. Having a head for neither art nor math, it is a learning experience.
 

vandermic07

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01 Golf 5 spd, 03 Jetta Wagon
Call some of your local fabrication/welding/machine shops. One of them has to have a water jet or laser table or they might know someone. also search for prototyping/short run shops. they might have one as well. If all else fails, either online vendor or maybe a local college or trade school might have one.
 

tothemax

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Nevada
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TDIs: 2003 Jetta, 2016 Q5 3.0
Here is a goofy idea for you to consider... Have you considered someone to 3D print these for you instead of CNC?
If yes, pls PM me and I will email you a friend who is big into 3D printing. If you email him the file he can whip you up a couple
Also am super interested your Golf retrofit project.. Pls post lotsa progress photos with how you went about it.... was considering the same for my MKIV golf but abandoned the project because I did not want the same dremel and epoxy drama as on my Jetta... I posted some pics of the back of the Jetta housing drama here Please Any Feedback on Morimoto H7 LED bulbs in OEM housings
 

Lex4TDI4Life

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Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
NorCal
TDI
2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
Here is a goofy idea for you to consider... Have you considered someone to 3D print these for you instead of CNC?
If yes, pls PM me and I will email you a friend who is big into 3D printing. If you email him the file he can whip you up a couple
Also am super interested your Golf retrofit project.. Pls post lotsa progress photos with how you went about it.... was considering the same for my MKIV golf but abandoned the project because I did not want the same dremel and epoxy drama as on my Jetta... I posted some pics of the back of the Jetta housing drama here Please Any Feedback on Morimoto H7 LED bulbs in OEM housings
Funny you should mention that. I wanted to go with aluminum so I could bend those tabs down to better conform to the rounded contours of the Golf reflector. I found a shop that would take my file and water jet cut the aluminum. What I got from them, however, was enormous:



Probably about 4x the size I needed. I thought maybe my CAD file was garbage or my file export was corrupted or something. But I double checked and it seemed fine. After thinking about it a little more, I realized I might be able to use the same design without having to bend the tabs down, in which case, yes, I could use a 3D printed part. What you see in the middle above is exactly that. I ordered from an online printer because I needed it in nylon, which is more rigid and durable than the materials that hobbyist printers generally use. The dimensions match my CAD file.



It is 3mm thick and seems rigid enough for the application. Sadly, after trying a test fitting of the headlight projector, it looks like I am going to need a couple more millimeters of play in the interior, so back to the drawing board. I am going to see if my local 3D printing coop has a printer that can handle nylon. I am impatient and want to get this working! Here is an idea of how it might come together, though:



 
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tothemax

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Nevada
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Anxious to see how these will fit and attach inside the reflectors. You may have a great invention there to mitigate all the drama associated with the four bolt method/ leveling / epoxying
 

Lex4TDI4Life

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Jun 22, 2006
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NorCal
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2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
the fab shop was probably a conversion issue. inch to metric vise versa.
what was the cost difference?
Oy!

With shipping, the aluminum brackets were $95 for the pair. I learned my lesson with the 3d printed one and ordered only one to make sure it worked before getting another. $25 after shipping for just one.
 
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