Large Radius End Caps for Vending Machine Housing

Hi all!

We are in Boston and having a VERY tough time finding a fabrication house that can handle our 8 foot long radius end caps on our new cooler.

My first question is, does anyone have a good idea how to do this easily and if so using what process?

We need about 10 right away, and maybe 200-400 over the next 12 months.

At this point I am not opposed to even building our own machine if need be (If not more than $10,000?) to get these done in house long term. Is that even feasible or realistic?

Thickness wise, we are open, but I would ideally not want anything that can easily dent. Tool box gauge might work but open to suggestions.

As you can see I am not on the engineering side of things, but frustrated when people say it can't be done.

Thank you so much!

 

I am in Palm Springs California. Not to far from Los Angeles. There are a lot of fabrication shops over here.
Have you considered ordering and shipping from out of state? Might help in the short term while you find yourself a machine to do in house.
Looks like you may want 18g material and someone with a big enough rolling machine.

 

Yes, we will consider out of state vendors if they are a good match for the project. Most of our customers are in CA.

 

Just bumping this thread.

 

Another possibly is contact your local steel vendors that you are working with. They can sometimes help out. They may not know all the fab shops capabilities but they may be able to point you in the right direction. We do a lot of plate and structural work with our product line. We were trying to find companies that did structural drilling with a beam line and our structural company gave us a few companies near us they supply materials to that did what we were looking for. Use Thomasnet or try contacting local industrial machine sellers. The local machine sellers may try to sell you something but they may also may know who has that type of equipment and might give you a company name or contact. Try the local Technical College and talk to some of the instructors who teach the metal fab courses. The instructors may have some contacts as most worked in the industry or just got out of it to teach.

 

GTR manufacturing in Brockton, Ma has the machinery capability to do this with no problem. I worked there for many years and highly recommend and high quantity or precision work to them. Good luck and nice looking project!

 

Check out @sheetmetalfab on instagram. Ive seen them roll and fab something almost identical to what you are wanting. Just not sure on the length. Their website is www.mjmmfg.com