CNC/Laser Tube Profiling

[Goody]

We are interested in doing a CNC or Laser process for our chassis tubes, funding allowed.

I've searched on the forum and found some threads from ~2008, ~2010. With how quickly things change, does anyone with more recent experience with this process have input on who they used? overall cost? -actual- lead times? Cartesian seems to be the most popular.

I am with the University of North Texas, this will be our second year producing an FSAE car. Our first chassis build took quite a long time to build and if we have the money to spend, that means more testing time available instead!

Thank you for the help-

http://engineering.unt.edu/sites/default/files/imagecache/reg/photos/Formula-SAE-Competition-UNT-Race-Car.jpg

[jlangholzj]

We have a local company laser cut all of our chassis tubes for us. Quite frankly....i wouldn't want to do it any other way.

If you get a good company, lead time is a few days to a week depending on how busy they are. Quality is great and (obviously) the fit on the car is second to none.

If you've got the resources to do it, i would definitely recommend doing it.

[MOTO909]

I would suggest finding a local company that will do it for free rather than paying cash. Surely in the Dallas area there is multiple companies with tube lasers. I would think at least one would help out.

[Owen Thomas]

Like the others said local options are usually the way to go, but since you asked I'll put in a word about Cartesian. They are accurate, timely, and provide an FSAE discount; I don't know what more you could possibly want. We usually have our tubes in the shop 2 weeks after placing the order, and there has never been a single deviation from the cutlist.

I believe the sponsorship they provide is up to $1000 of setup/tooling cost, the tubing is purchased at cost, and a certain number of bends (3?) are done for free. Don't quote me on this, though. There is more information here: http://www.cartesiantube.com/fsae.html

[Charles Kaneb]

G&H Diversified in Houston TX has laser-cut the tubes for Texas A&M the past two years. Call for a quote. They needed minimal rework to become a car.

[Ben K]

Cartesian Tube is awesome.