On Mar 10, 7:36 pm, Tim Wescott wrote:
Is there a website or some other reference that I could use for
guidelines of what will and won't cost a lot of money at the sheetmetal
shop when I go for a real quote?

Something as simple as "a bend will cost you $4, a hole $0.50" would be
nice, but I understand that it's never that easy.

In the thread "Sheetmetal sticker shock" someone suggested getting five
pieces laser cut, and bolting them together -- no bends. I'm wondering
if that's going to save me all that much, but I'd like to find out
without terminally exasperating the estimating folks at the various shops.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Serviceshttp://www.wescottdesign.com

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"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" gives you just what it says.
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Tim,
You might torment:
http://www.emachineshop.com/
to get quotes.

I know of no online resource for estimating machined or sheetmetal
parts.
Mainly because tolerances are the cost driver, in addition to the
number of tight tolerances.
Estimating parts is an art, requiring many years of experience. Some
jobs are simple; some, like yours may require days of tooling to hold
the tolerances. (Assuming you still use the original sketch.)
Dave