HOW THICK IS 14GA STEEL AND WHAT DOES A PLASMA CUT LOOK LIKE? Here you can see that 14ga steel is slightly thicker than a quarter. Manufacturers standard thickness is .0747 +/- .005 for hot rolled steel and +/- .007 for cold rolled. You can also see in both of these photos the quality of the plasma cut on a straight edge. The quality of the cut will vary with speed, material thickness, material quality, and torch tip wear. 

HOW CLEAN CAN THE PLASMA CUT LOOK IN 1/4 inch? When cut quality is more important fine adjustments to speed and material type (quality) can be made in order to achieve a better quality cut. Cut quality will be best when all of the consumable parts of the torch are brand new and material being cut is perfectly is clean and flat.

Going from rough drawing to metal. Lee C. from Georgia came to us with a preliminary drawing of a skull and cross bones Team XXL logo for his ATV radiator grill. He asked us to turn the drawing into a silhouette for CNC cutting, make it fit into a 12 by 8.5 rectangle, enlarge the skull, and add more detail. Here you can see the before and after jpeg drawings of the logo and finally, the finished product in raw steel.  Now that we have a usable jpeg image, we can scale it up to just about any size. BE SURE TO VISIT TEAM XXL'S WEBSITE AT:  http://www.teamxxl.com  Team members interested in ordering can contact Lee at  dirtbmw20@knology.net

Here's a screen shot of the CNC software at work and a picture of Lee's skull design in the middle of a cut. There is also an example of how we can change the scale of a drawing to create larger parts or parts of different proportions. The first skull logo is 8.5 by 12. The second is 11.875 by 12.25. Each have been scaled to fit certain radiators. To see a video of the skull and cross bones being cut by the Torchmate CNC plasma cutting table at FNFAB click here and give it time to load.

How does lettering effect cutting costs? The price per unit of a particular item is based on many factors, one being the number of times the plasma cutter has to 'pierce' or start cutting. Each time a hole, letter, or area of detail is begun, the plasma torch is slightly worn or 'consumed' and the cut time is also increased because the torch pauses at the beginning of each cut in order sense the material height, calibrate to pierce height, preheat the material, and finally pierce.  On 14ga material this takes about 5 seconds per pierce. The more pierce points an item has, the longer it takes to cut and the quicker the consumables wear.

Fast Custom Metal signs. This sample sign represents our standard 6.5 x 11 usable area raw metal sign.  This sign with 2 inch letters and a choice of clip art images and fonts makes a great quick economy "custom" sign. Available in unfinished steel and intended to rust, this sign lasts for decades in the harshest climates and even gets "better" with age. Ships in 1 to 2 days.

To see more ADDRESS SIGNS (click here)

Guitar Hanger.  Hang your guitar on the wall with this original idea from FNFAB. Available in Electric or Acoustic design.

GUITAR BUSINESS CARD HOLDER. 

 LINEAR SIGNS. These make a great window sill advertising. Simply set them on the window sill inside facing outward. Linear signs are 2 or 4 inch tall letters and can be up to 8 feet long.  Most 2 inch window sill signs are 14ga steel.  Larger signs may require thicker gauge metal. Available raw, primed, or painted.

 If you feel creative, you can provide us with a drawing of your own. We'll turn your drawing into alpha numeric line code or "G code" that the CNC plasma cutting table can read.  We can convert hand drawings and sketches into 3D CAD drawings or CNC ready (2D) .dxf format  drawings the old fashioned way by interpreting and re-drawing them or we can convert .bitmap format scanned images such as tracings into 2D .dxf format images digitally to prepare them for conversion to G code for CNC plasma cutting. If you already have Auto CAD compatible .dxf files (such as Turbo CAD format) we can convert them directly into .dxf format cut paths and CNC ready G code reasonably quickly assuming the drawings are made with cutting in mind (i.e. stencil font lettering and contiguous images).

Can't draw you own idea with a computer? Some customers can provide professionally produced and stenciled CNC ready .dxf format digital media for conversion to G-code........but many people have no idea what all that even means. They just want a sign. For example,  Yolanda's sign for her husband's garden started as an idea and a hand drawn sketch that was not to scale or even finished.  We reproduced the drawing in 3D CAD and as in many cases we suggested a few changes and then made it into a 'stencil' (every part in a "male' sign like this has to touch something to stay together). As in many cases, she got to preview the finished drawing printed on paper in full scale before cutting.

Have your own idea for a plasma cut product or fabricated part?  Maybe you just have an idea and want someone else to come up with a  plan. Call us!

Refrigerator Magnet  Designed to hold cell phone cases, this rack could also easily hold keys or other items. Uses 1" wide strip magnet that is 14.5 inches long. Item measures approx 15 inches wide.

 We have hundreds of Vector Graphic Art files to mix and match. The assortment of items (Rhino, Bull, M16 riffle etc.) were all sample cuts from 14 gauge mild steel. The palm tree (above) was the 'drop out' from a custom wall mounted mailbox; it's actually a good 'cartoon' likeness of a palm tree and could be scaled up to just about any size.  The skull was sanded slightly then clear coated, the one pictured here is about 8 inches tall and with all the 'pierce points' I don't think I'd scale it down but it could easily be scaled way up.. The Rooster Fish was cut out of a pretty bad scrap of (free) stainless steel sheet then painstakingly sanded. The stainless fish actually turned out "OK" but some NICE NEW stainless to start with would be preferable.  The rose is a necklace holder.

Sample cuts from the CNC Plasma cutting machine. These items are intended to give you an idea of the Signtorch clip art available and the level of detail that can or cannot be achieved with the CNC plasma.

POWDER COATING vs PAINT. We offer powder coating on large or special orders. These are an example of Matte Black powder coating. We can also powder coat red, yellow, or white. Powder coating is tougher than paint but requires baking the painted items in an oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. 

 Super Duty Decorative mail box. Angelica specified that she needed a SUPER rugged wall mounted mail box that didn't look like a safe.  Most economy mail boxes are so thin that you can dent them getting them out of the box they came in.  Even some fairly expensive high-end boxes at the super stores are mostly plastic and can't possibly last long in harsh environments.  This mail box is constructed of 14 gauge steel with a palm tree pattern chosen by Angelica cut permanently into the front.

Specialty Golf Clock. Here's a sample of a limited edition golf gift clock that we fabricated for Lois of Covina, California using artwork provided by Signtorch with some modifications to make it 'plasma friendly'. The clock is 14ga steel and has a quartz movement with second hand. It measures 8.5 inches wide 6 inches tall.

Custom Mail Box. Here's a super duty mail box designed by Ted Athans for his body shop business. This box is made of almost indestructible welded 14 gauge steel plates.  The "Athans" logo is plasma cut into the face then backed by a plate of stainless steel.

   DESIGN YOUR OWN CUT-OUT. Kathy P. wanted a Humming bird design added to her front and back porch. This is an example of a "dry run" of Kathy's own design. A spring loaded felt pen enables us to plot the machine path directly onto the material to be cut so we can review the programming. By doing this we can verify the cutting area, sequence, and scale before proceeding. In this case we found several items in Kathy's drawing that were not "plasma friendly" and we were able to identify and correct the problems before cutting.

Here, Kathy's own humming bird pattern (seen plotted above) is cut from 14ga steel.  Some of the 'drop out' parts willbe trimmed and spot welded to the face to complete the design. To keep little fingers from being chopped off by steel vines, Kathy asked us to add perforated sheet to her porch divider.  We filmed the parts being made. To see a plasma cutter movie click here.

Simple art work added to existing clip art. This is an example of some items we produced quickly using some existing art work modified slightly to fit a customer's needs.  In the case, we were able to take one of our existing products and add some simple text.

Chihuahuas in the powder coat oven. Please don't try this at home! We have a small scale powder coating facility and can powder coat and bake colors red, yellow, white, and matte black on site.

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