Stamp me a custom metal bracket
July 6, 2011 5:06 AM Subscribe
We need a new bracket for our vinyl fence. Unfortunately, we can't find the part we need. Has anyone had experience using emachines or another custom machining company? We don't need the part carved from a block of metal - we just a stamped metal bracket made to our specifications.
It sounds like you just need something cut out of metal plate or bar, then drilled and bent. I think you'd be better off patronizing a small local metal fabricator. CNC seems like overkill.
posted by SomeTrickPony at 5:25 AM on July 6, 2011
posted by SomeTrickPony at 5:25 AM on July 6, 2011
Yeah, stamped isn't going to happen for a one-off part. It costs a lot of money to design and build the dies to make stamped parts, which is only made profitable in volume. A milled piece might work, but the strength might not be there. (Much of the strength in stamped pieces comes from the work hardening of the bends, and the shape.)
What I'd suggest is going to the construction/framing aisle of your home store and looking at the various brackets they use for reinforcing wooden structures. There are a lot of different shapes there, one of which ought to work. A coat or two of fence colored spraypaint would make the job seamless.
posted by gjc at 6:43 AM on July 6, 2011
What I'd suggest is going to the construction/framing aisle of your home store and looking at the various brackets they use for reinforcing wooden structures. There are a lot of different shapes there, one of which ought to work. A coat or two of fence colored spraypaint would make the job seamless.
posted by gjc at 6:43 AM on July 6, 2011
Is it just bent at an angle with some holes? All you need is a brake press and a bridgeport (or, even a drill press). Any decently sized fab shop should have one.
posted by notsnot at 7:12 AM on July 6, 2011
posted by notsnot at 7:12 AM on July 6, 2011
Do you have a picture of the part you need (like another one that hasn't failed)?
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 7:18 AM on July 6, 2011
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 7:18 AM on July 6, 2011
This is a job for your yellowpages. I've had a lot of luck getting custom one-off parts made at small machine shops. If you're just looking for a formed piece of plate, a guy with a brake and an arc-welder is all you need. "Custom Fabricators" or "Custom Engineering" or even "Machine shop" are the search terms to use. A well-equipped auto shop may be able to help, but you're more likely to be sucessful with a custom fabricator, in my opinion.
With something like this, you're mostly paying for shop time rather than materials. If it's complicated, it could get expensive, but something simple shouldn't cost too much.
posted by bonehead at 7:30 AM on July 6, 2011
With something like this, you're mostly paying for shop time rather than materials. If it's complicated, it could get expensive, but something simple shouldn't cost too much.
posted by bonehead at 7:30 AM on July 6, 2011
A sheet metal guy who's decent with an English Wheel and has a press brake might be able to do it, if I'm envisaging your part correctly (which is very very open to question).
So maybe add HVAC duct guys while you're looking for fabricators.
posted by aramaic at 7:54 AM on July 6, 2011
So maybe add HVAC duct guys while you're looking for fabricators.
posted by aramaic at 7:54 AM on July 6, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Does the part really have to be so complicated? Seems like it ought to be easy to improvise a functional fence part in some lower-tech way.
posted by jon1270 at 5:14 AM on July 6, 2011