My "new to me" vertical machining center

I wish you had this earlier, I have been on hold from Fesler on billet hinges, took a couple of months to get my hood hinges, and I'm still waiting on the trunk hinges that were ordered at the same time.

 
Yeah we had a long engagement. I finally tied the knott :grin:

I've just ran the warmup program so far on the converter but it seems fine. Acts just like it did at work.

Hinges like that take a lot of R&D to get a final product. I do transmission cable drive mods where I add a drive for a cable to 3 different transmissions and it took months for each of them to design and test.

But this is the type of thing I'm looking to do. But I don't want to just copy someone else's work. When I'm finished with a part I can talk the talk, and walk the walk because I've done my testing and research.

I have a 55 Chevy and I'm going to go over it and see what I can make for it.
 
I have a hard enough time with a DRO, I don't think I have enough years left to get to that level, wish I started earlier. I've had the inkling of the idea for machining, but never got to act on it, such is life. Getting old just kinda creeps on you, then your there.
 
Keep an ad going on Craigslist for offers to do CNC work and see what comes to you?
 
I'm 61 now and if I'd not done CNC for 30 years I don't think I'd take the leap to CNC. Just too much to learn. I still have to learn new programming software. When I programmed last the program ran on DOS and came on one floppy disk. I wish I still had that program.

I had toyed with the idea of putting an ad on CL. Where I live I'm 30 miles from the closest good size city, and 60 miles from Portland. I'm not sure if anyone would drive that far.

Thanks, I do think I will enjoy the increased capabilities. I have one part I make for a transmission and I handle it 6 times with my manual mill. With the CNC I will handle it once.
 
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I had a lot of hours on the Fadal VMC15, it's a great NC machine for the home shop. If that doesn't make me jealous, the price you paid sure does! I couldn't imagine the cost of getting that set up and running. A pair of Kurts and a dozen tool holders is nothing to sniff at. I look forward to seeing your work!
 
alloy said:
I had toyed with the idea of putting an additional on CL. Where I live I'm 30 miles from the closest good size city, and 60 miles from Portland. I'm not sure if anyone would drive that far.
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You night be surprised. When I lived in Corvallis, 90 miles south of Portland, I regularly checked CL ads from the Portland, OR and Vancouver and Auburn, WA (home of Jet "scratch and dent" store). Bought my current 12x24 lathe through a Portland CL ad.

... and even crazier ... the woodworking club I was a member of here in the Phoenix area once bought an overarm router from an ad in Vancouver. I was a snowbird at the time, so I volunteered to deliver it (knowing it would fit in my pickumup truck). "Round trip" of over 3000 miles (though it was just on my "regular commute")! The photo includes one of the proud new owners. And, very unexpectedly, they even gave me $100 toward gas!
Proud Papa.jpg
 
The cost of setting it up wasn't bad really. To get it I rented a truck for $200. The forklift I used for 15 minutes cost me $375. I bought some machinery skates for $165 off amazon. The phase converter panel was $375. A 25hp motor off eBay was $500 shipped. I have about $150 more in wiring and misc stuff. I have many cat 40 holders and collets from my old shop. So around $2k give or take. I also got a Kurt D675 with the mill, and I have two spare 675's at home.

I looked on CL and saw a couple of people offering programming services but no one offering cnc mill time. I'm still wanting to make my own products instead of doing work for others. Just have to wait and see what comes up.
 
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Maybe make a connection to the folk who do CNC programming on your local Craigslist. Might offer services they can refer their customers for. Make some money, can stop doing work for others anytime. And at least they should know who is who and what's going on in the CNC community locally which could be very valuable to you as you find your way around being a guy with a CNC machine at home.. And professional experience on how to use it.
 
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