Northern California - Peninsula machine shop?

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View Full Version : Peninsula machine shop?


daryl1
11-05-09, 08:36 PM
I need to cut a small piece of carbon fiber for a piece I am making for use on my tt bike. I figure I could do it with a dremel and a diamond cutting wheel, but I'd like to avoid the potential mess.

Does anyone know of a machine shop around the menlo park area that has a water jet cutter?


ahpook
11-06-09, 12:21 AM
Techshop's right in the hood

http://www.techshop.ws/

daryl1
11-06-09, 01:33 AM
I was lookigng at Techshop, but $50 to make 4 or 5 cuts (probably just a few minutes of use once I figure out how the tool works) seems like a bit much. :(


ericm979
11-06-09, 09:24 AM
I would just do it myself. It's going to take some time to set up your piece in the machine and to program it (even if you provide the g-code file), and that'll be a fixed cost. Amortized over a bunch of parts it'd be cheap but for one it would be quite expensive. And it's not worth it for most shops.

If the cuts are straight, then I suggest a fine toothed hacksaw, just like you would use for cutting a steerer tube. It doesn't make that much of a mess. Use some backing material to keep the cf from splintering. If the cuts are curved, then a combination of roughing out with a hacksaw or jigsaw and sanding to the finial shape would work.

What are you making?

daryl1
11-06-09, 03:35 PM
I found a guy that says he can do small jobs, if it doesn't work out I may just take a hacksaw or a dremel to it. After cutting aerobar extensions and steerer tubes I found that it can get a little messy with all the bits of carbon fiber.

It's actually really simple, I have a carbon plate and I need to cut it down to fit between the aerobar extensions, so I can mount a water bottle on. Because I have a funny looking handlebar (the original hed) I need to get the bottle a bit further back, so it lines up with my forearms and not my hands.

I got the idea from this setup cervelo did:

http://i38.tinypic.com/2946mo3.jpg

I'd like to simply zip tie the cage on, but the bars have a funny design in front of the stem:

http://www.hedcycling.com/images/zoom/aerobarbasebar-large.jpg