Getting stuff made

I found the same thing many years ago in Sydney when I wanted to get an Aerial Bracket made up. They have plenty of hiigh quantity work these days, so they're not interested in one-offs.

The things that I found would help were -

1. Make it ckear it will be cash on pickup.

2. Get the metal sheet from a scrap-metal dealer and mark it up with cuts and folds.

Mike

the suggestion of getting material from a scrap metal yard and marking it out for them makes me think you may be able to do the whole job yourself? slightly scoring the inside of the bends with a steel cutting disc makes the folding so much easier and more accurate

Sounds like same old thing I wanted it yesterday and its going to cost me somthing.
I get the same call every second day.

All the best
Eric

tOme

Try some one who specialises or does a lot of work for MOtor Racing, such as speedway. These guys are used to making odd stuff.

As far as price and time goes, here in Perth every decent workshop has a lot of work. If they arn't busy they arn't good. With price most trademans etc will charge $50 per hour easy, 1/2 days work is $200 so it doesn't take long to add up to a lot of money.

Alan

Hi tOme,

For people in Adelaide, I get my brackets and odd thingies made up by "Metal Fabricators" in Edwardstown in Adelaide - tell them Andrew from [insert my business name] sent you - I know it's not much use to you t0me, but I think you should just keep trying until you find the right place.

I generally find that they charge $30 to scratch themselves (fair enough) and about $50 per hour - I'm prepared to pay that. Everything comes out exactly as I specify it. Most of my stuff has minimal material, but you would need to factor something in. When it comes to the real little jobs, they end up doing it for nothing - the relationship is worth a lot to me.

They are not into cash deals - they only do GST incl (which is fine by me anyway as it's for the busienss), but are flexible, understanding and provide great quality work.

Ciao for now
Andrew.

If you havent already, try Mitchell Industries, or A D Coote, dont know the numbers, but they are in Welshpool.

try a supplier of steel products....a lot of these places have sheet metal folders, guilotines, and rollers etc.....
or
go to a airconditioning sheet metal shop give them a sketch with dimensions and call it "pipe flashing" to meet off shore oil rig specs!

I went to a Trailer manufacturer, same place as made my trailer. No problems at all.
Only cost about $50 for a basic plate with 2 x 45 degree bends and a few holes.

A WHOLE 3 WEEK WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY GOD WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO SURVIVE THE MASSIVE WAITING PERIOD????????????

you could become 1 of our custumers
if your not prepared to suit our times and dates go to the bottom of the hat and wait again

steve

busy electrician

ps did you ave a cashy under anybodies nose

Another problem facing thos eof us who want a quick, cheap bending job done is that the simple Panbrake is disappearing to be replaced by teh computerised bending machine.

It can do just about anything, but only after they've set up the appropriate dies and programmed all the details.

I have done my own bending - get some heavy angle iron placed under the bend, then use a bolster and hammer along the top of the bend.

Alternatively use the 1 tonne press you have already - place angle iron on the ground, the metal on top, a steel bar on top, your hydraulic jack on that. Put it all under the vehicle and start jacking.

Mike

TOme.
I could fold it for you but am in vic, when i was making a bash plate out in the desert during a race I used the bucket on a bobcat to fold the plate, it came out with very smooth curves so if you have a mate with a bobcat with a 4 in one bucket your set.
Eric

As a tradesman boilermaker/specialist Tig welder working in the motorsports industry here in Victoria I can sympathise with the workshops. We get these sort of enquiries all the time and inevitably the 1st thing that people say "it'll only take 5 minutes". Unfortunately, it never happens that way. Assuming a guard or bash plate with dimensions around 900mm X 900mm of 5mm aluminium then there's about $80+ in material straight away. You may show them a diagram of the "well designed" one you like but there's no accurate dimensions to work with so it all has to be measured up on the car or copy the original one on the car already. This all takes time and it's amazing just how much time it takes. The jobs a "one off" so you know you'll never make another one and it's nearly impossible to put a price on it without actually building it in the 1st place and pricing it on hours on the job. If you tell the customer it could take a 5 or 6 hours to build @ $60 per hour plus material suddenly you're looking at $300 - $360 plus material plus GST.
These jobs are never as easy as they look, I know, I do this stuff for a living working in aluminium, stainless and Chrome/Moly every day.
There's no point criticising the workshops, we all know there's no free lunch out there and often it's better to say "sorry mate, we're just too busy" and most of us are too busy. These sorts of jobs we'll try and fit in if we can at times but it's always without interrupting our regular bread and butter work and if the customer can't or won't wait we're sorry but that's the best we can do.
Regards Andrew.

try Lone Wolf he a shet metal worker

Richard

give me a call on 0408925606