So, traditionally plate work has been a process of marking out, hacksawing and plenty of filing.. As you will see from John's Craven this gives some superb results. That is if you're willing to put the time in! Me, I am far too lazy and opt for the use of machines where I can.
Laser cut parts are really the easiest option but this can take a considerable time to come back.. so I converted my mill to CNC. Now I can design and mill parts in a matter of minutes..
I thought you might like a glimpse at the process..
First mount the material and load the drawing
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start the drill cycle
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a nice set of holes
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before milling the outside
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and after a quick file to remove any burrs..
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the machining process took about 10 minutes including tool changes...
cool !!