I have plans in not too distant future to invest in a C&C laser cutter.
 
This will alow me to make custom cut balsa, fibre glass, plastic fins or pretty much anything else from a flat sheet.
How many of you would be interested in a custom part service to the ARA?
I have thoughts of maybe doing all flat parts to spec from a rocksim file or something.
 

For those who are not so well informed - laser cutting is a process wherein a laser is used to burn (or melt) through a material.
A CNC machine (computer number control) machine consists of two axis (X and Y), onto which the laser is attached (or in this case a mirror facing the laser)

A computer is used to control the axis, via some kind of software like autocad.
This basically means it can be used to cut almost any 2d shape you can give it.
some machines allow for 3d stuff as well, but they are a taouch more expensive. I'm staring out small.

How much would it cost to send you a sheet of thin ply with a fin plan, and have laser cut fins returned? I don't really have a way to do cut them now, and a laser will do much better than one of the school bandsaws.

At present I do not own a CNC machine. I plan to purchase one sometime soon, when finances will allow.
I would cut fins for ara members initially for cost of materials and postage only.

I can purchase balsa locally in a variety of thicknesses.

When you do have the ability to laser cut materials, I will certainly be interested.

Well I will stick some cash aside over the next few months and see what I can come up with.

First its CNC not C&C
Second there are many websites which will do this service for you if you supply them with a CAD file so i see no reason you would want to invest in one of these machines yourself.

Yes I am aware of the typo I made with the acronym.
The investment I would want to make with one of these macines extends to more than just rocket fins.
I have a great many things that require precision parts, that could easily be produced by a small form factor machine.
However, as a sideline to my needs and facination, I had planned to offer this service at cost price to ARA members.
While this may be a means to justify the purchase, my initial inspiration was the delay time between my prototypes and the engineering company I presently get to cut my materials.

Go for it Dranoweb i think it is a great idea

Does anyone know how much it would cost to have some plywood fins cut by the commercail people?

You would be looking at probably about $30 plus materials for most places.
Finding an engineering workshop that will actually cut balsa and plastics can be difficult, many of them complain of the damage to the filters.
However SARocketMan seems to be aware of some online services that can do the job.
I'll be happy to do you up a DXF file to the specifications you need, and you should be able to email that to any of them.

I might as well cut it out by hand. I just like the nice clean cut of a laser.

Yeah it will be a little while until I muster the funds to purchase one.

Ive got two CNC Cutters. A four motor foam block cutter and a Three axis engraver cutter (which would cut fins) They are great fun but a separate hobby all of their own.

We're got a little CNC milling machine at school, but it fails at anything mroe than shaping foam blocks. We've got a CNC lathe, which is useful for some things but definitely not for rocket parts.