Bill's points are very much on target. If your plasma unit isn't big enough, you just can't hope to make it work. Even if it is, you'll have to either want rough edges or work like a dog to finish them. The placer cutting or CNC router would be much faster and easier, and leave very little cleanup.
If you check with an outfit that can do the cutting, find out what format CAD file they need to run the cutter. Then supply your drawings in that format and you'll get better results and a lower price.
Using either placer or CNC won't eliminate all the cleanup, though. You'll still have to do some hand work to get the fine detais you want like sharp inside corners, etc. Even so, it will be about one tenth of one percent of the cleanup from hand-held cutting. And, of course, the surface finish will still be up to you.
The other pooint Bill made that is very cogent is that of material thickness vis-a-vis your design. If you are going to have long, narrow elements, you will want to cut a few practice pieces to see if the thickness you're thinking of will have the required rigidity in narrow sections.
Kimberli, Bill's points are
Kimberli,
Bill's points are very much on target. If your plasma unit isn't big enough, you just can't hope to make it work. Even if it is, you'll have to either want rough edges or work like a dog to finish them. The placer cutting or CNC router would be much faster and easier, and leave very little cleanup.
If you check with an outfit that can do the cutting, find out what format CAD file they need to run the cutter. Then supply your drawings in that format and you'll get better results and a lower price.
Using either placer or CNC won't eliminate all the cleanup, though. You'll still have to do some hand work to get the fine detais you want like sharp inside corners, etc. Even so, it will be about one tenth of one percent of the cleanup from hand-held cutting. And, of course, the surface finish will still be up to you.
The other pooint Bill made that is very cogent is that of material thickness vis-a-vis your design. If you are going to have long, narrow elements, you will want to cut a few practice pieces to see if the thickness you're thinking of will have the required rigidity in narrow sections.