milling

[coolcatpete]

i am new at this and it looks fun to mill your own stuff so i was wondering what every one uses for milling and how you do it.

[coolcatpete]

Oh yeah i also may want to see some pics so i have an idea of what to do and if you send a pic tell me if it is easy or hard.

[rapidshooter]

FIRST YOU NEED A MILLING MACHINE
THEN YOU NEED BLOCKS OF ALUMINUM
HARDNESS OF PROJECTS DEPENDS ON WHAT YOUR MILLING

[coolcatpete]

What is the milling machines name. Can I use a dremel.

[GT]

Originally posted by coolcatpete
What is the milling machines name. Can I use a dremel.

:( :confused:

[rapidshooter]

a milling machine ia called a nilling machine and it cost a lot of money and no you cant use a dremel tool

[WickeDKlowN]

Milling machines cost $1000's of dollars usually. And yes, you can use a Dremel, but It can and will look like ****.

[TheJester]

a milling machine, AKA just a mill. is a REAL fancy drill press. but it can do what a drill/drill press couldn't even imagin doing. a drill press is used for holes, a mill has a bunch of knobs and dials, and are used to cut precision parts, usually cuts are taken from a side to side manner unlike a drill press cutting a hole in a vertical manner. there's also a hudge arrey of cutters, most of the work you see here are done with end mills. sticking w/ my drill comparison, end mills are like a drill, except they have a flat bottom, and the sides of them are sharp, so you can cut along the side of something using the side of the end mill.


disclaimer- i'm sure most of you are smarter than this, but don't not try to use a drill press as a mill. it will not work, and you'll prolly end up hurting your self in the process

[Lopy-slopy]

Last weekend I was board and used my dremmel to mill my tank, wow, it's so much lighter now. try it:D

[Brak]

ive seen some incredible work done with a dremel. it wont always look like crap if you use a dremel. it just takes lots of time...and talent wouldnt hurt either. look at some milling projects done (search) and you can see what has been done with a dremel

[68magOwner]

i did dremel milling on a cheap electro i got. My object was to make it lighter, not cooler, soooo it didnt have any intricate, cool-looking patterns that i had to do, but it turned out really light and fairly smooth. LOL, im gonna have to post pics of this gun when i finish it, its been modded in every way, the bolt, the body, the barrel, the trigger, the board!, everyting. I named it "the beast" (sorry BT) but its very beastly, and it rips like no other $70 gun :eek: :D

[billybob_81067]

Originally posted by 68magOwner
i did dremel milling on a cheap electro i got. My object was to make it lighter, not cooler, soooo it didnt have any intricate, cool-looking patterns that i had to do, but it turned out really light and fairly smooth. LOL, im gonna have to post pics of this gun when i finish it, its been modded in every way, the bolt, the body, the barrel, the trigger, the board!, everyting. I named it "the beast" (sorry BT) but its very beastly, and it rips like no other $70 gun :eek: :D

What kind of gun is it??? Post some pics for us to enjoy! :D

[magmonkey]

here is one of our milling machines ( we have two of them, two lathes, and a surface grinder)

soon one of the milling machines will be up for sale becuase we will be buying either a three axis prototrak or a small milling center.

[Catch22]

Forget endmills and lathes man. That's childsplay. Just go buy yourself a $200,000 CnC machine. you can take a block of aluminum, Draw a design on the computer, and it will mill it for you!

[Statik7]

Originally posted by Catch22
Forget endmills and lathes man. That's childsplay. Just go buy yourself a $200,000 CnC machine. you can take a block of aluminum, Draw a design on the computer, and it will mill it for you!
wrong. its slightly just a shade more difficult than "drawing up a design" and throw it at a cnc machine and expect it to mill down material for you.

cnc programming isnt as easy as it seems. true there is software than can render a drawing into gcode but i really doubt the most of us has that kind of money to spend on a single program.

sorry to burst your bubble

[Matt_mg]

I did C&C programmming once... and it is tough when you do it for the first time it was a few years ago in high school with the cheapest possible plastic milling C&C machine...

just like that how much can those drawing to mill programs can cost? can't be THAT prohibitive...

[magmonkey]

mastercam cost $12000 a couple years ago When one of the shops I was working for purchased it

I have done alot of programing on cnc machines (both G&m code and with cam software) and it is ALOT more work than just draw it and go

and just wait we are working twors are own milling center :D

[Catch22]

I was just jokin about being able to draw a design and have the machine make it. Didn't think you guys would take me seriously.

[robertjuric]

Hey guys, this is a little bit off topic, but I was watching TV the other day, and they were going over the Tech of an F1 race car.

They had this cool machine, that used lazers and some liquid, and somehow made a solid part out of the liquid by using the lazers.

Does anyone know anything about this machine?? I just thought itd be kinda cool to know.

[Matt_mg]

Sounds like a laser engraving machine only bigger?

I'm probly wrong but hey :p that means that now they can do that stuff we saw in James Bond years ago!

[billybob_81067]

I've heard about said machine... it's like a vat of goo that hardens when exposed to the lasers, so wherever the lasers hit it it turns into a plastic. Apparently this machine is for making prototype parts only as the material is not very strong.

[magmonkey]

that is called stereo lithography

it is a form of rapid prototyping

I haven't gotten a chance to deal with that other than watching a demo where they copied a carburator that the parts all worked ( butterflies would open threads could be turned)and they made it all in one piece ..... that makes my head hurt thinking about it

[TheJester]

it's a vat ot resin, and when the laser comes into contact with the resin it changes the state from liquid to solid. like mag monkey said, it's a form of rapid prototyping, it's to basicly instantly get a solid part as it would look in real life. don't know if it would have any functionablity cause i'm not sure on how strong the stuff is, but it is cool, and you can at least do some pre-lim testing i'm sure on it.

[ShooterJM]

Couple things.

Tysonmachado does his work with a dremal I believe. I'll post pics of the stuff he's done for me.


Also, I might be mistaken, but can't you get endmill attachments for drill presses?

[Cristobal]

Originally posted by ShooterJM
Also, I might be mistaken, but can't you get endmill attachments for drill presses?

I've never seen a collet attatchment for a drill press, thought that doesn't mean they don't exist. But even so, your standard drill press simply isn't made to make horizontal cuts -- just plunges up and down. Trying to use one like a milling machine sounds like a good way to get hurt/break something. :eek: :D

[Statik7]

:)

[bjjb99]

Originally posted by Cristobal


I've never seen a collet attatchment for a drill press, thought that doesn't mean they don't exist. But even so, your standard drill press simply isn't made to make horizontal cuts -- just plunges up and down. Trying to use one like a milling machine sounds like a good way to get hurt/break something. :eek: :D

Exactly. The bearings in a drill press are meant to handle loads which are in line with the drill axis. A mill can handle those loads as well as ones perpendicular to the quill's axis. You might get a couple of light cuts done with a drill press pretending to be a mill, but you will ultimately damage its bearings and have to replace the drill press.

Right tool for the right job, and all that jazz...

BJJB

[shinobidice]

Originally posted by TheJester
it's a vat ot resin, and when the laser comes into contact with the resin it changes the state from liquid to solid. like mag monkey said, it's a form of rapid prototyping, it's to basicly instantly get a solid part as it would look in real life. don't know if it would have any functionablity cause i'm not sure on how strong the stuff is, but it is cool, and you can at least do some pre-lim testing i'm sure on it.

so you could make plastic models of things for instance like cars and such? maybe not full size, but wouldnt you want an exact copy of your car to show proof that that idiot really did dent your door in exactly the same on both sides (its late im thinking up dumb stuff.. ignore me lol)

[68magOwner]

billy bob, it was a ZXS-600e. Key word WAS lol, now it is pure beast, i would of been better off buying a block of plastic and some internals, because there is nothin but the internals left of the poor 600e (and im planning on starting making modifications to the internals too :D ) (event though there are no upgrades for that marker :D )

[jimmyjobob]

a dremel and patience..

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62778