Q:

Justification of Lathe/mill

Curious as to what, other than airgun related items, a mini lathe may be useful for.

I hate to admit, but I’m quite ignorant on the subject. Here is what I *think* I know.

A mini lathe/mill/combo thing costs roughly $600-700. How much more in bits/extras would one need?

materials… where and how do you get stock aluminum, delrin, etc?

Learning curve…. how hard is one of these to operate and actually make something with?

Bottom line…. Is it worth it for the occasional part, brake, or project or is it more cost effective and easier to just let the pro’s work on it…..? Perhaps there are other projects one could do with these that I am unaware of…?

Mods/Machinists

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Great reference to this being another hobby.

I think you could be making SOME kind of part in an afternoon on either machine but days/weeks/years getting better and faster and making less and less mistakes.

I personally think it is worth it because I LOVE to make experimental stuff and if I had someone else do the work it would have cost me $1,000’s whether it worked or not.

Material sources:
– already mentioned http://www.onlinemetals.com GREAT source…
– EBAY…GREAT source for anything I got some really cheap Titanium, Delrin, Aluminum, Barrels, bullet moulds, 600lbs pure lead 😯 , I also bought A LOT of tooling for cheap too(100’s of reamers, end mill bits, drill bits, taps/dies, lathe cutting bits and assorted other tooling) etc. etc. etc
– Local metal recycler is INCREDIBLE source as they sell by the lb! I have gotten ALL kinds of stuff from the one in my city. I’m guessing it’s about 75% off getting it from a metal retailer maybe even cheaper?

Jim.

😆

Actually Roy, someone made a machine to pump the AirForce pump…

I just made mountain bikes… 🙂

JW

synopsys nice photo and work.

I have a question, what caliber pellets do you use in that thing? 🙂

Pretty cool idea, having peddles to pump up air pressure and having handlebars to hold onto while your aiming and pumping.

Roy S.

I had never used a mill until I designed and machined this….->

On the far left where the steer tube is you can see some lathe turned parts to hold everything in line where the handle bars and forks go.

For bicycle building the lathe was not a crucial machine tool yet with out it we would have been at a loss a few times.

For airguns I am at a loss with out a lathe, everything I want to make involves something that is round or that needs to be turned…

Although I could probably have stuff custom made, I could use the tool for lots of projects in the shop… So for me I would buy something like a 7×12 bench top metal lathe ( http://www.grizzly.com/products/7-x-12-Mini-Metal-Lathe/G8688 ) in the $500 range without all the tidbits but that is because I also want to get a bench top mill…

I worked in wood shops and in construction for years and machining metal is really fun and relaxing. Bits move slower and it is more plastic without the directional grain that wood has so there is no tear out and there is not dust!!!!

In reality there are lots of power tools that can machine aluminum and steel in a variety of ways and in most cases one could get by with Home Depot tools, although the finish may not be perfect the part can be functional…

quote rob3dr:

Makes much sense…. What I am getting from yall is that it’s a hobby of sorts… a hobby to help support other hobbies.

In that case, I dont know that it’s for me. I’ve no particular interest in working with metals or machining parts. I was simply trying to find a practical and logical way to justify it. If there is not one… I accept that and will defer my projects and purchases to the pro’s out there who ENJOY it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Hey Rob,

I am looking to make a butt piece are you interested? If you are PM me and we can talk over the details on its design

Makes much sense…. What I am getting from yall is that it’s a hobby of sorts… a hobby to help support other hobbies.

In that case, I dont know that it’s for me. I’ve no particular interest in working with metals or machining parts. I was simply trying to find a practical and logical way to justify it. If there is not one… I accept that and will defer my projects and purchases to the pro’s out there who ENJOY it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Here is my take on what you are asking.

If you live in an apartment, do not drive and the obnly thing you have ever done as a do it yourself project is drive a nail to hang a picture, then forget about owning machines.

If you want to learn to make things, then do not try and justify the costs and payback, just buy the stuff and have some fun.

Junk yards, local machines shops, online metal supplies (www.onlinemetals.com) and many more, high prices but it’s easy.

One can run a mill in 5 minutes one can spend their entire life learning to run a mill and still can learn something new.

Once you have a machine you’ll figure out things to make you would have never thought of.

Live steam engines, airplanes, car parts, guitar parts, parts for thing you use around the house, in other words everything.

Remember, it’s not the machine that makes parts, it’s the person running that machine. An example, how was the first mill made, when they did not have a mill to make it with?

Unless your in the machining business you will never need a mill or lathe, you just want it and thats all that is required.

As for what you will need once you own a lathe and mill, is everything.

If you spend $10.00 on a mill, you can either make what you need for setups and or you can buy those things ans spend a million dollars doing that.

Book after book after book has been written on the questions you are asking and more will be written. No was to cover it in a message on a forum.

Start at places like this, http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/index.php, http://homemodelengine.freeforums4u.com/index.php?mforum=homemodelengine, http://engineer.therustybolt.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=cb104ac3e18b283a18306b1ce6e5e67b&action=forum

and have fun, it’s just another hobby.

Roy S.

To be honest. See it as starting a new hobby. It’s not extremely difficult to make parts but to make good parts is a bit steeper learning curve. Where I live it’s not difficult to get materials, and I can get some via work. As for tooling. that’ll cost you twice the machines.

So for occasional parts I would say no. But don’t forget the joy of not beeing dependent on other people! I have both btw and not even minimill and minilathe but fullsize toolroom stuff and even I occasionaly need help from someone else not to get too frustrated making a part.

Regards,

Marc

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