Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Expectations, bridgeport

I was looking at a Beaverpal with the interest also in the huge cabinet of
tooling standing beside it. Electrical problems, if the spindle runs at 2hp
it'll use less power than my arc welder, although it will be running longer.
The Beaver comes fitted with a coolant system but I understand you also mean
I need to buy something to go IN that system.

Your point about the load is the one that has been the biggest off put
already. I can quite easily have the metal cut down at the steel works run
by Mr. Wren, my source of free bits and bad jokes. Loading a 300lb slab of
steel though is tricky. I'm still quite sure two people could manage that at
150lbs each, I weigh close to that. I could put together a hydraulic table
jack.

The problem I think, which makes me want a knee mill, is that my dad died a
long time ago so metal working, garage stuff and the likes doesn't really
take much of a priority anymore. It took me months to convince her that I
wouldn't blow the house to pieces if I bought myself a gas welding set.
Should I get a Sherline, Taig or Myford my mum is going to see little point
in changing it so any attempt to do so may mean a lot of hard effort for
something that doesn't need to be. I can hear already the words 'Well why
didn't you get something you don't need to change so quickly?'. (Meaning
anything up to a two years later)
I can only think that it's easier to forecast as far forward as is
reasonably possible so there is the smallest chance that I will need to
change things too much.

Bah, I've got to go and get my GCSE result. I'm expecting bad, that way
anything else will be good!

Thanks for all the suggestions and help,
John

> Hi John:
> Did you know that tooling for a big mill costs a LOT!!?
> You can kill your budget very quickly at $600.00 for a vise, $500.00 for a
> collet chuck and collets, $500.00 for a turntable etc, etc, etc.
> You also need to consider the cost of power, and coolant, and chip

disposal.

> Getting into a big machine can be frightfully expensive, and it is usually
> the hidden costs that really hurt.
> Next problem; you've now got this big machine that can hold a 500 lb block
> on the table.
> Have you considered how you are even going to hump that block up onto the
> machine???
> How do you propose to chop off your lump of steel to roughly the right

size?

> Now you need a saw!
> Any machine shop owner can tell you, that the machine is the least of what
> you will have to face in order to work with any efficiency at all.
> For a guy starting out, I would recommend a mill about the size that

Myford

> sells.
> It's big enough that you can actually make something more than a teeny

model

> on it, but it's small enough that you can still pack it in a spare corner
> and plug it into the wall socket.
> I owned one of these mills ( a Taiwanese model with a 7" x 30" table) for
> many years, and it did a lot of excellent work for me.
> I ended up moving up to CNC when I started doing this full-time for a

living

> again; I'm having to spend more these days for coolant management than I

did

> for the whole kneemill.
> My recommendation to you is not to saddle yourself with a giant klunker

for

> the sake of one possible job that you might do at some indeterminate time

in

> the future; you'll get a lot more fun out of having a more compact,
> comprehensive setup than you will out of one giant boatanchor.
> Get a nice lathe and a nice mill and start playing.
> When you know what kind of stuff you like to make, you can always trade

up.

> Cheers
>
> Marcus
> -----Original Message-----
> From: info.host@... <info.host@...>
> To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 4:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Expectations, bridgeport
>
>
> >> Out of curiosity, what do you plan to use the mill for?
> >
> >I looked at Sherlines for a long time and it'd be great because it'd use

up

> >no room at all, I could have it in my bedroom where the spare computer

is.

> >But then I started to find things I didn't like about it like the good

but

> >not brilliant accuracy of the mills and the transverse sizes. They're

cheap

> >but once you add on all the extra bits and then the CNC control it's not
> >that cheap anymore, not considering what else you can get. I have no
> serious
> >demand for a mill at all right now, I'd just like to learn how to use one
> >and have the ability to do what can be done on one. I doubt there are

many

> >on here who actually _need_ a mill, they simply have one because it's
> useful
> >for what they enjoy doing and interesting to use. I have lots of ideas of
> >what I'd like to make on one, like a small steam engine perhaps or a

model

> >turbine. A Sherline could do that easily but I for a few hundred I can

also

> >have a really heavy mill that would take whatever I could think of and
> more.
> >The most immediate thing that springs to mind is building the Gingerly
> lathe
> >and cheating with the mill. I can envisage a time when I may want to
> produce
> >a number of copies of things all at once so the large transverse on a

knee

> >mill would be very useful, I wouldn't have to keep putting bits under it.

I

> >could set it and leave it for a few hours. We have an art gallery nearby
> >that has a sort of crafts shop joining onto it that attracts just the

kind

> >of people who might be interested in little working steam engines, making
> up
> >a number all at once might be a way to earn some money to pay for other
> >things. Besides, I've touched a knee mill now so I must own one some day.
> >However much I look at the desktop things and people saying they can do
> >whatever you want them to I still feel a bigger mill would have a lot

more

> >ability. I've lost nothing so long as I've learnt, as this group has

taught

> >me.
> >
> >John
> >
> >
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