Laser cut or water cut

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Mine were laser cut and can't see a reason why waterjet would really be worth paying extra for as finish was very good to 1 thou.

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Certain alloys could be affected by the local heat of the laser.

I purchased some round blanks laser cut from sheet. The edges were incredibly hard and a file would barely touch them. So beware, you may get a shock when you try tidying up the cut. . In my limited experience, you don't get this problem with water jet cutting.

Jason B seems to be happy with his laser cutting, so hardness of the cut seems to vary.

Andrew.

Jason implies that finish machining wasn't needed ("very good to 1 thou". I think that's what determines the way to go - I've also found laser and flame cut plate has very hard edges.

Well it was either that or the mating parts I made had matching errors to the plates

The crank/2nd shaft bracket slipped into it's holes as did the 3rd/rear axle. As you can see these two castings have raised circular bosses that locate in holes laser cut into the horn plates, they fitted without any slop. Can't remember now if I even needed to drawfile the cut edges, may have just given them a quick lick with some emery around a file. All the small holes I drilled.

The hard edge on laser cut is very thin, went over mine with a flap wheel and it was then file-able. A diamond file would probably work as well.