Water Jet cutting questions

[PHPaul]

I have a hydraulic sicklebar trimmer (Sabre Samurai) that clamps to the side of the bucket on my loader. Not terribly stiff. In fact, due to the leverage of the mount and the thin sides of my bucket, it flops around like a wounded duck. Plus, clamping it to the bucket puts the weight significantly forward of the loader arms, which doesn't help.

I bought a blank SSQA (Skid Steer Quick Attach) plate that mounts to my loader arms nicely, will pull things a foot or more closer to the tractor and allows for quick mount/dismount versus messing around with set screws and alignment, etc.

Plan A was to modify the original bracket and weld it to the SSQA which would stiffen things up nicely. However, looking at the bracket, I'd have to chop it up pretty significantly and if it doesn't work or I don't like it, I'm out of luck.

A spare fully adjustable mounting bracket with spring loaded break-away (all of which is a requirement) is $400 plus shipping.

I'm wondering if having the relevant pieces cut out on a water jet and weld up a new mount myself would save me any money.

I would need the two pieces with the arced adjustment slots cut in them. It's 10mm steel, but 1/2 inch would be fine.

Two questions:

1. Any clue at all what I should expect to pay? I realize this would vary by area/market but a ballpark figure would be helpful in making a decision. I do have two shops in a reasonable distance that have water jet cutting capability.

2. Do they need a CAD drawing to work from, or can I just leave the original for them to copy. If they need the CAD, it would obviously be cheaper for me to come up with a CAD drawing than to have them do it.

 

[Flyinfool]

They can do their own CAD work from a paper drawing, but you will pay a bunch extra for it. If you can give them a DXF it will save you a bunch.

Is there a reason you need water jet cutting. Laser or Plasma cutting will a bunch cheaper. Flame cutting would work but the parts will need a lot more cleanup.

The pic is a bit blurry but it looks like the originals might be laser cut.

Check with you steel supplier, many of them offer laser or plasma cutting as a value added operation. A local shop will buy the steel from that same supplier for the same price you would pay and then mark up the price to you for the material and then add the labor and machine cost.

I do not know what equipment you have to work with but I would rough cut those out on the band saw and finish to size on my milling machine. The only cost would be the material and maybe a cutter or 2.

 

[stupoty]

A local shop will buy the steel from that same supplier for the same price you would pay

I was actually surprised the last time I got a quote for cutting, the cutting place was about half the price that the fabrication place could purchase the material for. only thing I can think is they super bulk as they only need to keep one type of stock in a few sizes.

Stu

 

[PHPaul]

Water Jet was just my first thought. Plasma or flame would be plenty accurate enough and I don't mind doing the cleanup.

I'll visit a couple shops tomorrow with the pieces and see what I find.

I do have an ancient copy of AutoCAD13 but my skills are 30 years old and beyond rusty.

 

[Flyinfool]

I was actually surprised the last time I got a quote for cutting, the cutting place was about half the price that the fabrication place could purchase the material for. only thing I can think is they super bulk as they only need to keep one type of stock in a few sizes.

Stu

Depending on the size of you part they often have drops from other jobs big enough for your small part. Where I work we do that all the time. If there is a big cutout in a part that cutout will be saved but the customer paid for the full blank size, so the cutout drops are basically free material for some other small part. It is also common to mix jobs together so that you small part might get nested in between other parts where someone else already paid for the material and setup time. All your part cost them was actual cutting time and overhead.

 

[frugalguido]

If you had a cad drawing, you could send the files to sendcutsend.com, they can do ½" thick in different grades of steel for a reasonable price.

 

[C-Bag]

If the temper of the material is a deal, flame and plasma can mess up your hardness. Laser is so fast it doesn’t effect temper on my parts. Plasma really softened it, but my parts are 1/8” thick. Doing it with bandsaw then your mill would of course not change the temper but doing curved slots in 1/2” was a job on my mill/ drill.

 

[twraska]

I’d get the pieces flame cut from 1/2” plate, weld it up and never look back.

 

[Jake M]

Maybe I'm missing something? I've never played with one of those. Wouldn't it be easier/quicker/more correctable if you were to take that quick tach plate and add a flat plate to that to "act like" a bucket side? That could be gusseted/braced as needed, and once it was all on and dialed in, a couple of cleats could be tacked on, or the whole attachment clamp 'tacked' into place to prevent movement, yet still be changable if it's ever needed?

 

[PHPaul]

Maybe I'm missing something? I've never played with one of those. Wouldn't it be easier/quicker/more correctable if you were to take that quick tach plate and add a flat plate to that to "act like" a bucket side? That could be gusseted/braced as needed, and once it was all on and dialed in, a couple of cleats could be tacked on, or the whole attachment clamp 'tacked' into place to prevent movement, yet still be changable if it's ever needed?

That's certainly an option and is on the list of backup plans, but part of the reason for the mod is to pull the mower closer to the loader arms and stiffen things up a little.

Turns out, my grandson has a buddy with a CNC table, we're contacting him to see if he's willing to do it for me.