Perforated Plating

Have you looked into a CNC company? It sounds to me like a job for a CNC router.

What I would do is buy one pre-drilled aluminum plate and use it as a template to drill out some sheet plastic.

I have seen some PE brass sheets, but I suspect these are even more expensive than aluminum.

I am experimenting with one of those CNC vinyl cutting machines (I have an old model Cricut machine I bought at a closeout sale when a new model came out).  Micro Mark now has one that looks better than what I bought, and I am sorry I bought the one I did, I wish now I had waited and bought the Micro Mark one.

I had originally bought it to mask painting masks, for camouflage and  logos.  Then, I found it could be used to make masks for doing photo etching, and then that the machines will cut through thin styrene sheets.  I am still learning to use the machine, and how to make the drawings properly.  I am using 2D CAD to make them, but there are some tricks for files to be used for these vinyl cutters.

For a project like yours, I think one of these machines would be great.  A simple pattern could be made using the array tool.  Once you have the file, upload it to the vinyl cutter, put the vinyl sheets in, and let the machine do the work.

The limiting problem may be the scale you want, and how tiny you need the cutout areas.  I am running tests to determine the minimum feature size I need, which seems to depend on how good my CAD drawings are.

Hi,

In addition to what Don has said there are a number of small laser cutters/engravers for a relatively low price that can cut thin woods and card stock etc that could be of use. I've seen them for as low as $150 or so, but have never tried one so I can't attest to whether something at that price would be suitable for your needs, though.

Regards

PF

A low-tech, old-school solution would be to make a jig of the pattern, and then use the jig to make the holes.  If you're talking about round holes, it'll be relatively simple.

CNC would be crazy overkill.

you could go with a pneumatic punch press, but also would be overkill.

If you want to put in the time, then I’d say go for drilling the plastic using a template.  

Honestly I would just buy a sheet of perforated cage metal, that way you are using the real thing and don’t have to replicate. Also this is the best in terms of cost and time to result ratio.

I actually have some old perforated sheet cage metal which I can send to you if you’d like.