mills

[paintball72]

i am looking at getting a mill so that i would be able to make my own custom gripframes, bodies, ect (obiously not internals). So what do you mill knowledgeable AOer's recomend for a starting mill.
I also do alot of metal sculpture and so far have only been able to make larger bits due to the difficulty of making minute changes in a pice of metals shape with a forging hammer or grinder.
price range of 0-1500 mabey higher if that is what is needed to get the proper kind of mill.

thank you much.

[RRfireblade]

Grip frame and bodies will take something in the $1000-$1200 minimum range for a manual machine. You will also need probably another grand in tooling to get started.

That price range will get you some kind of an Import from Harbor Freight ,Grizzly or Enco.

It would go up from there.

[MoeMag]

you know I'm kinda curious myself. Im really spoiled at school with all the machines...

What do "normal" people get? or do they really shell out green for fancy stuff like bridgeport and haas... (are those even all that fancy?)

[RRfireblade]

Normal people get what they can afford. Which in the business is actually a little more than you can afford.

A machinists wet dream is typically a well kept and maintained , slightly worn out but solid used machine that can be put back in service with reasonable repairs and service.

The newest (of the few I have) machine in my home shop was built in '93 and is a solid and tight (now) as it ever was. A nifty by product is they only get smoother with age.

The one CNC I have at home I built completely from scratch right down to the power supply.

The 'real' machine shop is pretty high end with 3 (one a 5 axis 40x20) Fadals and a Fanuc ~ 5 years old , most however , are in the process of financing and total ~$300k.

The most common overlooked cost is tooling. Tooling is everything that is not a machine (for those that don't know) from vises and clamps , maching set up equiptment , cutting tools and things that hold cutting tools , measurement devices of all kinds and so on. Those cost typical equal or exceed initial machine costs and keep added up after. A good 6" machine vise (KURT for example) run around $600 and we keep 3-4 on hand for each machine , "Doubles" run a fair bit more.

Now you'all know why it's costs so much to make sometihing seemingly cheap like a trigger.

[MoeMag]

I hear ya on the tooling. one of my "little" projects for the past year has been making a cannon. well it started out as being a 3/4 scale 12pdr parrot gun, then a full size mountain howitzer, then a 2/3 howitzer... and finally... after breaking down a soda can mortar.

My main problem is boring it out. I have plenty of stainless steel blanks (so its only a matter of time till I do make a big one) but finding a way to bore it out has been rediculous. nobody locally has a boring machine that can do anything more than about an inch. Then buying the tools... yeah not in my near future. The kennametal boring bar I need for the small howitzer was well over a $1k.

So I made a boring bar extension for the bar we already have so I could get a 6" deep bore. That alone took me almost a week to make. It turned out in the end... and I'm well on my way to having a serious little mortar here in about a week or so.

[Hexis]

I hear ya on the tooling. one of my "little" projects for the past year has been making a cannon. well it started out as being a 3/4 scale 12pdr parrot gun, then a full size mountain howitzer, then a 2/3 howitzer... and finally... after breaking down a soda can mortar.

My main problem is boring it out. I have plenty of stainless steel blanks (so its only a matter of time till I do make a big one) but finding a way to bore it out has been rediculous. nobody locally has a boring machine that can do anything more than about an inch. Then buying the tools... yeah not in my near future. The kennametal boring bar I need for the small howitzer was well over a $1k.

So I made a boring bar extension for the bar we already have so I could get a 6" deep bore. That alone took me almost a week to make. It turned out in the end... and I'm well on my way to having a serious little mortar here in about a week or so.

Too bad I can't do parts at work. We could do 30' or so on the big machines.

[RRfireblade]

30 Feet ?

[Hexis]

30 Feet ?

We make big guns.

[MoeMag]

We make big guns.

nice. EDM or boring? If boring... is it just a big coolant thru gun drill?

The only place I have found willing to do a bore for me is in kansas. I know there has to be someone local... I just have to find them .

[Hexis]

I have not seen any large EDM gear. We don't do much at the site I work at machining wise, more of an engineering shop. We have a huge building (2mil sq feet on one floor) so there are old machines around in random nooks and crannies.

I don't make metal chips tho, just secure the network. They do all of the real manufacturing at other sites.