[samu]

We want to do some small production work especially in 18ga stainless steel.(around 1000 part/year) Actually , we subcontract our production but we want to do in house production. Our part are mostly basic rectangular box with few inserts. 4'X4' working area will be sufficient. There is a lot of small hole (about 1/8" dia.) and sometimes, diameter need to be precise enough to put self clinching insert. Also, i know that an air plasma cause an hardening around the cutting area. Is this can prevent insert to clinch correctly? Wath kind of plama cutting machine is suitable for that kind of work and how much does it cost?

[Dustin407]

Well, I can tell you for a precision 1/8" hole plasma is not the way to go.... Maybe a combo table of plasma/Drill would prob. work best. You cut the rectangle boxes/perimeter with the plasma and let the drill do the 1/8" precision holes....

Here is a video to give you an idea... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN3JHxvGhzU&feature=related"]YouTube - PlasmaDrill12 -Drill & Plasma cut in 1 op[/ame]

[Med-Pac]

You can pierce the hole location and the chase drill the holes to your desired size. This only works with holes that are larger than the pierce hole size. hope that helps ya.

Mike