Hello everybody.

I may have mentioned it previously, but I own a machining buisiness that has a CNC machine among its fleet, along with a CNC water jet and a CNC punch.

I have made a video of the Machining Center in all of its glory. Here it is:



It is a HAAS VF4 Machining Center. As you can see, it can cut out parts incredibly quick, any types of metal and/or plastic. It has interchangeable bits so the process doesn't need to be stopped to make changes to the head. This allows also for many different sizes of holes for either greater accuracy or speed. It has a hose that shoots out a compound of oil and water to keep the bit cool and thus avoids burn marks in the metal and/or plastic. The table is big enough for multiple pieces, as you may have seen. It is fully programmable, so send us your CAD or DXF files and we will get a quote back to you as soon as possible.

... and that is indeed country music in the background.



It is NOT a laser engraver. It is a mill. It will do everything a laser engraver can do and more.

This is a picture of the punch.


If you have any interest in having a case custom built, please post in this thread or PM me.

Sweet - can't wait to see some of the awesome cases you can make with that bad boy!

Would you provide the aluminum also?

What kind of prices do you have?

Shipping costs?

Hooah
~Scott

I am very interested and already have designs drawn up.

Well, it depends how much aluminum you need. If it isn't that big, then I could easily get some scraps (previously cut into, not any less quality). I have a metal supplier, so yes I will have all the metal I need on hand. If I charge you for it depends on how much you require.


You are looking at $50-$60 an hour for the machining alone. However, my newest machine is incredibly quick and efficient, so it shouldn't take too long.


It depends on many factors, mainly how big and heavy it is. Other than that, I have no idea where you live, so I wouldn't be able to accurately calculate it.

@eagle:
Yes, I am actually in the process of building a portable right now. So far so good, other than the fact that the battery is taking forever to ship. Hopefully I can make it for the compo, but then again I only started 2 1/2 weeks ago.

What would be a pricepoint guess for you on something, oh, zn40 sized, with some ccontroller button holes cut and the screenhole cut? 5.4"

EDIT: OOOPS. plastic case, duh. and no buttonholes, just scrren.

So you want something that has the exact same dimensions as a ZN-40 case, but you want a screen hole?
If so, then I would recommend you just save yourself a few pennies and just buy the ZN-40 case, and simply use a cutting wheel to get the screen hole. Since I assume you are referring to the PSone screen, then you could simply bondo that in to get a smooth screen hole. Then just paint the thing and you have a beautiful frankencase!

However, if you want to have something that has the same general size, but perhaps custom layout/dimensions, then yes I could do that VERY easily. After all, plastic is the cheapest to work with. You are looking at around $50 an hour.

How many hours?

For what you want: a fairly small unit with not many passes and cheap, quick plastic...
An hour to an hour and a half, max.
Should be easy enough, I mean it's just a box with a square cut in it.
(I can do speaker holes/grills too.)

Update Day!
I uploaded a video so you can all see it working. It runs great and incredibly quick.
Check the first post.

Really cool. I'm hoping to deal with you soon.

It appears that ben used an even less complex machine, just a 3 axis table router.
So yes I can do that. However after reading his threads again it appears he complained how long it took. I understand.
It takes a looooooooooooooooooooooooot of passes. It shouldn't take as long as it does for Ben, though, just because my machine is much faster than a router.
I can also do the boring old flat stuff too.
Hey, when did we get the old smileys back?

Just a week ago.

I'll probably be needing some of your work in the next month or so. Can't wait to see some cases. How expensive do you think the average case will cost?

Bump from the dead?

If you were to guess, with your machine, how much would it cost to make something pretty close to Ben's most recent laptop? Just out of plastic, and just the machining cost. If you scroll down there is a video of all the parts.

That's alright. I'm always up for customers.
If Ben actually supplied the files he used for one of these I may do an exact price quote. When it comes to these my approximations tend to be way off.
(So if you emailed Ben and possibly got the file off of him then I could get you an exact amount and if you want cut it out there and then.)

Oh, Skyone! It's been over a month and I still have no work from you!