trying to find someone that has a cnc machine that i could talk to about some stuff. anyone have their own machine shop or a cnc machine?

 

"CNC machine" is a little generic. Are you looking for a CNC lathe, mill, drill, grinder, bender, welder etc? Just about anything can be CNC controlled...

~T.J.

 

sorry, cnc mill. or everything. just need a brain to pick lol

 

If you find someone that does good work for you, be sure to share that info here.

 

im actually considering purchasing a smaller machine and starting a small business, basically i want to be able to machine my own car parts, and gun stuff. and if i make the tooling to do it for myself, i might as well make and sell a bunch of stuff, maybe pay for the fd build that way lol. need to talk to someone about programming, and different aspects of running a machine shop

 

Wow. That's ambitious for someone who sounds like they haven't worked in the industry. Making your own tooling and making your own fixtures are two different things. You can't easily make drill bits, boring bars, end mills, tool holders, collets, sleeves, etc. At least not without a lot more equipment than a mill, and a few years experience as a tool maker. Quality tooling (which will reflect in your finished parts) is not cheap at all. Making your own fixtures to hold parts in specific ways to achieve your goals, now that is much more realistic, however, you still need to most likely buy tooling (whatever doesn't come with your machine) to get yourself going.

You will also need measuring equipment for setup and verification of parts. A good set of calipers, micrometers, bore gauges, height gauges, dial indicators and stands, etc. These are not cheap either, and if you go cheap, your finished product will suffer. Successful machine shops are all about repeatability and quality, and if your measuring equipment has poor repeatability, so will your parts. 0.0001" here and there and next thing you know you're way off...

Programming is something you would have to either teach yourself, take a class or two, or get software that will turn your drawings (3D or otherwise) into a program. Even with this, you should REALLY still know what is going on in the program, otherwise you can (and will) mess stuff up. There is a LOT to know, and it takes a long time to figure out what it's all for. And just like with other things, a lot of people have different techniques as to how they think things should be done, and in which order. It would be up to you to come up with your own "style" that works for you. You will also need a FIRM understanding of math. Algebra and trigonometry are essential for calculating unknowns and variables (cosine error comes up a lot).

Running a machine shop really takes a lot of knowledge about materials, what material your tools need to be made out of (and/or what they need to be coated with) to get the best results, you need to understand everything from the setup, operation, programming, and maintenance of whatever machines you have. If you really want to save money, you will need to learn diagnosis and repair as well, which is completely different than a car, and the parts are 100 times more money. You will need to know ladder logic, PMC (PLC) programming, read electrical schematics the size of phone books, understand 8 bit parameters on multiple systems interfaced together, know hex and binary numbering, know how to use an oscilloscope, and know electrical relays, hydraulic solenoids/valves, pneumatic cylinders and plumbing, etc.

It's not really something I would just "jump into". I would be more inclined to tell you to take a metal shop type class at a local tech school to learn some basics on manual machines before you jump into a CNC machine. Maybe even a class or two on CNC programming. With a manual machine feeding material into a cutter you can "feel" the feedback. You can't "feel" anything on a CNC - you press run and hope that you thought of everything, calculated your speeds and feeds correctly (surface feet per minute/inches per minute), and all your positioning is correct for whatever work offsets you have. This can get expensive fast if you make a mistake.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head since no one else was chiming in.

~T.J.

 

thanks for the input. most of the stuff im wanting to make, at least for profit is fairly simple. straight forward and there is plenty of "how to" videos floating around. ive got a basic understanding of tooling and materials. ive used manual lathes and mills before. i do plan on taking at least a basic machine class and a programming class before i pursue anything further. witch will be the biggest help just because i can only learn so much with research. i learn much better by actually doing things and hands on experience.

 

Hands on learning is good, but it can be expensive! If you have experience with manual machines, then you should be fairly good. You're doing all the same stuff, just more precisely (in theory) and automatically via program. Once you get the hang of the machine you are running then you will probably be ok. There are many ways to skin a cat so to speak when it comes to figuring out order of operations, how to use which features of the machine, etc so programming can vary for the exact same part drawing depending on who is programming it.

Also, knowing what you plan to do and how you will do it is helpful when looking for used equipment so you can be sure whatever you get has the ability to do what you want. IE - if you plan to do any milling on a lathe part, you're going to want to make sure it has C axis control as well as a Y axis and live tool capability. Usually, if you have C axis control you have live tooling, but you don't always have a Y axis. This could be important if you plan to do off-center machining on the side of a part.

Just a few more thoughts I had. I'm not on here much obviously, haha. If you're ever up in my neck of the woods though, shoot me a PM if you want to swing by and see where I work/what I do.

~T.J.

 

yea im taking things slow, im going back to school soon and will make sure i get a machining class in the mix. the machines i have been looking at are just 3 axis mills with the 3d profiling being accomplished by a ball nose end mill. at least for what i plan on making this works fine. and they are expandable to 4 axis if i decide i need that capability. i will for sure hit you up if im up that way. id like to see some things in action and get an in person look at the process. youtube can only take you so far. lol