Pololu Custom Lasercutting Service Rocks!

[Tyberius]

This is a repost from our Blog, but I wanted to share with you guys since I think this service is a 'must have' tool in any roboticist's tool belt.

Creating custom parts for your bot can be a daunting task. That is, if you don’t know about Pololu’s Custom Laser Cutting Service (http://www.customlasercutting.com/). I recently needed some custom parts created for the upper torso of one of my bots for Mech Wars (http://mech-warfare.com/), and after look around a bit I decided to try out their service.


I have to give my highest recommendation to this service provided by the great folks at Pololu (http://www.pololu.com/). I personally can’t afford a CNC or Laser Cutting machine, but now I don’t need to. I sent in a 2D CAD file of my design (they can also create one for you from a drawing), selected what type of plastic I wanted it cut from, and they got back to me promptly with a price quote which made my jaw drop. Extremely affordable, prompt and courteous service, and the results were fantastic. Again, I can’t recommend their service more, it should literally be considered another tool in your toolbox. If needing a custom part for your project ever held you back, look no further.


Here are some pictures of the parts I ordered (Click to Enlarge):
http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/images/frames300.jpg (http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/images/frames1024.jpg)


Here’s the assembled upper torso with Airsoft guns mounted.
http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/images/UpperTorso300.jpg (http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/images/UpperTorso1024.jpg)


And here’s the frame of the Mech, Hagetaka, put together (for the most part, needs a lot of work and a paintjob):
http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/images/Hagetaka300.jpg (http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/images/Hagetaka1024.jpg)

[BMoscato]

That bot looks cool. I purchased the same guns but I still haven't took to the time to mount them to anything or fire them.

[Sienna]

Since we are plugging laser cutting....

I get my stuff laser cut at BC Laserworks (http://www.bclaserworks.com/). Sometimes he gets a little busy and the turnaround suffers a week or so, but he has outstanding prices and service.

[4mem8]

Thanks for the pics Tyberius, Awesome. Looks like a really professional job.I have to make my own parts here in NZ, The freight would kill it for me from the U.S

[srobot]

I was just looking at this yesterday. Looks good, although lasercutting won't do what I need done.

Do you know of any good 6-Axis CNC milling services?

[Alex]

[originally posted by Enusi Malik]:

Very helpful link, it is a very good service and the pricing is very reasonable, I would have never have that Pololu would offer such services. Beats the price for buying the equipment.

[jes1510]

How much do they charge? The parts looks really nice!

edit: Never mind, I found their pricing and it looks very reasonable.