3 ms·

How many other aspiring machinists hang out here on HN? I have watched a bunch of youtube videos. Over the winter I worked with a guy who ran a small machine

How many other aspiring machinists hang out here on HN? I have watched a bunch of youtube videos. Over the winter I worked with a guy who ran a small machine shop 3 CNC mills, 1 CNC lathe, a manual mill, a bridgeport. I found working in a shop so satisfying, even mopping the floors. The local makerspace has acquired a bridgeport and a small lathe (12x36) so I will be joining there soon. Who has a home shop?

syntaxing 8y ago
I have mini home shop if that counts. I don't have much room so I have a Sherline mill and lathe. I used to own a 3020 but I sold that and now I have a shapeoko 2. But to be honest I use my 3D printer a lot more. Subtractive manufacturing is just too expensive. A set of good end mill can cost as much as my Ender 3...
- contingencies 8y ago
  I run a company doing hardware R&D in China, after only basic shop experience in high school (my grandfather was a successful metal factory operator). It's a privilege being here because you can literally summons any component with a few clicks and a couple of days waiting, and costs for precise external fabrication in a wide range of processes are low. So far it's surprisingly hard to find competent multidisciplinary mechanical designers capable of working across processes. We offer a pleasant design office environment as an alternative to a shop floor, which means real estate is more central and quality of life for design engineers goes up. We find this more effective than a self-run shop and it means any design fabricated is known reproducible via outside parties. It has been such an education getting to grips with the production costs and prototype iteration expenses (time and money) on a range of materials and processes. I wish there were an up to date book on this, if there is I haven't found it. As an example, we don't use our own 3D printers because having someone else print, pack, and deliver guarantees engineers stay focused. When you see the big metal shops here, each aisle of machines is often 20 machines and 100+ meters long. They have enormous presses, sheet working areas, laser cutters, many CNCS (Italian, Japanese, German, Korean, etc.) ... it's awesome. Then there's the plastic factories ... massive injection gear sunk in to subterranean concrete grottoes and staggering galleries of client molding stretching hectares.
- dbcurtis 8y ago
  Back when the TechShop still existed, I developed the original Safety & Basic Usage class for the manual injection molding machine. Not that I was an expert -- I wanted to learn injection molding. But another member was a total expert and he taught me enough that I could use the simple machine and teach the beginner course on it. So anyway.... I needed to learn mold making. Which meant I needed to learn some CNC. So I did a few simple things on the Tormach 1100 that the TechShop had. Great fun, but it really takes a lifetime to learn all the tricks, if then. I have a friend who's dad owned a machine shop. The guy who finished the 2-year tech school degree and has been a full-time machinist for 10 years is "the new guy". There are so many tricks to planning and fixturing, it is endless. As a hobbyist, I think you just have to decide what it is you want to do, and learn enough to do that, and to do it safely. I have no delusions of ever crawling out of a pit of relative cluelessness. So I have one of those cheapie manual mini-mills. It is OK for some simple things, I could never make a mold on it. Someday I want to have my own Tormach -- but I already can't park any cars in my garage :/
analog31 8y ago
I learned machining while in college, as a physics major. That's somewhat of a tradition in physics. Most physics departments have a shop, some are staffed by pro's. Today, there's a small shop at my workplace that's mainly used for custom work, but I use it occasionally for prototyping or modifying things. In a previous life, I assembled extremely specialized custom CNC's for precise machining of small, delicate parts. We used off the shelf CNC controllers available at the time, which drove large stepping motors. It's a blast. Be safe. I noticed the key left in the chuck, on that blog. Oh, my eyes! Granted, it was probably just for taking the picture, but it still gave me the heebie jeebies. ;-)
idubrov 8y ago
I have a small shop. 8x12 lathe, X2 mini-mill, some amount of woodworking equipment (table saw, track saw, etc). Haven't done anything in the last year or two, though. Turns out, long commute and job at a start-up sucks your soul really hard :( Though, equipping my machines with power feed taught me Rust and got me in that startup on the first place :D

syntaxing 8y ago

I have mini home shop if that counts. I don't have much room so I have a Sherline mill and lathe. I used to own a 3020 but I sold that and now I have a shapeoko 2. But to be honest I use my 3D printer a lot more. Subtractive manufacturing is just too expensive. A set of good end mill can cost as much as my Ender 3...

contingencies 8y ago
I run a company doing hardware R&D in China, after only basic shop experience in high school (my grandfather was a successful metal factory operator). It's a privilege being here because you can literally summons any component with a few clicks and a couple of days waiting, and costs for precise external fabrication in a wide range of processes are low. So far it's surprisingly hard to find competent multidisciplinary mechanical designers capable of working across processes. We offer a pleasant design office environment as an alternative to a shop floor, which means real estate is more central and quality of life for design engineers goes up. We find this more effective than a self-run shop and it means any design fabricated is known reproducible via outside parties. It has been such an education getting to grips with the production costs and prototype iteration expenses (time and money) on a range of materials and processes. I wish there were an up to date book on this, if there is I haven't found it. As an example, we don't use our own 3D printers because having someone else print, pack, and deliver guarantees engineers stay focused. When you see the big metal shops here, each aisle of machines is often 20 machines and 100+ meters long. They have enormous presses, sheet working areas, laser cutters, many CNCS (Italian, Japanese, German, Korean, etc.) ... it's awesome. Then there's the plastic factories ... massive injection gear sunk in to subterranean concrete grottoes and staggering galleries of client molding stretching hectares.
dbcurtis 8y ago
Back when the TechShop still existed, I developed the original Safety & Basic Usage class for the manual injection molding machine. Not that I was an expert -- I wanted to learn injection molding. But another member was a total expert and he taught me enough that I could use the simple machine and teach the beginner course on it. So anyway.... I needed to learn mold making. Which meant I needed to learn some CNC. So I did a few simple things on the Tormach 1100 that the TechShop had. Great fun, but it really takes a lifetime to learn all the tricks, if then. I have a friend who's dad owned a machine shop. The guy who finished the 2-year tech school degree and has been a full-time machinist for 10 years is "the new guy". There are so many tricks to planning and fixturing, it is endless. As a hobbyist, I think you just have to decide what it is you want to do, and learn enough to do that, and to do it safely. I have no delusions of ever crawling out of a pit of relative cluelessness. So I have one of those cheapie manual mini-mills. It is OK for some simple things, I could never make a mold on it. Someday I want to have my own Tormach -- but I already can't park any cars in my garage :/

analog31 8y ago

I learned machining while in college, as a physics major. That's somewhat of a tradition in physics. Most physics departments have a shop, some are staffed by pro's. Today, there's a small shop at my workplace that's mainly used for custom work, but I use it occasionally for prototyping or modifying things. In a previous life, I assembled extremely specialized custom CNC's for precise machining of small, delicate parts. We used off the shelf CNC controllers available at the time, which drove large stepping motors. It's a blast. Be safe. I noticed the key left in the chuck, on that blog. Oh, my eyes! Granted, it was probably just for taking the picture, but it still gave me the heebie jeebies. ;-)

idubrov 8y ago

I have a small shop. 8x12 lathe, X2 mini-mill, some amount of woodworking equipment (table saw, track saw, etc). Haven't done anything in the last year or two, though. Turns out, long commute and job at a start-up sucks your soul really hard :( Though, equipping my machines with power feed taught me Rust and got me in that startup on the first place :D