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- Written by Simon Arthur
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Magnified Lab Solutions provides advanced tools for histology: working with living tissues under a microscope. As you might imagine, working with things on a tiny scale requires precision equipment. Magnified Lab Solutions' process for manufacturing high quality, feature packed foreceps begins with Big Blue Saw. We use their CAD design to waterjet cut the stainless steel blanks which ultimately become finished instruments.
They do a lot of specialized work to finish their foreceps from the waterjet cut blanks we provide. Matt Sabater gives the rundown on all the skilled work they do to turn the blanks we create into finished products:
Starting from the water-jetted forceps blanks we variably work harden them. We like the tips and spring zone to have a different level of hardness then the forceps body. From their we move to initial finishing operations (removing burrs, marks, etc.). We use a custom manual press brake to perform the bending operations. Next the forceps move onto secondary finishing (graining, polishing). The most difficult part is maintaining dimensional symmetry throughout the processes (really just a careful eye and a steady experienced hand). Final steps are etching logos, shaping the tips, passivating, and inspection. Most forceps are just stamped and forged from two separate blanks. To do it from a single blank and add bending and work hardening to the mix is when craftsmanship really comes into play.
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- Written by Super User
- Parent Category: Big Blue Saw Blog
There has never been a better time to get started using Big Blue Saw to turn your designs into real parts. Starting Monday, October 16, Big Blue Saw is offering discounts on our waterjet cutting service. During the sale, parts made from 0.1875 inch thick (that's 3⁄16″ or about 4.8 mm) aluminum alloy 6061 will automatically receive a quantity discount. Just place your order on our website to receive the discounted rate. Orders as small as 1 part will automatically receive the quantity 10 price, saving you as much as 75% off.
Image © Steve Brown Photography CC-BY-SA-3.0
These parts are cut using a waterjet cutting machine, a system which uses a high pressure stream of water and garnet particles controlled by a computer to manufacture your parts from solid sheets of material. Big Blue Saw uses waterjet cutting to make parts for everyone from the garage inventor to the biggest corporations. Here are just a few of the things we've made:
| 3D printer frames | Head gaskets |
| Animal cages | Heat sinks |
| Arcade game joystick mounts | Industrial controls |
| Bicycle dropouts | Industrial HVAC equipment |
| Business cards | Kite fabric templates |
| Computer casemods | Knife blanks |
| Control panels | Lighting fixtures |
| Costumes | Machining fixtures |
| Dashboard panels for airplanes and airplane simulators | Motor mounting brackets |
| Dashboard panels for cars | Motorcycle dogbones |
| Movie props | |
| Desk nameplates | Nixie clocks |
| Drain covers | Oil pipelines |
| Electronic bus bars | Painting jigs |
| Electronics enclosures | Prop replicas |
| Fighting robot frames | Rope belaying devices |
| Fine art | Signs |
| Fireworks control panels | Sporting goods |
| Fixtures for science experiments | Stencils |
| “Free energy” machines | Test tube racks |
| Gears | Trophies |
| Go kart frames | Ventilation registers |
| Ground straps | Video monitor brackets |
| Guitar capos | Wedding cake toppers |
| Guitar frames | Wheels |
| Guitar pick guards | Windmill contactors |
| Handles |
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- Written by Super User
- Parent Category: Big Blue Saw Blog
Starting Monday, October 16, and running through Wednesday, October 18, Big Blue Saw will be having a sale on custom waterjet cut aluminum parts made from your designs. This sale is on aluminum alloy 6061 in 3/16 inch thickness (0.1875" or about 4.8 mm). All orders placed online for this material during the sale will automatically receive a quantity discount.
Upload your parts to our online quoting system now to get them ready for the sale.
Keep watching the blog for more updates. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or, best of all, join our mailing list to receive updates about sales and more.
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- Written by Simon Arthur
- Parent Category: Big Blue Saw Blog
You've been asking for it, and now it's here. You can now order custom waterjet cut aluminum 7075 parts directly from our website.
I used this material in my robot Flipper for Robot Battles this year. You can see it in the photo above: the claws on the robot are aluminum 7075 in 3/8 inch thickness. It held up spectacularly when lifting opponents, falling off the stage, and being attacked by other robots. Flipper went on to win the final rumble in the 12 pound division.
Aluminum 7075 offers greater tensile strength than 6061 or 5052 alloys, so it's fantastic for any application where the parts will be undergoing mechanical stress. On the flip side, it's not weldable like 5052 or 6061, doesn't have the formability of 5052, and is more prone to corrosion in harsh chemical environments. But if you're looking for an aluminum with an ultimate tensile strength that's 85% higher than alloy 6061, 7075 is the way to go.
Order your parts in aluminum 7075 from our website today!
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- Written by Simon Arthur
- Parent Category: Big Blue Saw Blog
Wikispeed is an open source road legal car, for commuting and racing. They take the idea of open source seriously and everyone is invited to collaborate.
Above you can see Car #007, built for testing new part versions. Many parts on this car were waterjet cut by Big Blue Saw: the front pedal plate, the suspension corners, pieces in the engine module and interior, and more.
Being open source, Wikispeed collaborators make use of a variety of CAD software, based on the preference of the individual designer. The most used package is Geomagic, with some members preferring SolidWorks, FreeCAD, or AutoDesk Fusion. The design files are available for free download.
This video shows the Wikispeed SGT01 100 MPG car.
Waterjet cut suspension A-arms. These were waterjet cut from 0.25 inch thick aluminum 6061.
The latest suspension knuckle version in a subassembly. 0.5 inch thick aluminum.
Prototype windshield and wiper frame, waterjet cut from 0.25 inch thick aluminum.
In this video, Joe Justice of the Wikispeed project discusses why the easy ordering and quick turnaround of Big Blue Saw is useful for the an open source car design.
Check out Wikispeed's YouTube channel for the latest updates and videos of the car in action.